Spill the beans...on MoneySaving stag/hen parties

kazzadj

You can make your own t-shirts for your group without breaking the bank by getting some custom made t-shirt transfers from ebay and ironing them on yourself.

mushtiff

A friend of mine went to a great hula-hooping hen night in Glasgow, which included a personalised hula hoop for the bride. I think you can book this sort of thing through agencies, but you get a better deal by going directly to a local hula hoop teacher.

sly_dog_jonah

I hung up my best man shoes last year after organising the last of 3 stags for my brother and friends.

The final one was the only foreign stag I attempted to organise and was a 3 day trip to Cologne for 20-odd lads to soak up the delights of a beer festival.

For under £100 a head I managed to eek out:
- accommodation for 2 nights in a hostel
- travel around the city for 2 days (including to/from the Airport)
- group travel to/from Gatwick
- 2hrs of 10pin bowling (in our Lederhosen fancy dress, most of the lads already had this from previous occassions) before the beer festival
- a stag t-shirt each, plus contribution to the stag's outfits for Friday and Saturday
- the stag went free (reciprocating the arrangement I had enjoyed on my stag which he had organised for me)

Flights were an additional £60 return if the guys booked quickly. Tip: always make them book their own and be clear about what flight you are all aiming to get - this makes booking changes much easier if needed.

sibles

I organised my friends hen do 3 years ago, we stayed at hers (whilst my OH babysat the stag - didn't manage to match up weekends!) and had takeaway and copious amounts of (lidl) booze the friday night, then went into town to buy the rest of our costumes, nando's lunch and then got dressed up as pirates to eat dinner on the floating thai restaurant nearby.

No outlay, BYOB, we all chipped in for the Bride's dinner and I made awesome (even if I do say so!) goodie bags along the pirate theme.

It was lovely, and I can't wait to do another one

Danni-R

I did one last weekend and I organised people going out for dinner on the friday. I'd arranged goody bags (haggled like a true MSE'r on Ebay) for everyone and the bride had a sash.

Saturday was painting/ crafty things and t-shirt making
drinks in spoons.

It was local so people could do as much/ little as they wanted and even the events were a pick and mix so you could do cheap things.

I was lucky that there was a massive fireworks event in town that we could finish off the weekend with.

gerdydog

Hi,

I had a great hen party September past in Belfast. When we got there we just went to one of the pound shops in the city centre and got all the fancy dress stuff and accessories. :j This saved us a fortune rather than buying the thing online.

Hen_Party_Expert

What a great idea. Why not have a 'pot luck' supper and get everyone to bring a surprise dish or download some free hen party games.

Hen_Party_Expert

Hotels - if you can book triple or family rooms. They are often not much more expensive than twin rooms and you are sharing the cost between three of you instead of two. Book on a room only basis if you never make the breakfast!


Fancy Dress - Primark often has lots of bits you can use for fancy dress of why not check out your local charity shop then you are also helping a good cause

Go self Catering or use your own house
Have a home-made pamper evening on the Friday night, with hen party games and girlie DVD’s and get everyone to bring a dish or nibbles. With booze I reckon this would be less than £20pp

Activities - ask for discounts especially if you are a large group. Be cheeky - can the bride/groom go free? Use a comparison site to find the best deal that way you know you are booking direct.

I'm sure I can think of a few more.......

cord123

I organised my sisters hen do in Windsor... we stayed in the travellodge - 3 to a room £29 a night so £10pp! Then we went to Browns for lunch, we had a set three course menu with a cocktail and a soft drink each. We then went on a boast cruise where i did a quiz (which was hilarious and a great ice breaker!) we did a bit of sight seeing then back tot he hotel, got ready then all went into my room for drinking games, mr and mrs quiz etc.... then we went to chicagos and had food platters, shots, cocktails etc .... the thing cost people £100 each and included all their food and drink etc the whole weekend :-) I even had enough money to do goody bags for everyone! xxx

Captain_Shambolic

Bump.

Okay so my mate is getting married in December and I find out yesterday that I'm planning the stag do, since his best man is useless (we've known about the wedding for about a year now). Various holiday commitments mean that it's got to be in early August as well, leaving me about 7 weeks to prepare and since there'll only be four of us and the groom is teetotal most traditional stag practices are out of the question.

I need inspiration MSE'ers, since I'm in full blown panic mode here.