In brief: what budget for a hen do?
A hen do can cost anything from under £85 to well over £300 a head, depending on the format: do-it-yourself activities close to home for smaller budgets, a full day or evening out for £85 to £250, and a whole weekend or a trip abroad at the top end. Four costs to build in from the start: travel, accommodation, food and extras (decorations, personalised outfits) — remembering that the bride’s share is traditionally split between the rest of the group.
- Under £85 per person: DIY activities, an at-home spa, an evening you organise yourselves.
- £85 to £250 per person: a day and evening of activities, or even a well-planned weekend.
- Over £300 per person: a full weekend or a trip abroad, with premium activities.
- Golden rule: agree the budget BEFORE choosing the activities, having asked every single guest what they can spend.
A note on the figures below: they come from the French wedding market and have been converted to sterling at approximate, rounded rates. Treat them as a rough guide and check prices locally.
The hen do is now all but obligatory in the run-up to a wedding — and it’s fair to say the bride-to-be has high expectations.
As chief bridesmaid, you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Nothing less.
The goal: that she has an unforgettable time before taking the plunge. The trouble is that organising a hen do turns out to be a genuine puzzle, one you occasionally, secretly, and with a twinge of guilt, dream of handing to somebody else.
There’s a lot to weigh up: the number of guests, a date that suits as many of them as possible and, above all, the BUDGET.
Not everyone’s finances look the same, and the first question to ask is simply: how much is each person willing to put in?
Costs in focus:
What do you need to budget for when planning a hen do?
- Travel
- Accommodation
- Food and drink
- Extras (decorations, personalised clothing, costumes)
One important note: all the figures below assume the bride’s share of each activity is split between the rest of the group.
Once that’s settled, all that’s left is to choose from the enormous range of activities out there — according to your budget.
1. A hen do for under £85 per person
What really inflates the bill is accommodation and travel, especially if you’re going a long way and the guests are scattered across the country with no way of sharing lifts.
So for a hen do on a tight budget, either keep it to a single day with no overnight stay, or base yourselves at one of the group’s homes to keep costs down.
Go DIY
Depending on the bride’s personality and what she’d enjoy, and on where you all are, there’s plenty available — it just takes a bit of imagination.
You can also agree on matching outfits (jeans and a white T-shirt is the classic, lifted by one shared accessory).
Set aside a small budget for decorating the space too (balloons, confetti and so on).
And don’t forget the photos: an instant camera or a disposable one is ideal, so you can get the prints back quickly and leave the bride with a lovely keepsake — a scrapbook album is the obvious home for them.
Here’s what a hen do for under £85 might look like:
Morning
You could welcome her with brunch at home — a simple, inexpensive way to gather everyone before the fun starts: hot drinks, pastries, plus tarts, cakes and homemade cocktails. Everyone can pitch in without anyone’s card taking a hit.
(Estimated budget: £9 to £17 per person)
Then it’s on to the activities.
Afternoon
If your bride dreams of a pampering afternoon with her friends, nothing beats a home-made spa.
On the programme: facials, manicures and the like, with the room dressed to feel cosy. She’ll love it.
(Estimated budget: £9 to £13 per person)
For the crafty ones, it’s time to get making. A few supplies and you’re away: candles, decorations, flower crowns to wear on the wedding day. DIY kits are easy to find online, and there are plenty of good tutorials for making a dried flower crown.
(Estimated budget: £13 to £17 per person)
For the sporty ones, and depending on the season and where you are, a walk with a picnic stop works beautifully. Plan the route carefully in advance.
(Estimated budget: £9 per person for the picnic)
For the puzzle-solvers, you can’t beat a good old treasure hunt: a route worked out in advance, with clues hidden in well-chosen spots.
At each stage, an envelope holding the clue to the next one — or a dare to complete. It can be entirely free, and it works every time if it’s well put together.
(Estimated budget: free)
Then there’s the classic, cheerfully naff afternoon of dares. Again, all you need is a decent pair of legs to tour the town in search of likely victims for challenges and forfeits of every kind.
The only real cost is whatever outfit you put the bride in.
