How to Organise a Hen Party - The Comprehensive Guide

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

Its about who’s there not where! Decide where the hen party is going to take place. Some people get worked up on the hen party location when in reality once you are in a bar with 20 ladies you could be anywhere in the country. It will not make a difference where the hen party is as you will make your own craic. Think about the hen party activity when you are deciding on the hen party location. If the Hen really wants to do quad biking find out where that is available and work from there. Something like a CSI Save the Groom or a Mrs Doyle & her grannies is a safe option as an activity. These activities are available in most locations, meaning you are not restricted on where you can go. Think about the sore heads the next day: Try to keep the Hen Party location no more than 2 hours from the Brides home, think of the journey home the next day.

Choose the Hen Party Package

All Hen night packages should include the following in the Package: Bed & Breakfast, an ice breaker activity, some sort of food, Reserved area in a Bar & Nightclub Entry. We offer All inclusive hassle free Hen Party packages all over Ireland check our the hen party packages we offer on the link below.

Accommodation

If you are booking the hen party accommodation yourself make sure you are clear on the prices from the beginning. Ensure they do not quote you for a triple room and conveniently forget to tell you that the twin room is actually €30 more. Find out check in time, alot of hotels do not guarantee check in until after 3pm. Find out what the last day you can cancel a room without there being a cancellation fee.

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

It is nice to have a reserved area in the nightclub but be aware they will want you in the areas really early. Be sure to find out from the nightclub what time they will release the reserved area if you are running late. Its also good to ask if you are allowed to wear hen gear. Do note that a reserved area does not imply entry is guaranteed same rules apply for entry neat dress, drunkenness etc. We recommend that any group that has an older age demographic should be looking more towards the late bar route than nightclubs as they are more likely to have music that suits and late bars tend to have an older age range. MAKE SURE YOU BOOK EVERYTHING BY EMAIL- Once it is in writing there is more of a chance it is actually booked!!!

Hen Party Theme

Deciding on a theme for the Hen Party can be nerve wrecking. We get people calling us all the time asking for advise on hen party themes. A Hen Party theme is very personal to the Hen herself. I booked my best friends Hen Party she was to become Mrs Doyle and as she runs the local Ceili’s. At the Ceili’s shes always making the tea, we also adore Father Ted so we did a Father Ted themed Hen Party as that made sense to her. If you check out our Hen Party Themes page, Gallery and testimonials you might get a few ideas. Do not dress her up with Hen Boppers and a pink tu-tu ‘for a laugh’ if this would be her worst nightmare…Remember it is a very special day for her.

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!!!!!!