How to Send the Perfect Hen Party Invite

If you’re organising the most important step on the road to the wedding, don’t fall at the first hurdle. 

Hen party invites set the tone and excitement of the entire event. Whether you’re pawing at strippers, sipping afternoon tea, or tearing up the streets of Marbella; your hens need to know what, when, where, and how much. 

Of course, such questions need handling with a touch of class — enter your hen do invitation. From finding the ideal design to suit your bride-to-be’s personality, to tricky pitfalls you need to avoid, we’re going to give you a quick and focused run-down of everything ‘hen party invite’.

 

Which hen invite for which bride-to-be? 

Before you pick, print and personalise your hen do invites, you need to know what kind of girl your bride-to-be is. A good invitation will reflect her personality and what she wants from her hen party, so getting this wrong might have you starting on the backfoot.

 

Sassy bride 

A saucy, brassy bride-to-be needs an invite to match. We think this Girls Just Want to Have Fun Hen Party invitation says it all, if this character bio sums up your soon-to-be-bride. The pink dancing girls are surely a tantalising premise of the type of night her and her best friends are going to have. Plus, we can think of no more suitable lyric to get us in the party spirit. 

For what type of hen party?

This invite perfectly sets the tone for a night on the tiles in any party city.

 

Sophisticated bride 

A classy bride-to-be doesn’t want body parts smeared all over her invites, so send out something simply traditionally. This Bling Ring Hen Night invite is classic wedding, with the iconic jewellery design working alongside the elegant font to give an impression of class and refinement. 

For what type of hen party?

If you get this through the post, you know you’re in for a posh affair — think spa day or vintage high tea.

 

Cute bride

This fun cartoon Hen Night Party invite is perfectly suited to a sweet, young-at-heart bride.  But don’t worry, the bottles of fizz strewn all over the floor and healthy sprinkling of ‘L’ plates assure your hens that it’s no night for a child. 

For what type of hen party?

We’d use these to invite our hens to a fun, outdoor event — like body zorbing or paintballing — followed by plenty of drinks around the local bars.

 

Wild bride 

If you’ve got a caged beast of a bride-to-be on your hands, something like this Wild Hen Party invitation will let your hens know what’s in store. The spreadeagle stripper tipping his hot-pink stetson on a bubblegum car seat can only mean a crazy hen night has been accomplished, so we’re sure she’ll appreciate the gesture as much as your hens will appreciate the heads up. 

For what type of hen party?

Strip shows, dominatrix lessons, pole dancing classes, Red Light tours around Amsterdam, and everything in between.

 

Cheeky bride 

For a bride-to-be with a naughty sense of humour, go for a design similar to this Last Fling Hen Party invite. Obviously, it’s very tongue-in-cheek and clearly a joke, but you might want to think twice about sending it to the groom’s mother if she’s invited. 

For what type of hen party?

A cheeky hen will do anything for a giggle. These hen party invites are ideal for getting people in the mood for go-karting, nude life drawings, cocktail-making sessions, and a night in fancy dress.

 

What info to give on your invitations 

The physical invites often/always come after the group discussion (in text or online), so your hens will already know the fundamentals of your plan like where/when/cost. Now, you only have a small window of opportunity here to let your hens know what’s been planned and why they absolutely can't miss it. The essential information you need to give is: 

• Whose hen party it is
• Date and time it’s taking place
• Where it’s happening
• Your name, RSVP number and when they must get back to you

Never send out the invites until the venue you’ve chosen has been booked, as this could be embarrassing. Plus, we suggest making your RSVP deadline quite close to the date you send the invites, as there’s bound to be a few procrastinators who will take ages to get back to you if you allow it.

 

When you should send the invite? 

A good hen do organisers gets her hen party invites out quickly, although we know you can only do this once you have a rough guess of who is coming. We suggest getting the invites out at least six months in advance, so they have lots of time to RSVP and you have plenty of time to arrange transport (if that’s your) job. 

The more time you give people to make arrangements and save cash, the more likely they are to attend and the happier your soon-to-be bride will be.

 

What if there’s a deposit to pay? 

Of course, if the event you’ve booked requires a deposit, hen do invites can get tricky. There are two ways to go about this. 

First scenario: you, or you and other close hens, pays the deposit for everyone and then lets the rest know how much it will be each once the RSVPs come back. This is the easiest and quickest option for getting your dream venue, although there is a risk that you and the rest of the guest list will pay slightly more than originally expected. 

Second scenario: you get the deposit money from each hen before sending the invitations. We know this sounds backward, but you don't want to post a perfect invitation only to message around later and say it's no longer available because it’s taken too long to rake in the money. A little ‘Save the Date’ card works well until you nail down the venue. Plus, you’ll get a clearer idea of how many formal invitations are needed.

 

How to invite the bride to her own hen party 

We never do this. We never send an invite to someone to attend their own party. It’s either a surprise or they do it themselves. The hen party invite is an odd animal and there are a few ways to tame it. Either: 

• Send her out the same hen party invitation as the rest: if the style is perfectly suited to her personality, she should love it. 

• Don't send her anything at all: an ideal solution if the hen do is a big secret or she’s a ‘need-to-know-everything’ type that’s been in on the organising from the start.

Create a special design: why not give her an individual invite? You can make your own with lots of photos and teasing clues as to what’s in store.

 

Top hen party invite tips 

• Provide both your email address and phone number on the invites to make sure everyone can get in touch with you.
• Make sure to check the guest list with your bride-to-be before sending any invites — just in case you didn’t know she hated that girl now or never actually wanted her grandma there...
• Run the addresses of everyone from your guest list by the bride before posting to save on errors.
• Add a touch of sparkle to your hens’ lives, or just annoy them, by sprinkling some glitter in your hen invite envelopes before posting.
• If there’s space, write a few funny rhyming lines individual to each hen to make the invites more personal.
• Give clear RSVP deadlines on the invitations and chase people who don’t meet them ASAP.  
• Don’t put prices on invites — save these for the pre-invitation group chat.
• Be personal and don’t just get standard invites. This is the last big event before your bride’s big day, so make it all about her. 

Hopefully you’re a guru on hen party invitations now. Check out our entire hen invite selection or scroll through our personalised hen party invitations range before you make your decision.