Take photos, obviously — useful leverage for the next ten years.
(Estimated budget for the bride’s outfit: £9 to £13 per person)
Evening
Back at base, put together a good spread of drinks and nibbles to set up the evening, with a few games or a quiz to liven things up. Printable hen party game packs are easy to find if inspiration is running low.
From there, several options:
A MasterChef-style cook-off, if there aren’t too many of you, to make the evening meal together.
Then keep it going with a themed party — nineties, say. Everyone needs an outfit to match, and you’ll want a good playlist and a bit of floor space cleared for dancing.
Alternatively you might prefer a pub crawl, or meeting up with the boys for a joint night out if the two dos fall on the same weekend. Do remember to budget for your own drinks and the bride’s.
Or go for the sleepover — a hen do staple and a genuinely fun night in. Board games, cocktails, karaoke, a music quiz: you’re spoilt for choice.
(Estimated budget for the evening, excluding your own drinks: £17 to £25 per person)
| HEN DO BUDGET, day + evening | Per person |
| Travel | To be confirmed |
| Accommodation | — |
| Food and drink | £17 to £43 |
| Activities | £9 to £17 |
| Extras and decorations | £4 to £9 |
| Keepsake for the bride | £4 to £9 |
| Total | £35 to £75 |
2. A hen do for £85 to £250 per person
With this kind of budget there’s a great deal you can do, and you already have the luxury of stretching the hen do across a whole weekend.
First, outfits: why not a nicely printed T-shirt or a personalised accessory, so the group looks the part together?
(Estimated budget for personalised clothing and accessories: £17 to £30 per person)
Then, depending on everyone’s availability, you’re choosing between two options:
- A hen do over one day and evening
- A hen do over a weekend
A day and evening for under £250
With that much in the pot, there’s no doubt you’ll be able to treat yourselves.
If the hen do runs over a single day, you may as well start early.
Kidnap the bride and give her an enormous breakfast. Wherever you are, there’ll be no shortage of places doing a good brunch. For a takeaway version, picnic-style, ready-made platters can be ordered ahead and collected or delivered on the day.
(Estimated budget: £17 to £25 per person)
Then it’s on to the first activity, chosen to suit the bride:
A spa: an hour or two’s access covering pool, sauna and steam room — perfect for unwinding and arriving fresh for the rest of the day.
(Estimated budget for spa access: £25 to £45 per person)
Worth knowing: hotel spas often throw in extra services, or let you carry on with a cocktail at the bar afterwards.
A yoga, pole dancing or burlesque class: an easy way to have a good time with the bride.
You can usually choose between an instructor coming to you and a studio booked out for your group alone.
(Estimated budget for a yoga, pole or burlesque class: £13 to £35 per person)
An escape room: for the puzzlers and the competitive, this is the dream activity. It doesn’t take long, so it can even be slotted in before lunch, straight after brunch.
Escape rooms have sprung up in towns and cities everywhere, with themes and difficulty levels you can match to the group.
(Estimated budget for an escape room: £17 to £25 per person)
For the daredevils, go-karting, a trampoline park, bouldering or laser tag.
(Estimated budget for go-karting: £21 to £25 per person)
For lunch, think something light, or a picnic if the weather holds.
(Estimated budget for lunch: £13 to £25 per person)
Then on to the afternoon activity:
A photo shoot: put those matching outfits to work and get the day captured properly by a professional photographer. Plenty specialise in exactly this kind of event, and they’ll know the best spots and have the best ideas for pictures worth keeping. Some even bring props to make the results sillier.
(Estimated budget: £21 to £35 per person)
A jewellery-making workshop: why not make a piece you can all wear on the wedding day?
(Estimated budget: £50 to £60 per person)
A high ropes course or paintball: test your limits and your teamwork outdoors, weather and season permitting. Do try not to take the bride’s eye out.
(Estimated budget: £17 to £25 per person)
You could also pair a treasure hunt around town with a Segway or e-scooter tour.
(Estimated budget: £25 to £35 per person)
A drama or improv workshop: with a professional actor leading it, you get to be Hollywood’s finest for a couple of hours.
