The Ultimate Hens Party Planning Checklist

You've been crowned maid of honour. Congratulations, you've also been handed a six-month spreadsheet you didn't know you were signing up for. The kind that lives quietly in the back of your brain and pings you at 11pm with thoughts like "did I confirm the bus" and "is the photographer vegetarian".

This is the planning checklist Australian MOHs actually use. Not the generic Pinterest one with eighty boxes and zero priority order. Not the American one written for venues that don't exist here. The one that runs phase by phase, six months to showtime, with the bits no one tells you upfront.

We've hosted hens parties across paddocks, peacocks, pubs and packed function rooms. Forty-two thousand-plus guests, give or take a few late-RSVPs. We've seen what falls over when it falls over, and we've seen the five non-negotiables that hold a hens together: the bride conversation, the venue booking, the dietary collection, the running order and the final reminder. Everything else is recoverable.

Read it phase by phase if you're planning months out. Skim to the section that matches where you are if you're already inside the timeline and panicking. Either way, by the end of it you should know exactly what to do next.

Part of the wider Paint Juicy hens night ideas hub covering themes, games, decor and speeches. Bookmark this one for the checklist itself.

Before anything else: the bride conversation

The single most important meeting you'll have is the bride conversation. Get it right and the next five months are 80% logistics. Get it wrong and you'll end up in circles, rebooking venues at three months out because the bride wasn't actually into the idea you thought she was.

Have it in private. In person if possible, on the phone if not. Don't text. Texts get re-read and over-analysed and miss the tone entirely. Make it casual. Coffee, a long walk, a glass of wine at her place. Don't bring a clipboard.

Eight questions to bring with you, in roughly this order:

Take notes. Send her a recap message that afternoon confirming the answers. From this conversation, the entire plan flows.

Six months out: the foundation phase

This is the unglamorous bit where nothing visible happens but every later decision gets easier. If you've done the bride conversation, you already know the vision and the no-list. The six-month phase is about turning her answers into a working framework.

Lock the date first. The non-negotiable here is checking it with the bride, the bridesmaids and the immediate family before you announce it to anyone else. Once you've locked it, send it to the wider guest list as a save-the-date so people can plan around it. Don't book anything yet. The date is the foundation, not the booking.

Set the budget per head. Be honest about the spread. Most Australian hens parties land at $80-150 AUD per head for a single day or night, $300-700 AUD per head for a weekend. Build the base ticket to cover the essentials (venue, activity, one shared meal) and make every other line item opt-in.

Decide the format. One night? Day plus night? Full weekend? The format dictates the venue type, the activity choice, the guest list size and the budget. Get this locked at six months out so you're not pivoting at three.

Open a shared planning doc with the bridesmaids. Google Doc or Notion, whatever everyone can access. This becomes the single source of truth. No more "wait, what did we decide about dietaries?" group chat archaeology.

Four months out: the booking phase

This is when reality hits the calendar. Venues and main activities book out faster than anything else, so lock those in before you worry about decor or props. The order matters more than people realise.

Pick the theme first. The theme dictates the venue, the activity, the dress code, the playlist and the decor. Lock it before you book anything else. Use the bride's answers from the conversation to narrow it down. If she said "chill" and "intimate", you're not booking a function room for forty.

Book the activity before the venue. Counter-intuitive but right. Activity providers (paint and sip operators, cocktail schools, photographers, mixologists) are pickier about dates than most function rooms and AirBnBs. They're also harder to swap if you change your mind. Venues are usually more flexible. Lock the activity first, then find a venue that fits.

Book the supporting cast. The photographer. The accommodation if it's a weekend hens. The transport (mini bus, Uber XL, driver). These three book out separately from venues so don't assume "we'll figure it out closer to the day".

Send the formal save-the-date. Paperless Post or a real card. Never just a group chat. Group chats normalise the message. A real invite signals that this is a proper event with a date worth blocking.

Confirm bridesmaid contributions. Each bridesmaid should know what they're putting in. Collect the first instalment now if the budget is high. Half upfront, half a month before the hens is a fair split.

Two months out: the operational phase

The romance of planning is over. This is the operational stretch where the boring boxes get ticked and you save yourself a meltdown later. Two months out, every detail that can be confirmed should be confirmed, and every guest needs to know exactly what they're showing up to.

