Hens party, bachelorette; whatever you call it, destination hens parties are in!

It’s traditional to have a girls night out before she walks down the aisle and says ‘I do’, but it’s becoming more common for a hens party to travel, and make it a long weekend, or even a week long party.

So, whether you’re the bridesmaid or the bride, we’ve put together the following 3 tips for planning the perfect destination hen’s do.

3 Tips For Planning the Perfect Destination Hen’s Party

Be Mindful Of The Budget

The first thing to consider when you’re planning out a destination hens party is the budget. You need to make sure that travel costs are suitable for all people who are likely to attend.

Of course, one of the great things about a destination hens party is that you can invite everyone, and the guest list will automatically cull itself because of the cost involved, but you don’t want to plan something crazy decadent, and then have no guests.

It can be very easy to go overboard, especially if it’s your first time organising a hen do. You need to plan everything out well in advance, and do up your budget so you know who’s up for what; figure out what you need to cover, and what your guests do.

While travel costs need to be planned out, including arranging transport, accommodation, food, and activities, remember to budget for all of the extras, like whether you’re going to have gift bags or robes for bridesmaids.

Keep in mind that you’ll be traveling, so everything you take needs to fit into your baggage limit; this might be quite difficult if you’re traveling on a budget airline, but won’t be a massive issue if you’ve chosen to road trip.

If you think there may be additional costs on the day it could be a good idea to inform the guests when you send out the invites. Try mentioning that there may be things to pay for on the night and give an idea of how much you expect them to be.

Timing Is Key

When it comes to organising a large group of people, and you’re expecting people to travel, you need to give them plenty of notice; even if you’re only planning a quick overnight trip.

Some people may have work commitments, some people may have kids, and some people may have to save money, so the more notice you can give them, the higher chance they’ll be able to attend your hens.

Even if it’s taking you a while to get your physical invitations printed, don’t be shy of sending people a text or a Facebook message to have them save the date. You can send them a beautiful paper invitation later.

Hammer out all of the details as early as possible, and give people plenty of notice. If you’re going on an international trip, keep in mind that people will have to organize visas, passports etc. This isn’t a problem if you’re sticking within the country.

Timing is also important in terms of the date/s of your hens; you don’t want to plan it immediately before the wedding, and then find yourself having to face travel delays, or recover from jetlag the day before you walk down the aisle. So plan it for well in advance of your big day.

Break The Ice

Not everyone is going to know each other when it comes to a hen do, and this means you need to think of ways to break the ice. Especially if you’re all traveling together, people will have to get to know each other quickly.

It could be worth creating a pre-hen do chat where everyone can start getting to know each other beforehand. You could even suggest topics of conversation such as what people are going to wear or what activities are going to take place.

These are just a few of the things you need to think about when organizing a destination hen do. Is there anything else that you think should be included? Please share them in the comments below.