If one of your girls is getting married and you’ve been tapped to be a bridesmaid, you’re probably wildly excited to be organising her hen’s night. Of course you need the fun outfits, plenty of sparkling wine on hand and a few penis straws (it’s a cliché, but still lots of fun), but you still have a bit left to do.
The guest list
This is a celebration of the bride, so check with her to see who is invited to the party. She might want to bring some of her family (or some future in laws), or just keep it to the girls. This will also give you a clue as to how wild the night can get – if she brings lots of family keep it within reason, but if she wants just the girls then you can go nuts!
Plan some killer activities
You can’t just sit around and drink bottles of wine with the girls (actually that sounds pretty great) –this is the biggest party of the bride’s life and it needs to have some fun stuff to do! Doing a scavenger hunt is a great start, with the added bonus that you can go as risqué or clean as you like on the challenges. You could really do anything from get a guy to give you a condom to drink one of each cocktail on the specials menu.
If the bride wants strippers, then by all means get them. If she doesn’t then really don’t – no matter how boring you think it is. If she just wants to have a few drinks and dance with the girls, then that’s what you do. The night is about her, after all.
Keep the budget reasonable
There are really two ways to go with paying for the party. Either everyone going chips in, or just the bridesmaids pay for it all. Either way, the bride doesn’t pay – it’s all about her, and she’s throwing you all a huge party anyway.
You need to keep the budget of everyone who’s going in mind. Not everyone will be able to afford a weekend away, or to throw in hundreds of dollars for bottomless bottles of Bollinger on a harbour cruise. If you do want to do something super expensive, maybe keep it to just the bride and bridesmaids, and have a bigger party for other friends and family.