Send the formal invite. Every detail a guest could possibly ask: address, dress code, time, contact person, drop-off and pickup instructions, parking, whether to bring cash or card, BYO rules, what's covered and what's not. Assume nothing. They will ask. Save yourself the 47 messages.

Collect dietaries, allergies, sober preferences and accessibility needs. One guest will be coeliac. One will be off the booze for personal reasons (don't ask why). One will need a wheelchair-friendly venue. Find out now, not at the door.

Confirm catering with the venue or the caterer. If it's at home with a private chef, lock the menu now. If it's BYO at an AirBnB, assign each bridesmaid a course to coordinate.

Lock the running order. Write down the timeline: when food hits, when the activity starts, when speeches happen, when the cake comes out, when the night ends. Send it to the bridesmaids, not the guests. Guests don't need the timeline, just the start and end.

Buy the bride's wearables. Sash, crown, "bride" badge, special outfit if there is one. Don't leave these to the last week.

Plan the games and print the materials. Trivia, dare cards, roast questions. Bring extras for the guest who loses the first one.

Confirm decor: who's making it, who's buying it, who's hanging it. One bridesmaid owns this end-to-end.

Guest list mechanics: handling the awkward

The guest list is where most hens go sideways. It's not the number of guests, it's the mix. Six awkward situations the MOH will face, and how to handle each without damaging the friendship group.

The plus-one creep. Someone tries to bring their partner. Politely no. Hens parties are not couples events. Cite the budget and the headcount cap. If they push, talk to the bride directly and let her make the call. Don't litigate it on the group chat.

The day-only guest. Someone who can't stay for the full weekend or the late-night portion. Fine to allow. Charge them a pro-rata fee that covers their portion. Don't make them feel like a second-class invite.

The lateral invite. A guest casually asks if their cousin or sister can come. Politely no. The bride curated the list. Inviting extras without her sign-off is not your call to make. Loop the bride in if there's a good reason.

The bride's mother-in-law to-be. Always invite, even if relations are strained. The hens politics ripple into the wedding. A mother-in-law not being invited gets noted forever. If the bride genuinely doesn't want her there, that's her call, but the default is to invite.

The stressed-about-cost guest. Have a quiet word in private. Offer them an opt-out on the most expensive line items (accommodation, photographer, optional add-ons) so they can still come without going broke. Don't announce it. Don't make it a charity moment.

The bridesmaid who can't afford the full split. Subsidise quietly between the other bridesmaids. No announcements. The bride doesn't need to know. The friendship survives, the hens still happens, the credit card balance settles by Christmas.

The general rule: handle awkward things privately, one-on-one, in messages or phone calls. The group chat is for logistics, not negotiations.

One month out: the chasing phase

The laggards reveal themselves. Someone's still not paid. Someone's claiming they "thought it was the other Saturday". Someone's quietly trying to bring a plus-one who wasn't on the list. Hold the line. The MOH is allowed to be firm at this stage. Lock the headcount, lock the money, lock the logistics.

Chase RSVPs and lock the headcount. Send a polite "final call" message to anyone who hasn't confirmed. Give them three days. After that, assume they're not coming and move on.

Send the final headcount to the venue and the activity provider. Most providers will lock pricing at this number. If guests bail after this point, the per-head cost may rise to cover fixed costs. The bridesmaids absorb the difference quietly.

Collect final payments from every guest. Chase privately, never on the group chat. Embarrassing for the late payers, awkward for everyone watching. A direct message saying "hey just chasing the $80 for the hens" lands better than a public group nudge.

Confirm transport. Ubers, mini bus, designated drivers, the hotel shuttle. Whoever's doing the driving needs to know the route, the timing and whether they're staying sober or being collected at the end.

Buy props, prizes, group gifts. The bride often gets a group gift from the bridesmaids (jewellery, a personalised hamper, an experience voucher). One bridesmaid coordinates this end-to-end.

Block out the day in thirty-minute slots so nothing surprises you. Write the timeline down. Print it. The MOH carries the printed run sheet on the day.

