How to Organise a Hen Party – Our Top Tips! We are over 10 years organising hen parties all over Ireland.
Here is our step by Comprehensive Guide to hen planning!
Do not underestimate how much work there is to organising a hen party.
After over 10 years planning hen party weekends and activities we know a thing or two! We have outlined below our comprehensive guide to hen party planning for you FOR FREE!
Lets start with this – You will get a few grey hairs!
On that good note, here we go…
Keep a Record of everything
When you are planning a hen party a great place to start is to start an excel sheet with all the name of girls invited. Make sure you have the contact details for each guest; email or phone number (Web texts are great!). Mark each person in red if not coming and green if they are.
Due to the fact that there is usually 2 or more people involved in the organising of a Hen Party we would recommend setting up an email address specifically for that Hen Party “SarahsHenParty@gmail.com”. Do ALL correspondence through this email to your suppliers and guests.
If you have a conversation with the hotel about something follow up on an email so every organisor can see this in the email trail. To make it less confusing reply to each supplier on the back of the last email in their thread, so it reads as a story instead of various emails.
Set the Date
Setting the date of the hen party can become a tough job if you let it. After over a decade organising hen parties in Ireland we advise that you book the hen for at least 6 weeks before the wedding date.
Pick a date that suits the Bride and the Bridesmaids and go with that. It will be impossible to get a date that will suit all 25 women so just decide on the date with the wedding party and book from there.
Choose the Hen Party Location
Choose the Hen Party Package
Accommodation
Hen Party Activity
A hen party activity is a must for any group, try keep it less than 2 hours long and something that is not too far travelling time & something that will get people interacting.
Most hens have friends from every part of a girls life and therefore a big mix of personalities. Getting the group mixing is the key or you will end up with “groups”. Something like CSI Save the Groom, In it to Win it or a Treasure Hunt will suit most ages.
Check out the Hen Party activities we offer for hen parties all over Ireland on the link below.
The Meal
It is important that you arrange some sort of food for the hen party. Whether that is a BBQ, a main course or a full 3 course meal make sure you get them fed.
If you have the meal booked for 19.00 tell everyone it is booked for 18.30 so that you are there on time. Do not try play Hen Party games over dinner unless you are in a private area and have cleared it with the restaurant first. Hen Party Games can disrupt others from enjoying their meal as us women tend to get very loud when we are giddy.
The Bar
It is nice to have a reserved area in a bar of your choice so your hen party are not split up. When you are arranging this with the bar be sure to find out what time they will release it if you are running late & if you are allowed to wear hen gear/fancy dress etc.
Do note that a reserved area does not imply entry is guaranteed, the same rules apply for entry as normal neat dress, drunkenness etc.
The Nightclub
Hen Party Theme
Little Extras - Nice Ideas for a hen party
We here at TheHen.ie HQ think it is the personal touch that makes every hen party different. A simple thing like putting her picture(s) on the dinner menu can mean the world to her. There are any amount of Nice Ideas out there for Hen Parties check out our page “Nice Ideas” for info and inspiration.
The cost of all the little Extras
Once you get the price for the package you want to go with add €10 – €15 per person to cover the cost of the hen and any additional cost such as sashes or any other extras.
Some people have lovely ideas of a champagne reception with cupcakes, survival bags etc…but they forget to add the cost of this to the other people attending the Hen Party. This is a big mistake as the bridesmaid then ends up footing the cost of these additional extras themselves. Once you give people a price it’s impossible to get anymore off them.
Payments
Get a deposit off everyone who says they are going on the hen party. If someone is not giving a deposit there is a VERY good reason as to why and you can start sorting the maybes from the definites.
Make sure you keep an account of this on your hen party planning excel sheet as outlined above. It can get very confusing very quickly if you do not keep a good record of things from the beginning. I always recommend getting people to pay you into your bank account, putting their names as the reference. If they pay into a bank account it’s all recorded and there can be no confusion.
I would recommend getting everyone to settle in stages – first a €50 deposit and then 6 weeks before the the final balance. Believe me, I am in this game long enough, there is nothing worse than trying to pay the hotel and activities etc on the day if you are in charge. Get it all sorted out and paid prior to leaving, then you can relax and enjoy the day.
Pay all suppliers out of the same bank account and keep all receipts for everything you buy towards the Hen Party I have seen family and friends fall out over money. If you keep a good record of everything there cannot be any issues.
Keep Calm
The most important of all – No matter how stressed you get when people do not reply or wont send deposits or give out about location, price, hotel or activity etc….DO NOT TELL THE BRIDE!!!!!!
Make it seem as easy as pie and SMILE!
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Discount Codes
When you book an all inclusive package or activity with TheHen.ie you get a discount code to get 10% off with www.henworld.ie www.jokeshop.ie www.thehenplanner.ie & www.hotstuffentertainment.ie
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