Hen Do Budget

Absolutely no idea - my maid of honour arranged the entire thing and it was AMAZING but I have no idea what they all paid etc.

The way I did it was give her a list of names and emails/numbers and off she went to organise. The less you are involved the better

I have no idea how much to suggest! My BMs and a couple of mates are totally in charge of mine and arranging it all as a complete secret. I gave them an idea of what i would like, a list of names and email addresses and a few possible dates that i have free and they have just gone off to organise it themselves!

Going on other people's hens that i have been on, many people seem to do multi-part hens so that if they are doing something pricey, like a spa day, they also do a meal and drinks in the evening so if someone can't afford it they can just come to the evening part and not feel like they have been left out, either that or suggestions are emailed round the group to see what people can afford and then they go from there!

My sis is organising mine and has never been to a hen do let alone organised one, so i have asked a couple of more hen-experienced mates to help her out too!

Sorry i can't be more help!!

We did a pub crawl for my friend's hen (classy I know, right) and we paid about £15-20 each I think - but that just covered our t-shirts and stuff, no drinks or anything. I think it really depends on what you're going for! Is your CBM close to the others that would be coming on the hen? Could she maybe have a discreet word with a couple of people to get their opinions?

Mine is £146.50 per person Ive organised it myself.

It really depends on what you want to do.

I've been on hen do's where it is a meal followed by a night out and I've ended up spending around £80 - £100.

On the other extreme, the last hen do I went to in London was a pop video experience. This cost £80 pp but then when you factor in london hotel, petrol, parking and spending money, it cost me over £300 which I'll admit was far too much.

Do as a previous post suggests - ask you CBM to break the day up into different activities to give people options so they can fit it into their budget.

Mine is £120 for our accommodation as we are renting a luxury apartment in Liverpool for the weekend. That's all I am organising though so I don't know how much anything else is coming too!

I've organised mine and it's split into 3 sections - an afternoon fascinator making workshop (with cake and bubbly) which is £35 each, an evening meal which is whatever they choose (say £20 each), and then cocktails so again whatever they want to spend (say £20) so most people will only spend £75 ish. Everyone has been invited to all of it, but they can choose which bits - eg I have 14 doing the workshop, 20 for the meal, and some of the meal people aren't doing cocktails but others are coming just for cocktails.

There's about 8 of us also staying overnight in a hotel and having breakfast in the local american steak house, so that'll be about an extra £35 per person. I think for me personally it'll cost me about £130 as I'll have plenty of cocktails! I'm not expecting anyone to pay for me! I don't know if my BMs have any surprises, I don't think so (I don't like surprises so I hope not!)

Im the same as 50's Pin Up Bride, although we are doing Life Drawing! I have a mixture of girls coming - some to all and some to just parts of it. The Life Drawing worked out at £33 per person and the rest is payable on the day. We won't be staying anywhere over night as it's being held in Bath where I live.

50's Pin Up Bride - where are you having your hen do?

My girls are organising a quiet Friday night at mine, then into London for a day activity and a night our with hotel. The guidance I have given to my girls is that people can opt in and out of options so if people don't want to do some of it if they cannot afford it or don't want to do a part of it.

It will be a cheap hotel but not sure how much that is. The activity will be about 30-40 pounds, then a meal and night out.

I've set my sister a budget of no more than £100 per person, including the meal out and drinks in the evening. Another of our friendship group is making us go away for the weekend for her hen in the same month as mine which is going to be stupid expensive so I didnt want everyone to have to cover two really high priced weekends in one pay packet. I didnt mind as I only want a simple day activity and then a nice meal in the evening, all the going away hoo ha I can do without!

No idea what its costing but i've been told that my £100 saved up spending money is way too much. Whether that means mine is all paid for or whether its cheap I don't know.

Decide what you think people can afford and go from there. I think she's being very sensible doing it that way round.

I'm having two cos I'm greedy but one was the local 70's disco which we go to every year and that's 6pp. I'm having a night out in London for me and the BM's but one of them is planning something. I did have a weekend away with spa booked for 149 and most people were happy to pay that but I ended up not being able to afford it myself!

This. Each person that came paid £5-10 extra to pay for me ?

Thanks for everyone's replies! I was going to give her everyone's contact details so they could discuss budgets but I spoke to her last night and she said she was thinking of a spa day/night! SO HAPPY! She knows me so well :-)

She has found 2, one is £150 per person for the day, light lunch and dinner, 2 treatments, cocktail making class and overnight stay with breakfast. The other is £99 and is the same but with no cocktail making and in a slightly less nice spa/hotel.

Do you think this is reasonable? I'll probably let her discuss with everyone which they would prefer but people could have the choice of staying overnight or not depending on whether they can afford it.