Two weeks out: the lock-in phase

Everything that can be confirmed gets confirmed in writing. Verbal confirmations don't count anymore. If a venue, photographer or activity provider hasn't emailed you back this week with the booking details, follow up until they do. This is also the week the guest reminder goes out with the final logistics so no one turns up an hour late at the wrong address.

Confirm everything in writing. Email the venue, the activity provider, the photographer, the transport. Get them to reply confirming time, address, contact person and any last-minute requirements. Save the emails.

Send the final reminder to guests with all logistics. Address, time, dress code, what to bring, what not to bring. Pin it to the group chat too. Some guests will read it three times. Some won't read it at all. You'll spot the latter when they show up in the wrong outfit.

Print trivia, dare cards, roast questions, signs and the run sheet. Print extras. Someone always loses something.

Charge the speaker, the camera, the phones. Bring spare batteries.

Buy the bride's group gift if you haven't yet.

Stress-test the playlist start to finish. Play it on a real speaker in a real room. Spot the songs that don't fit, swap them out.

The week of: the panic-free zone

If you've done the earlier weeks properly, this one's quiet. Resist the temptation to add things. Don't suddenly decide you need fresh flowers in three colours. Don't reorganise the run sheet at 11pm on Wednesday. The plan is the plan.

Chase any final laggards on payment, RSVP or dietaries. Some people will still be unconfirmed. Make peace with it and move on.

Confirm decor arrival, pickup or delivery. If someone's hand-making something, check it's done.

Buy fresh perishables: flowers, balloons, ice, food, mixers.

Walk through the venue if you can get in beforehand. Visualise where everyone sits, where the photo wall goes, where the bride enters.

Get a proper sleep two nights before. The night before is always patchy. Plan for it.

The day of: the show

Arrive one to two hours before the guests. Set up the room while it's still calm. Brief the host crew (your fellow bridesmaids) on who's looking after the bride, who's running the games, who's wrangling guests. The MOH is the host on this day. She doesn't drink first, she doesn't get stuck in a corner, she makes sure things start on time. After the speech, she joins the party.

One bridesmaid is on bride-management. Her job: glass topped, food in front of her, photos taken, comfortable. She doesn't leave the bride's side for the first two hours.

One bridesmaid is on guest-management. Her job: welcomes, dietaries handled, the awkward intros, the troubleshooting. She moves through the room.

One bridesmaid is on logistics. Her job: timekeeping, music transitions, prompting the speech, signalling when the cake comes out. She runs the run sheet.

The MOH coordinates all three. She's the conductor, not the violinist. After the speech, she switches modes from host to guest, and the run sheet quietly retires.

The bride's job: nothing. She turns up, she's photographed, she's adored, she paints (if it's a paint and sip), she sings (if it's karaoke), she goes home with her canvas and her group's voicemails saved to her phone forever.

A small note on alcohol. The MOH should be the night's anchor until after the speech. Champagne for the toast, water until then. You can party once the structured part of the evening is done. The bride's first solo karaoke song is usually the signal that the run sheet is over.

The MOH cheat sheet: what to skip and what to never skip

Six months of planning gives you a thousand decisions. Most of them don't matter. A few of them really do. Here's the short version.

Never skip: the bride conversation at six months, the venue booking at four months, the dietary collection at two months, the running order at two months, the final reminder at two weeks, and the run sheet on the day. These six are the ones that, if missed, cause the night to wobble. Everything else is recoverable.

Skip without guilt: custom hashtags, themed cocktails with the bride's name in them, gift bags for every guest, matching pyjamas (unless the bride is genuinely into them), hens-themed wrapping paper, novelty L-plates, party games that involve embarrassing the bride sexually, photo booths with props that look stolen from a 2014 wedding, and any prop that ends in "veil" except the actual one. Hens parties go off the rails when you try to control vibes instead of logistics. Lock the logistics, let the vibes happen.

Spend the most on: the activity and the photographer. The activity is the story everyone tells the next morning. The photographer is the artefact the bride keeps. Skimp on anything else first.

Spend the least on: decor, props, hens-themed merch. These are the line items where most MOHs over-spend out of guilt or anxiety. The bride won't notice the difference between $200 and $800 worth of decor. She'll notice the difference between a great photographer and a bad one for the rest of her life.

