Budgeting For Your Hen or Stag Weekend

With the credit crunch still current in our day to day lives a lot of people are cutting back on non essentials. However, people are still falling in love, getting married and having stag dos and hen weekends to remember so the credit crunch or double dip can take a running jump!

If you want to make sure you don’t overspend before and during your weekend I have put together some general tips:

Planning a hen party or stag do

• Speak to the stag or hen and all their major friends to find out exactly what everyone's expectations are and more importantly what budget they have in mind for the weekend.
• Booking the cheapest package you can find can work out as a serious false economy, as you could end up in a hotel 6 miles from the city centre which will cost you far more in taxi fares than booking a hotel in the city centre.
• Try and make sure you book something to do on the day, because the last thing you want is everyone overspending on booze throughout the day, peaking and skint by 7pm. I recommend an activity or two that would cost around the same as 6 - 10 drinks.
• Try and include at least one meal over the weekend, this will help people budget their spending money.
• Don’t splash too much cash on fancy dress costumes. You could get a mask made for everyone in the group with the stag or hen’s face on it and hit the town as a group of clones. The great thing about a mask is you can stick it in your pocket and get into bars and nightclubs with no entry problems.

Whilst on your hen party and stag weekend

• First and foremost organise a kitty, so everyone spends the same amount of money.
• Don’t just allow for drinks in the kitty; include everything, the food, transport, entry fees etc.
• Find out what time breakfast is served in your hotel before you go to bed and then try and make sure you get up for it so you’re not staving later on.
• Keep your fuel and parking costs down by sharing cars if you are using your own transport to get to the stag venue or activities.

My biggest tip out of all of the above is the kitty. I have been on many stag dos and the kitty is by far the best idea and stops you from spending extravagant amounts of dosh and gives everyone the same budget. One of the best men on a stag do I went on to Bournemouth had the kitty in an old ladies purse and everyone took a turn looking after it.

Article by Hen and Stag Party Organiser Marco Walker

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