Little sis is getting married, Im maid of honour. I therefore have to organise her hen party...

[OracleInaCoracle]

I know exactly what I want to do for her. a spa day with beauty treatment, followed by comedy night and a stay at a hotel. have found the package i want in brum for £135pp.

2 questions -
1 - is that too pricey?
2 - should i use a party organiser or try to do it myself?

Yup, depends on the intended guests' budgets. If there's, say one person who you know is skint, how are you going to handle that?

lol, she is getting married in cyprus so a lot of her friends wont be attending anyway. plus it will be about 2m before the actual wding.

also looking at a private movie screening instead of spa day. that takes it down to £110

forgot to say, also organising a local night out just before she flys out.

and its not for 18m or so, so that people have plenty of notice...

If you use one of these companies you have the advantage of paying a low deposit and not having to confirm numbers until nearer the time. Everyone can pay the organiser direct and you don't have to chase people for money!

On the other hand, with that much notice you could get some really good deals and bring down the cost a bit.

Try lastminute.com for comedy or spa deals and see how it compares to the price you have been given.

Its fun but also a lot of responsibilty, huh?

we have used hen heaven for our hen weekend which is on saturday in birmingham, we are just doing the comedy club and hotel thing and have planned shopping and stuff and thats cost us £79 so for the price including spa day for you its a good price.
Hen heaven have been very good arranging everything and i would recommend them to you! I dealt with someone called Laila!

The wedding is in cyprus!

So not all her friends are going but some are, and amy be thier dh/dp will go to the stag night/weekend.

£100 - hen night plus ££ travel and spending, baby sitters
££ - stag night
£££ flights, accomodation etc
££ - john lewis gift

One couple with children could end up spending ££££££ to make their day(it is just a DAY) special.

Please,please ask around the other guests first. 2009 is looking pretty skint for a lot of us.

I have just been ranting about this on another thread 'am i being unreasonable'
check it out

thnk you bonkerz, will check them out.

duke, it is a LOT of responsibility. im her only bridesmaid too, so its all falling on me. just thought if i can start thinking about it now it gives me up to 2y to arrange it. dont want to end up in some dodgy nightclub because i havent been prepared.

thank you zanz, i do understand what you are saying, but this is why im trying to give people as much notice as possible. im pretty skint myself!

what does SHE want to do?

i floated the idea of spa day/night out/hotel stay past her and she got really excited. she loves that type of thing (i prefer meal and few drinks...) she originally wanted to go to london ut that'll be far too pricy

I think it's too costly - sorry, i know that's not what you want to hear.

Some people won't be going to Cyprus because they can't AFFORD to go to cyprus so spending £s on stag and hen do's, wedding gifts and babysitters, taxi's etc to a UK wedding will add up.

#unless everyone is happy to spend that much that is - assuming you will be spreading the cost of the bride?

agree it is pricy. its just so hard!

Why not go for the night out as the main thing, and make the spa part optional with no obligation to join. Your sister might enjoy a more intimate lunch/spa with just a few close family friends and then a more general night out with everyone else too. Do you need everyone to stay at the hotel too, or can that be optional?

crumpet, thats a good idea. brum isnt that far from us (1hr train) so could split it in two!

lissie, for my hen do, i had tea in town with my sis then went to a caberet club type place afterwards....aside from drinks and a cab home, people paid £8 and we had such a good time!!

night out with mates, spa day with you and close friend either on the day or the day after?

I agree that Crumpet's idea is a good one.

Just wanted to add a point from recent experience: If you do choose to use an event organiser, make sure you book using CREDIT card. I know that several companies of this type have gone under recently and clients have been unable to reclaim any deposits paid by debit card (and which made for a VERY expensive hen non-weekend to Barcelona recently ).

Can you find a hotel with a spa and get a deal from them for the whole lot? If you have double/twin rooms and bunk up you can cut the costs in half too.

i suggest you stay in your home town, or near it, - esp if the wedding is away - so that people can opt out of bits of it if they can't afford it/just come for night out instead of spa bit/stay with family/friends instead of hotel.

best hen night i ever went to was drinks at bride's mates house, food then the grand ol opry in glasgow - high kitsch, danced with men dressed up as cowboys, free in for "ladies", and £1 a pint. we all loved it. i understand wanting to be more sophisticated, though!