The mistakes most MOHs make, phase by phase

We see the same mistakes show up at the same phases. Here's the pattern, so you can sidestep it.

Six months out: skipping the bride conversation because "I know her well". The most common mistake. Friendship is not insight. Brides change between the engagement and the hens. Have the conversation properly, even if it feels redundant. She'll surprise you with at least one preference.

Four months out: booking the venue before the activity. Wrong order. Activity providers (us included) are pickier about dates than most venues. Book the activity first, then find a venue that fits its requirements. Otherwise you'll end up locked into a function room that the activity can't run in.

Two months out: assuming people will figure out the details from the group chat. They won't. Group chats are for casual updates. Formal invites with every detail spelled out are how guests prepare. The MOH who says "just check the chat" creates 47 follow-up questions.

One month out: chasing payments via the group chat. Embarrassing for the people who haven't paid, awkward for everyone watching. Chase privately, one-on-one. The non-payers usually catch up within 48 hours of a polite direct message.

Two weeks out: not double-checking the venue and activity in writing. A verbal "yes we're booked" doesn't count. Email confirmation with date, time, headcount and contact person. Save the email. We've seen MOHs arrive at venues that had no record of their booking because nothing was confirmed in writing.

The week of: changing the plan. The plan is the plan. Don't add last-minute things. Don't reorganise the run sheet because you saw something on TikTok. The MOH who panics adds, the MOH who runs the night holds the line.

The day of: drinking too early. The MOH is the night's anchor until after the speech. Champagne for the toast, water until then. Three guests will quietly thank you for being the sober one in the first photo.

After the hens: the 48-hour debrief

The night ends, but the MOH's job has a postscript.

Within 48 hours: Send a thank-you message to every guest. A short, warm note. Mention the funniest moment from the night. Drop a shared photo folder link in the group chat. Photos collected from every phone go in there. AirDrop the group, drop them all in.

Within a week: The photographer (if you hired one) delivers proofs. The MOH curates. Pick the best 15 to 20. Send the bride the curated set in one message, no commentary, no over-explanation. Let her react.

Two weeks after: Stop posting hens photos publicly without the bride's nod. Some brides hate this. Some love it. Ask before sharing on socials. The default is to ask.

Wedding day: The bride may want to display her hens canvas at the wedding reception. Pack it with you on the day if she's into that. We've seen this become a small but beautiful moment, the canvas sitting on a side table next to the guestbook. Whether she keeps it private or puts it out, the canvas she painted at her hens lives forever after the night.

Hens party planning FAQ

How much time does a maid of honour actually spend planning a hens party?

Across six months, the average MOH spends 30-50 hours total on planning. Roughly one to two hours a week, with the heaviest weeks at four months out (booking phase) and two weeks out (lock-in phase). The day itself is six to eight hours of hosting. Plan accordingly so you don't burn out at three months in.

Can the bride see the checklist before the hens?

Up to her. Some brides want every detail. Some want surprises. Ask in the bride conversation at six months. Whatever she says, respect it. If she wants surprises, share the budget breakdown but keep the run sheet and the location private.

What if the MOH lives in a different city to the bride?

Common, completely workable. The MOH runs the planning remotely. Delegate the day-of hands-on tasks to a bridesmaid who lives in the city. Fly in the day before, do the venue walk-through together, run the night. Plenty of MOHs do this. The key is delegating the day-of hands-on tasks to someone local.

How do I handle a bridesmaid who isn't pulling her weight?

Quiet conversation, in person, not on the group chat. Ask if everything's okay. Give her one specific task she can own end-to-end. If she still doesn't deliver, reallocate the task quietly and don't bring it up again until after the wedding. Hens nights are not the place to litigate bridesmaid hierarchy.

Should the MOH plan everything alone or delegate?

Delegate. Always. The MOH is the project manager, not the contractor. Assign each bridesmaid an end-to-end ownership area (decor, transport, music, games, bride-management on the day). The MOH owns the bride conversation, the run sheet and the final go/no-go calls. Everything else is delegated.

Tick the boxes, trust the timeline, give the bride the night she'll tell at every dinner party for the next decade.

Trent & James