To be honest, I'm probably the minority here, but I think that is definitely reasonable - and I would go for the £150 one! I've only been on 2 hen dos and they were both approx £200-£300 (possibly more as I can't remember what I spent!) They were both 2 nights overnights stays in places quite far away - so I was based in Kent at the time and one was a weekend in Cardiff, having to pay for 2 dinners, 2 nights out and just shopping etc in the daytime - oh and fancy dress outfits, and one in Bath with tapas and cockail making class, bath spa visit but dinners in the apartment we had etc...

I suppose I view them as a mini holiday/weekend away type break and as a big deal so I would hope my friends for my hen do would want to do something similar and be happy to pay for it - if they can afford it obviously, but I managed to do both of those when I was only working part-time - they were priorities to me and so obviously I saved and prepared for a good few months before - but then that would obviously mean for my hen do only inviting my absolute closest friends - would not expect work mates for example to want to spend that (or maybe even come on a weekend away) but friends I've known for 10+ years would hopefully!! xx

I suspect it is actually me in the minority but I'd never spend £200 on a hen do. I might stretch to £150 but only if I was very close to the bride (best friend or SIL). Don't get me wrong, I think £150 is extremely reasonable for what you are getting but for me personally it'd be a bit too much money.

Mine cost either £20 or £30 for the afternoon tea (people could choose, those spending extra got a glass of champagne too). Then we just went to a few bars/pubs round Covent Garden so people could spend as much or as little as they liked. Some just came to the tea and some just came to the bars. I doubt even the heaviest drinkers spent over £70 including travel (we all live close by) and it was people's choice how much to spend.

The cost of the hen do really depends on what you think your friends/family will be able to afford. My hen is at a spa day and i've got some girls just paying for basic entry at £22 and others having a treatment as well as use of the facilities (for example full body massage makes the cost £55).

However my friend is getting married the month before me and her hen do is being organised by one of the bridesmaids and is costing £110 (+ money for drinks) - unfortunately i've had to say I can't because I don't have that sort of money

Mine is £69pp excluding food/drinks/travel (races and overnight @ Hilton).

I made sure my hen was close to home so some hens are just coming to the races (£29) and skipping dinner/dancing/hotel to save money.

I've organised my friends hen weekend and it's costing the girls £89 each. This includes minibus there and back (to Newcastle from Ayr), 2 nights accomodation in serviced apartments and goody bags with props etc. My friend didn't want it to cost more that £100 per person. I wouldn't pay anymore than this to be honest unless it was one of my closest friends.

Try gohen. That's who I was going with. They had pretty good deals. My 150 package was 2 nights with fri at a comedy club, sat spa day plus treatment, dinner and a clubbing night. Thought that was pretty nifty. I think 150 for one day might be a bit much.

Me neither; unless it was a few days abroad.

Mine was one of those "dip in and out" ones.

5 of us went to Bath on the Friday night and stayed in the Travelodge (£90 per family room, so £30 each).

We went out for a curry (paid for by my mum as a present) and then we went for a few drinks after.

Another 6 turned up at lunchtime on the Saturday, again we all stayed in the Travelodge.

In the afternoon, 10 of us did Burlesque Dancing at £10 each.

Another 5 turned up and we all went for dinner at ASK - 2 courses for £10.

Then we went to Revolutions, where we had pre-ordered drinks wristbands (3 cocktails for £11).

After that we went to a club - £5 to get in.

All within walking distance so no taxis.

Just the cost of petrol/trains - most people car shared.

So if they did 2 nights/dancing/dinner/drinks it was about £95 plus any extra drinks/travel.

I think I'm in a minority here too! I'm having a meal out with my friends ( I don't drink) roughly £30.

then a few days before the wedding having an afternoon tea with champagne with my mum and my brother £15-£20.

A couple of friends suggested a night out/away but to be honest I don't drink and I would much rather a quiet meal than going out. A work colleague went to Spain for a long weekend and had cocktail making classes etc and I can't remember how much but I think it was too much for a hen do she only had 3 out of the 12 ( I think) come as the rest couldn't afford it.

A spa day sounds amazing though!!

S x

Hello Ladies,

I've organised my own Hen Party, mostly. This is because I wanted to give my friends/family as much time as possible to save etc and my sister is a bit last min with these things!

We're going for 2 nights, to a huge luxury beach house in Norfolk - included in this we're having a personal chef to cook us a 3 course meal, a pamper party and an afternoon vintage tea. Included is all this AND extra money for petrol, food and alcohol it's £189 pp.

Now, although this is a lot of money it's an inclusive price so the girls won't need any other money for the weekend at all. After seeking advice from friends, one said that from previous experience although the activities came to £75 by the time they'd travelled, eaten and drank it was easily upto £120-£130.

My friends and family have been really keen, so we're upto about 19 people confirmed!

Alipops xx