Planning a hen do on a budget

The Festival Hen Party

If the bride-to-be loves music and attending festivals then why not create your own mini festival in her honour. Glamping is fantastic fun and something totally different, forget muddy fields and nasty Portaloos, glamping sites are sophisticated and glamorous with plenty of luxury at a very affordable price. Then you just need to get creative with your planning;

• Name - Name the festival in honour of the guest star "Helen-Fest".
• Invites/Tickets - Send out invites to all the guests in the form of festival tickets.
• T-Shirt - Have festival T-shirts created for all the girls.
• Playlist - Create a playlist of all the bride's favourite songs, bands from times she'll have shared with her guests in her younger years.
• Fun & Games - Come prepared with a few games, it can be far cheaper than expensive nights out and with the right people it'll be so much more fun.
• Minibar - You can also bring your own drinks rather than pay expensive bar prices. Of course that doesn't mean you're locked on site, you can soon head to pubs or clubs if you so desire.

The Hen Party Retreat

Another great option is hiring self catering accommodation away from the maddening clouds. Pick a fantastic rural location (we ensure ours are close to major cities so you can still go paint the town red when you want) and set yourselves up for something much more intimate and totally memorable.

• Wine & Dine - You can share the cooking and bring your own booze which is far cheaper than clubs and restaurants.
• Nature Lovers - Choose an outdoor activity befitting of the setting, we have hundreds of great outdoors options.
• Fun & Games - Create your own games (we have some hilarious games you can play for free) and set forfeits and prizes.
• Romeo No Go - Hen parties don't want to spend their weekends being hit on by drunken Casanovas and a self-catering stay keeps you off the radar of any lagered-up Lotharios.

Staycation

One great way of saving a few pennies is eliminating the need for hotels altogether. Arrange for all the girls to stay with each other, this will give you more money for daytime activities and some night out treats. There is no reason why you can't still create a massive action packed weekend full of activities just because you're not in a hotel. Plan an itinerary with timings for the weekends festivities and book a minibus if needed to pick everyone up (or ask everyone to carpool to save funds).

Ask The Experts

If you're trying to plan on a budget you really don't need to go it alone, planning a hen party can be stressful (we should know, we've been doing it since 2002 and have sent over 600,000 guests on fabulous pre-wedding parties). We pride ourselves on not just being ruddy good at it but we're happy to help.
Some hen's are nervous about using a hen party service as they think it costs more but true hen party experts will actually save you money.
We don't believe in hard sell but we do believe in being helpful and approachable, so you can call our team at any time and ask us for tips for ways of making your weekend work without breaking the bank.
It might be just an activity, you might only want an evening planned or just need to find a hotel that accepts hens (not all do).
You can email us at anytime; hen@gohen.com. We can also help you save pennies...

Hen Party Countdown

Right, calculators away, we're going to do our best Rachel Rliey impersonation and look at the numbers;

• If you book a hen party by yourself direct with hotels and restaurants, etc you will have to pay the going rate. That's to be expected.
• At GoHen we have built long lasting relationships with many of our suppliers.
• Like supermarkets because we buy so many activities/hotel rooms/etc from our suppliers we get discounted prices.
• That means if we're booking on your behalf you pay less.
• We are committed to finding you the best prices for the best quality events.
• Saving money doesn't mean going "cheap", if a hotel, activity, restaurant isn't up to scratch we won't use it, this means you can be sure of GoHen's high standards.
• We personally visit our locations and suppliers to ensure everything is kept tip-top. We know this is a very important weekend and anything less than the best just isn't good enough.

All Things Bride and Beautiful

Find out what the bride-to-be wants. That might seem obvious but it's amazing how many people don't really sit down and plan things out with the guest of honour, it is her party after all so be sure of what she wants and don't leave it to guess work. This is also a great time to discuss budget.

All About The Money

The hen party will invariably be made up of friends from different areas of the bride's life (old school friends, friends from university/college, work colleagues, family), not everyone will have the same amount of expendable income. The bride will have the best idea of how much people will be comfortable with spending. Going away on a weekend and feeling financially stretched is no fun, this can be even worse if you feel you can't say anything about for fear of embarrassment. If everyone is financially comfortably within their means they can relax and enjoy the weekend.

Money For Nothing

You're not a bank, so as much as you want to arrange an incredible weekend for the nearly-wed don't go out on a limb. Chasing people for money you've paid out can be awkward at best and potentially stressful.
At GoHen we have created a fail-safe system allowing all the party to pay for their own share of the weekend. Not only does this mean you're not out of pocket by paying for other people's share but you don't have to be the bad cop chasing people for money as we'll do all the chasing instead.

Less Is More

A great weekend isn't about where you go, it's all about who you go with. We have some incredible budget packages designed to save money without compromising on fun. You don't need to fly everyone to Bondi beach, planning wisely and picking an activity that you know everyone will love is a sure-fire way of creating a perfect pre-wedding weekend. We have hen packages for under £100 which are designed to increase the fun, not the overdraft.

The Early Bird Hen

Booking early is always smart, while holiday tour packages sell off cheap last minute deals the hen party industry works the other way round and the cheaper deals can be secured by booking in advance. This also means you won't be stressing about the planning close to the weekend as you'll already be sitting back, relaxing and planning your first cocktail knowing everything is already done and dusted.

Booking well ahead of time also gives hens more time to put pennies to one side and save up well ahead of the event.