I’ll start by saying I’ve organised both hen dos and baby showers in the past so I know it’s no mean feat to get money from people etc. Thats not what my gripe is.
I may just be unlucky but every time I am invited to a hen do for some reason whoever is organising can’t seem to give people a straight answer on price.
I’ve been to one abroad where the host said it would cost £250 all in for a weekend away (plus spending money). To cut a long story short, 3 nights away ended up costing us about £500 each (not including spending money), which was literally double what was originally agreed. I was pretty irritated at the cost and I would never have gone if I had of known in the beginning it would cost that much.
Then another one we got told a price, everyone agreed and then the host ended up planning various activities that no one was told about before hand. We all got ‘surprised’ with them when we were on the hen do and felt forced to pay to attend to not cause issues or make the bride feel uncomfortable. This ended up doubling the cost.
I’ve been invited to two this year - 1st one couldn’t make her mind up on the type of accommodation we would stay in because of the prices, asked everyone for opinions and as predicted no one could come to a agreement (there are 20 people attending). Ended up in absolute chaos and it still hasn’t been finalised despite the hen do being in May. I’m not even convinced we we will able to get accommodation for 20 people this late where they are planning on holding it now!
2nd one wants a non refundable deposit to confirm your place but won’t tell anyone the total cost before they’ve handed it over. She has said that activities, travel and food aren’t included. A few people have said they would need to know the final cost as travel and activities could easily double the cost of the whole thing but she still won’t say (probably because she doesn’t actually know or hasn’t thought it through).
I mean am I just being ridiculous here? Is it that hard to just make a decision, price everything up and just tell people it will cost £££ to attend plus spending money for any drinks you want on a night out etc? They know where they want to go, they know the activities they want to do, they know where everyone lives to arrange a mini bus for travel. Just add it all up and give people a best case figure if everyone can attend and a worst case figure if only a few go. Then people can make an informed decision right from the beginning.
I’ve definitely learnt from my past mistakes so certainly won’t be committing to either until I have the answers around cost, but it’s just exhausting and it almost puts me off going as it’s the same issue every single time!