Vegan Friendly Hen Do Intinerary

When my sister first asked me to be her maid of honour, I knew that the biggest responsibility would be planning the hen do. It wasn’t easy. I sat down and had a chat with her; was given the guest list and asked for a rough idea of what she’d like. She handed me the names of up to forty ladies – aunties and mums were invited from both sides! She also told me that she wanted the event to be flexible, the sort of weekend people could drop in and out of.

It was all very daunting. Beyond those simple requirements, I also wanted the weekend to require minimal walking (our mum has MS) and to be vegan-friendly, so that I could have a good time and not have to double check everything, all weekend. As it turns out, all of the planning and research that I had done eventually paid off (who’d have thought!?) and I’m happy to say that the hen do was a great success! Everyone had a great time, everything went to plan and I got a lot of compliments on my organising.

Below I’m going to share the itinerary for the weekend and some of my thoughts and feedback; what I think worked really well and what things I would’ve done differently with hindsight. I’ve also filmed a video, going through general tips, on how to plan/attend a hen do as a vegan. You can watch that here:

Nudity warning; keep scrolling at you’ll see a couple of cute bums!

Location & Accomodation

With both the bride and groom having grown up in Surrey, most of the guests were local to Surrey as well. Far enough away to be special but close enough to reach within a couple of hours, Brighton was the obvious choice. It’s famed for its night life and flamboyance – perfectly camp for a fun hen weekend.

We booked this beautiful airbnb by the seafront which sleeps up to 20 guests (we had 18) and works out £100-£120 per person for the weekend. If you book Friday and Saturday night, the host throws in Sunday night too if it’s available. A few of us took advantage of this and stayed an extra night, for others it was nice to not have to rush out Sunday morning.

The house is gorgeous and I can’t recommend it enough – it’s an Instagrammer’s dream (white, floral, girly decor) and is frequently used as a hen party house, so the host can help you out with planning the weekend. Located right by the seafront with incredible views of the ocean, on the Sunday we got to watch the Brighton marathon run past from the comfort of the dining room.

Sleepover

I kept Friday night purposefully relaxed so that people could arrive throughout the evening, to make good use of the house and to keep costs down. I decided early on to delegate this evening to my sister’s best friend and bridesmaid, Jaz, as she’s been to tonnes of hen dos. With this comes tried and tested experience of all those hen do games you can find on Pinterest – she was brilliant at picking all the right ones.

We hosted a sleepover where everyone was asked to bring their own booze, party snacks (we had so many Pringles!) and their best PJs. Jaz made some great DIY masks of the groom which we all had the best time posing for selfies with. The games of the night included a Mr & Mrs quiz (featuring videos of the groom revealing answers), making penises out of play-dough (Jaz is a primary school teacher who borrowed some school supplies) and learning a bit too much about my relatives playing ‘never have I ever’.

For dinner we ordered takeaway pizza from whoever had the best group deal; Dominoes. Unfortunately their options were very limited for me, but there was a pizza place (Pizzaface) at the end of our road that did some amazing vegan options so I called them up, aligned our timings, and went to collect my pizza right on time.

Burlesque Class

Saturday started with a Burlesque class where we were greeted with prosecco on arrival and proceeded to learn a dance routine. It was easy to follow, a good giggle and we learnt how to take off a glove and how to use a boa (reasonably sexily). It was a very fitting activity for Brighton, a town that embraces the frivolous nature of burlesque.

At one point, the class started to take a lull, but we busied ourselves by taking boomerangs with boas for the ‘gram and jumping up on the bar and taking group shots up there. It’s a great activity for filling your insta feed!

We started to get jealous of the class next door as they kept giggling loudly – turns out they were all signed up for a nude life drawing! They must have been having fun sketching out a hunky nude model. If I could go back in time, I would have added this to our itinerary. Other great classes hosted by 76 Brighton include; cocktail workshop, pole dancing and a host of dance classes including belly dance, single ladies routine and learning to salsa to Despacito.

