hennie - package or not?

tartantotty

I am not planning my hennie - my BMs are (eeeeekkk!), but I want to give them as much advice (in other words, tell then what they have to do!!) as I can.

It will be 2 nights in Edinburgh, in an apartment. I want to have a chill out of friday - meal in the apartment, then maybe a ghostwalk, then back to apartment for dvds and drinks, then saturday a cocktail making class, dinner and dancing!:beer:

Is it better to book a package through a company, or just try and organise it all ourselves? I want to keep the costs down as much as possible to make it more likely that everyone who wants to come can, but people will get the option of 1 or 2 nights too. Reckon there could be between 16-20 people all together, although some live round about so might not all have to sleep over!

Any advice gratefully received|! :j

codemonkey

I'd be inclined to attempt to book it myself and save some money. Edinburgh is small enough to be able to organise everything relatively easily. There are plenty of bars and clubs that do cocktail mixing classes - I know the voodoo rooms and tigerlily do them - and so many tasty restaurants that it would be a shame to be stuck with a package that was overly expensive and tied to a certain place.

I'd recommend the Witchery ghost tour by the way. It's definitely the most fun.

Magicboo

A couple of years ago, we did the weekend in Edinburgh thing, and we all stayed in the travelodge. All our rooms were together and they are definately used to hen parties! cheap and easy-also easy to have people staying for just 1 night too. We had 4 in each room, so it worked out very cheap too!

tartantotty

oooh thanks for the advice Codemonkey, I will pass that onto the BMs!

Magicboo - I did think about Travel Lodge/Premier Inn kind of place, but I would prefer for us all to be together, and have a living room and kitchen as on the friday we will be hanging out there after the ghostwalk, and having dinner. Thanks though!

Sammy85_2

My OH had his stag do in Edinburgh, booked everything separately.

Just be aware if you book an apartment you will most likely have to pay a deposit (his apartment was £300 which seemed to be about the norm) It took around 3 months to get this back and the owner deducted loads for all sorts of odds and ends that the boys swear they didnt touch. If you do the apartment route then make sure you factor this deposit into the total cost and dont expect to get it back unless you can prove categorically that everything was as you found it (ie photographs - bit of a nuisence when you're trying to have a good time!)

Travelodge would be a lot less hassle and you can easily have fun between going between each others rooms!

Also, an apartment makes it difficult to split the cost if girls only come to some of the weekend. Do you split it equally for the whole weekend per girl or do you charge them per night?

My hen do is up in the lakes. Ive booked all parts seperately so that girls can come to some or all of the weekend.

codemonkey

ooh meant to say, not sure when your hen night is, but remember that prices in Edinburgh go sky high during August(festival), November (rugby tests), Christmas/New Year and February/March (6 Nations).

There are some more reasonably priced apartments but you might have to look away from the city centre a bit - Leith is always quite good for a night out as long as you avoid the dodgy pubs.

I'm a local so if you want any information PM me.

pokey128

I don't know when your hen night is but if its during the summer uni holidays (june -sep i think) then you can rent a student flat for the same price as a youth hostel, Friends of mine did it and got two 5 bed flats with a kitchen/living room (nothing fancy though) but was a really good deal and meant that everyone was together pretty much. Flats were really central as well (just off the cowgate)

kirwell81

Hey Tartan

Definitely orgainse it yourself.

I can recommend the cocktail class at Tigerlily - that's what we did for my hen. We went there at about 6pm did the class and had a good few cocktails while making them. Then went up stairs to Tigerlily and had a three course meal which was delicious. I think it was about £30 per person for the food/cocktail class - we paid for extra drinks on top. They also then give you free entry to the club downstairs and reserved a few tables for us.

Don't know if you were looking for anything else to do but we started our day at Pure beauty spa on Lothian Road, they do a wee package where everyone can choose two treatments (I think it cost about £20). They will also let you take in a couple of bottles of fizz to enjoy while having your nails done.

Hope you have a great time.

K x

tartantotty

Ooooooooh now we have a wedding date I can see to hennie!

Am thinking 25th/26th March (no home 6 Nations games on 26th!).

We have decided that we def want to do the apartment thing - so any recommendations?

Codemonkey - I went to QMU, and was at the Leith Campus, so lived in Leith. Love it down there, so I am happy for it to be in Leith!

Looking to sleep about 14 (and I am sure we could cope with a couple sleeping on the settee if need be!)