(Estimated budget: £25 to £45 per person)
And on to the evening
Get ready together, then see out the day however the mood takes you:
- A good restaurant followed by karaoke.
- A tapas bar, then on to a club for a proper night of it.
- Dinner followed by a burlesque or strip show.
(Estimated budget for the evening: £35 to £70 per person)
| HEN DO BUDGET, £85 to £250 (one day) | Per person |
| Travel | To be confirmed |
| Accommodation | — |
| Food and drink | £65 to £120 |
| Activities | £30 to £105 |
| Extras and decorations | £17 to £30 |
| Total | £110 to £250 |
A weekend for under £250
A hen weekend on a modest budget is entirely doable if you plan it well.
In this case, travel and accommodation will swallow the largest share of the budget.
So either you lead with the destination, in which case keep an eye on flight prices to European cities such as Barcelona, Prague or Budapest.
(Estimated budget for a trip abroad: £50 to £105)
Or you prioritise somewhere characterful for the group to gather, in which case a self-catering rental is your friend — a cottage, a converted barn, a house with room for everyone.
(Estimated budget for a good place: £45 to £80 per night)
Once the destination and the accommodation are settled, all that’s left is to fit the rest of the spending around what’s left: lunches on the go or good home-cooked feasts, and plenty of borrowing from the under-£85 day above.
And of course, if you’re abroad, make the most of it by exploring the city and planning as much as possible outdoors.
3. A big-budget hen do
Rarer, and usually with a smaller guest list, a hen do with a budget above roughly £340 a head opens the door to some genuinely special experiences — with far more scope on both accommodation and activities.
Destination and accommodation
With an XL budget, you can go big on where you go or where you stay.
You’re often limited on days, though, so even over a long weekend, travelling time will narrow the field somewhat.
That said, you can comfortably aim for somewhere unusual, at home or abroad.
For a winter hen do, nothing beats a stay in a beautiful mountain chalet, for a complete change of scene.
You could also hire a castle or a country house. And no, that’s not reserved for the very grandest budgets: more and more of these places now offer all-inclusive stays, and will even take the activities off your hands entirely.
Or, if you’d rather have an adventure, hire a campervan and take to the road for a gloriously chaotic weekend.
Activities
A few ideas for a larger activities budget:
A cookery or baking class with a top chef.
(Estimated budget for a cookery class: £70 to £105 per person)
Who hasn’t dreamed of recording a single, like a proper pop star? These days you can, and you can even sing as a group. It’s an activity that combines complete silliness with a lovely keepsake, since you go home with the hit — or hits — in your pocket. Recording studios in most cities offer packages built for exactly this.
If you want to give your friend a truly memorable experience, send her sky high: a skydive or a hot air balloon flight.
And the braver among you are free to join in.
(Estimated budget for a skydive: around £300 per jump, per person)
Shooting a music video, or booking a videographer to capture the best moments of the day: a wonderful thing to give the bride.
(Estimated budget for a freelance videographer: on request)
Food
For the hen do dinner, why not do something different?
Rather than a conventional restaurant — and particularly if you’ve got the right space for it — you can bring in a private chef for a meal worthy of a starred kitchen.
(Estimated budget for a tasting menu: £70 to £140 per person)
If you’re staying in a major city, London included, try a dining bus tour: sightseeing and a tasting menu on board, at the same time.
(Estimated budget for dinner: £105 to £130 per person)
You can also go all in on personalisation, right down to the plate. Brightly iced cupcakes, biscuits shaped like rings and hearts, and rather ruder novelties besides.
The evening
Choose between a night out somewhere smart, a dancing pub or arriving by limousine.
Or bring the party to you: hire a stripper, a butler in the buff, a magician or a mentalist — all of them will come to your door.
(Estimated budget: on request)
And above all, don’t forget the budget for decorations and a keepsake gift for the bride.
Need a hand planning the perfect hen do?
We think this article gives you everything you need to organise a brilliant hen do like a pro.
But if you want to put together something genuinely perfect for the bride, have a look on Planners and get in touch with a wedding planner in your area, who can guide you, help out and even negotiate prices on your behalf.