Afternoon Tea

This was, without a doubt, the hardest activity over the whole weekend to book! I had to find a venue that was able to host afternoon tea to roughly 30 women, that was in budget, reasonably close by and that had vegan options. Eventually, I settled for Hotel Pelirocco for it’s fun decor and affordable prices. The regular food was pretty and delicious. My vegan option was provided with no fuss and at no additional cost – it was tasty but nothing too exciting.

Unfortunately, I felt that the venue was a little too small to host all 30 of us and it was a struggle mingle. Whilst the service was prompt and polite, I wish that there had been better showmanship from the host to boost the energy and atmosphere. There was little done to make the bride feel special or to work the room – odd and disappointing, as they seem to host so many hen parties.

If I had been working with a smaller group, I’d have booked us into Terre a Terre or Metrodecco – both of which have excellent reviews.

Butlers in the Buff

If you copy one thing from my itinerary, please DO THIS. The butlers that we booked were great and really brought up the atmosphere when things started lagging – plus it sped up everyone getting read for the big night out!

As the organiser of the weekend, it was so nice to have the two lovely lads take over hosting responsibilities. They made the bride blush, the aunties giggle and all the girls swoon. I didn’t have anything in mind for them to do, so they took the reigns and led us through a few party games with a lot of banter and charisma. It was great for getting to know one another and everyone, young and old, was having the time of their life.

I’d definitely recommend booking at least two butlers. Not only does it create a better atmosphere, but I expect it becomes much more comfortable for the two guys hosting in nothing but an apron. Please do remember to keep an eye on the guests and make sure that everyone is treating the boys with respect – we didn’t have any problems but we did hear some troubling stories from events they’ve had to walk out on in the past.

Lucky Voice (Karaoke)

I didn’t get many sign ups for the karaoke portion of the night, as I didn’t make it clear that Lucky Voice hosts private karaoke booths for groups. This means that it’s only your group that has to be subjected to your awful singing. We had a great time belting out girl power hits and cheesy love songs from the last twenty years. Definitely a fun place to scream and shout (or sing if you can) for a couple of hours.

We followed this with a trip to a local night club, where we rejoined the rest of the group, and boogied away for a few more hours. We found a club that played big hits across the decades to suit our group (ages eighteen to mid-fifties) but otherwise, there’s plenty of raucous gay bars and burlesque shows close to the hen house.

Dinner at The Ivy

By the Sunday evening, there were six of us left taking advantage of the complementary extra night in Brighton. We decided to end things with a trip to The Ivy in the Lanes which offers sophisticated and friendly dining. Their vegan menu was incredible (albeit dessert was a choice between sorbet and fruit salad) and the venue is absolutely beautiful with a myriad of floral decorations. Whilst expensive, it was far more affordable than I’d expected; two courses plus alcoholic drinks came to roughly £40 per person. I’d definitely recommend this restaurant for a special meal.

Spa Afternoon

Whilst the hen do was over by this point, my mum and I snuck on an extra day to head to the spa with my sister. Finding a vegan friendly spa was so easy once I discovered the Salon Search by Greener Beauty – just by popping in the postcode/area and selecting the service I was looking for (nails, salon, spa, etc) I received a whole host of vegan friendly options.

Using this I found the HARSpa in Guildford which does vegan friendly treatments and we booked in here for the afternoon en route home. I had booked a spa closer to Brighton, but realised last minute that we had a miscommunication with timings and had to cancel. As I was looking to book the day after the Brighton Marathon, finding anything else in the area was impossible.

Best of luck!

If you’re planning a hen do or attending one, I hope you have a really lovely weekend. Let me know what you get up to and what your favourite vegan-friendly activities are (or feel free to vent about some real struggles you’ve faced)!

Check out some of my other posts here;

• 5 Reasons I love Greener Beauty
• Vegan Fake Tan Guide
• Guide to Vegan Beauty Boxes
• 10 Eco Friendly Resolutions

Don’t forget to follow me on instagram, you can find me at @veganbeautygirl (for all things vegan beauty) or @veganbynicole for a more personal shot into my life.