How to plan the Perfect Hen Party
It can be an overwhelming experience to plan the perfect hen night. Everyone has high expectations for this big event and you want to make sure the Brides Hen is everything she expects and more.
Not only is it hard to plan the perfect event, but you also have the worry and stress that you have included everyone on the invite list, get value for money and an affordable package to suit your hens, transport, Entertainment which will be right for everyone in attendance.. The list goes on…
To help you out we have a short guide to planning the perfect hen Party.
With more than enough to occupy the bride's mind, she'll be relying on her friends to bring home the bacon and sort out the specifics relating to the hen weekend.
There is no definitive guide on how to carry a hen weekend off with perfection, but here are a few rules and guidelines to get you started.
The main areas to tick off are:
Who?
Where?
When?
How to get there? &
What to do?
Everything else is just window dressing.
1. Who?
Ideally there should be no more that three people on your Hen Party Planning Committee. The smaller the committee the easier it will be to make decisions and get things rolling. Ask the Bride for a guest list of names that include the following brands of hen guests:-
Definite
This is the hard-core souls who the bride wants there no matter what the circumstances.
Possible
This will include people who she hasn't seen for a little while and isn't sure of how likely they are to come, what with commitments, children and the like.
Have-To's
This increasingly familiar pattern, also duplicated with stag nights these days, includes the prospective in-laws' relevant members being invited to proceedings, usually with the bride's secret hope that they can't actually come so that she can totally enjoy herself without being on her best behaviour but will still look a great daughter-in-law for having offered in the first place! Sometimes includes oddballs and space cadets who are long-time friends of someone on the 'definites' list, and thereby have to be invited.
Definitely Not's
Occasionally, the bride in question may have a couple of names who would one day have made the 'Have To's' list, but now, for reasons she would prefer not to mention are definely not welcome to the party.
2. Where
The bride will doubtless have pencilled down a shortlist of possible locations, though she probably won't care as long as it meets all her requirements. This is where your real work begins, for the venue has to be somewhere that will be easy enough for everyone to get to without it being somewhere they've all been plenty of times before; somewhere that is an exciting prospect, but not so far that the travel costs put people off; somewhere that is original and memorable but isn't going to be jam-packed with other hen parties doing exactly the same thing.
At this point, whilst deciding on where you want to base the fun and frolics, you will also need to know what approximate budget everyone is looking towards. It is no use going off and doing loads of research on a crammed itinerary in Newcastle if the cost per person doubles that of what most guests can afford. As the coordinator, you have to disprove the famous adage and keep all of the people happy absolutely all of the time.
3. When
This will be closely linked with your decision on where to go. Where the guests themselves live, what time each person can get to the hotel on the Friday, what time they each need to get back on the Sunday, etc. Ideally your journey should not be more than a 2 hour drive, we you want to make the most of your weekend and have fun, not spend hours travelling to the destinations and getting home.
4. What To Do
A massive part of the success of your weekend will be not so much where you are as what you do. Commonly, the bride will suggest one or two things that she's heard about or had recommended, but apart from that the itinerary will be in your hands. Naturally, you want a Good Hotel offering Leisure Facilities and nightlife close by and a sit-down meal while you're there, but you might be asked to sort out anything from a day's Pampering to some karting too. As with the choice of dates, try to dissuade the bride from being too specific, just in case her original preference of Rally Karts, Medieval Banquet and Horse Riding hits an availability snag!
Try to imagine what cocktail of events will most suit and please the spread of guests likely to attend - would everyone really go for Quad Biking over a visit to a Spa? - and also consider that you need to hit the middle ground between not having enough to do and having too regimented a line-up. Easy? Yeah, right.
On a serious note, we would recommend that hen parties do not partake in Paintballing if you don't want bruises for the big day (this can also apply to Clay Pigeon Shooting if you're planning on wearing a short sleeved dress on the wedding day).
Finally, the weekend can always have a theme too, should the lady of the hour so desire.
It's a big job for only the most seasoned multi tasker, but when you choose a Package at The Four Seasons Hotel & Leisure Club in either Carlingford or Monaghan, we can assure you that everyone will be delighted with their Fun Filled Weekend.
For more information on our Hen Packages visit our websites:
www.4seasonshotel.ie www.4seasonshotelcarlingford.ie
Follow us on Facebook: Hen Party Ireland
So here goes… the beginning of my weekly blog.. there will not be a particular theme really just my general thoughts on the day to day happenings in the Four Seasons Hotel Monaghan and my thoughts on what is happening beyond the doors of our beautiful hotel.
