So on here we talk a lot about lovely weddings but we don’t talk too much about the infamous hen do or bachelorette party. It’s the last hurrah, a chance for every gal to go crazy with all her favourite girlies. I’ve been on a few “hen committees” in my time and if I say so myself they have been rather legendary. First things first, shout out goes out to all of my AMAZING Dubai girls who are the best party planners I have ever known – everything I know I learned from you 🙂
If you are looking to organise a hen party I have put together a checklist with our secret formula for you to help plan the ultimate send off for your bride-to-be in Dubai.
The absolute first piece of advice I will give you is make a “hen committee” of your closest girlfriends to help you out – not only will this take a huge amount of pressure off for all the organization (this stuff can get stressful!) but you get to have fun “committee meetings” i.e. brainstorming ideas while lunching or getting mani-pedis 🙂
Of course you can pick and choose from these depending on how big you want it to be – good luck and happy party planning!
- Date + Guestlist – these are the two things you need from your bride-to-be so a) it fits perfectly into any planning she has to do and b) you don’t have to worry about not including everyone she wants there. Everything else can be a complete surprise for best results!
- Theme – this is the fun part! The theme helps to make it different from any other girls night out and of course has a connection to the bride. For example, for my sister’s hen do we picked schoolgirls because her and her husband originally met in school or for my friend who worked for an airline we picked flight attendants.
- Outfits – once you’ve picked your theme then comes the outfits! Depending on what you’ve picked you can either order these online or get them tailored. This is one thing that might take a bit of time so try to give yourself plenty of lead time on this. You will also need to find a way to separate the bride from the pack so for example if the theme is flight attendants make her the Captain.
- Hen Tack – okay this is a little cheesey and it’s not for everyone but I love it! Think bride-to-be tiaras, sunglasses, sashes that kind of thing – you can find these in the Party Shop, my favourite one is in Garhoud but they also have one in Media City.
- Day Activity – This is a great laugh and is a great way for everyone to mix and mingle before the evening – especially if all the girls don’t necessarily know each other. Ideas could include a pool day, trampolining, a cooking class or we even did a pole dancing class (in Flashdance gear nonetheless) one time which was hilariously fun!
- Venue – After the day activity you will need to pick a venue for everyone to meet for the evening festivities. This could either be at someone’s house if they are kind enough to play host or you could rent a hotel suite if you have a bigger budget/connections.
- A ‘Getting Ready Distraction’ – Between the day activity and the evening you may need to keep the bride distracted to give you a chance to get the venue ready and for everyone to get into their outfits. Seriously one of the best parts of any hen do I’ve been at is when the bride walks in to the venue to find all the girls in their outfits! Ideas for a distraction could include booking her in for a hair appointment and/or a mani-pedi – something that will take about an hour or so.
- Decor – Balloons, banners, confetti. This just adds a little bit of party flare to the venue and I’m sure Joelle would support how important the decor is for the vibe of the party 🙂
- Food and Beverage – you will need snacks and refreshments for the evening festivities but my advice is to keep it simple with things like sausages rolls or even a mass pizza delivery – the night is not about the food!
- Music – Easy – find a pop station on iTunes radio and let it play, everyone loves a bit of pop to get them in the mood!
- Games – an essential part to any hen party and my personal favourite! Tips for games include to keep it simple (noone is going to pay attention if it gets complicated!) and try and make it into teams so that all the girls get to mix, plus who doesn’t love a bit of competition? Ideas could include the Mr and Mrs Game or True Confessions where you share embarrassing/funny facts or stories about the bride and you have to guess which fact about the bride is true. Fun fact – I quizzed Joelle about Canada for her bridal shower and she got 9/10 right – very impressive!
- Evening – I highly recommend spending the most time at the chosen venue for games, giggles and girlie chats before going out anywhere. If you do want to hit the town (and I recommend that you do because it gets the bride lots of attention!) I would say to limit the number of stops to one or two to save overcomplicating it and pick somewhere with lots of cheesey music for everyone to boogie to!
- Song – Okay this isn’t necessary but a true hen party staple between our group of girls. This is where we take a song that fits the theme and rewrite the lyrics to fit the bride. We then print out song sheets for everyone and sing it to the bride on the night. Okay I know it’s a bit much but it’s so much fun! Such examples include “She’ll Marry Wayne down in Africa” (originally “Bless the rain down in Africa”) and “Your Song” from my sister’s Moulin Rouge themed hen night.
- Transport – If you’re going out and about in the evening, you will need a way to get everyone around. Things we have used in the past are a minibus (party bus!) or a limo (you can’t go wrong with a limo let’s be honest!).
- Hen Book – This is a little bit of extra work but is a great keepsake for the bridey to have. This involves collecting messages/photos from all of her favourite girlies to send her off into marriage.
- Messages – Sadly not all of the bride’s friends and family will be able to be there on the night so a great way to include them is to collect videos to show on the night or messages that can be included in the book so that they are there in spirit. This has been known to blow the bride away and the look on her face is priceless!
P.S. If you’re worried about how much this is all going to cost, we have usually asked for around 500dhs from each person to cover the cost of the above and everyone has been more than happy to pay for such a fun day 🙂
I hope this was helpful for you! If you have any special tips or tricks you’ve used to create the perfect hen party then please feel free to share with us 🙂
With love from your bride-to-be,
Amy
