How Much Does A Hen Do Cost?
The average cost of attending a hen do has increased dramatically in recent years.
What used to be a couple of casual drinks in the pub the night before the wedding has turned into a day and night out at the very least or can turn into as much as a full week away hen do abroad.
What Are The Biggest Hen Party Costs?
The most expensive things about a hen weekend are:
- Accommodation
- Travel
- Activities
- Night out
- Food & Drink
- Outfits & Accessories
- Gifts
On top of shelling out for all that, anyone attending the hen party has also got the costs of attending the actual wedding looming too.
Looking for affordable places to stay? Check out our faves for different cities around the UK here.
If you’ve got several friends who are getting married in the same year, it can all start to feel a bit too much, can’t it?
We’ve researched the costs of attending hen parties and have got some helpful tips on how you can cut down how much you are spending on hen dos and weddings.
How Much Does A Hen Party Cost?
This depends what kind of hen party it is. We’ve broken down the rough costs for different types of hen do:
Type of Hen | Average Cost |
---|---|
Daytime Hen | £60 – £100 |
Day + Evening Hen | £100 – £120 |
Hen Weekend (UK) | £200 – £400 |
Hen Weekend (Abroad/EU) | £350 – £550 |
Hen Weekend (Abroad/Long-Haul) | £600 – £1000 |
Bear in mind that these are ROUGH costs of what you can expect to be paying to attend a hen do of that type. These costs were last reviewed in August 2024, and therefore take into account recent increases in the cost living in the UK.
How much the actual cost ends up being depends very much on the type of activities you do, where you stay and how you travel.
Research by Vouchercodes.co.uk last year revealed the following breakdown for the average cost of attending a hen party in the UK:
- Food & Drink – £28.35
- Clothing and accessories – £36.37
- Transport – £26.05
- Accommodation – £27.82
- Gifts and other party extras – £35.47
- Activities – £45.41

While this gives a good guide to how much the nation is spending on the average hen party, the real costs could work out as much more or sometimes less.
For example, just £27.82 for accommodation seems very cheap, so you might want to budget more for that just in case.
Spending £35.47 each on gifts and accessories is certainly an area of the budget that could be reduced.
Should The Hens Pay For The Bride?
Who pays for the hen do? This is a very common question for people organising hen parties, since it is quite common for the hens to pay for the bride on her hen weekend.
Whether you want to do this needs to be decided by the maid of honour together with the other hens.
It is really dependent on whether the hens can afford to pay their share for the bride. Some people will be putting themselves into financial difficulty to even come on the hen do in the first place, so this needs to be handled with care.
What some groups decide to do is to split the bride’s share between the Maid of Honour and the bridesmaids, since these are likely to be her closest friends and family.
How To Collect Money For A Hen Do
If you’re in charge of collecting the money for a hen weekend then you might feel a bit stressed about keeping track of everything.
Here are our tips for the best way to collect money from your hens:
- Have an excel spreadsheet that you can keep note of what has been spent and who owes what
- Share that spreadsheet with the other hens for full transparency of what they owe and by when
- Keep payments simple by using PayPal, Monzo or simply a bank transfer with a reference
- You could also use a dedicated “pot” such as Leetchi.com
- Book a hen party package with a company that takes care of the payment admin for you, such as Freedom Ltd.
How To Keep Hen Do Costs Down
If you are alarmed by the average cost of almost £200 for attending a hen party, there are several ways you can do a hen do on a budget. Here are our tips:
- Stay local – by eliminating the need for major travel and accommodation costs you can cut out the bulk of the big spending.
- Do free activities – while it’s tempting to go and do pricey, once in a lifetime activities for your hen, it’s more than possible to have a memorable time with your pals without spending a fortune. Read our post on fun, free hen activities for oodles of inspiration.
- Keep it flexible – If you can make your hen flexible by offering different activities and parts and telling your hens they can join for as much or as little of it as they like then you are way more likely to get to celebrate with everyone you love.
Let us know in the comments whether you think hen weekends are getting too expensive, or if you think the cost is justified to give your best friend the send off into married life she deserves.
If you’re happy to share how much you’ve spent on either your own or a friend’s hen do, pop us over a message so we can build up a resource for others planning hen parties.