Bachelorette budget survey questions to send the group
Quick answer
A bachelorette budget survey asks each guest five things before anything is booked: the most they can comfortably spend, which nights they are free, which activities they would pay for, how they feel about sharing a room, and when they can send a deposit. Set the cap at the lowest comfortable maximum, then price the extras separately for the people who opt in.
Key points
- Ask five questions before anything is booked: maximum spend, nights free, activities, room sharing and the deposit date.
- Set the cap at the lowest comfortable maximum. Ten answers from $250 to $500 average $350, but the cap is $250.
- Price optional activities separately and charge them only to guests who opt in and whose maximum has room for them.
- Share the cap and the plan with the group, not who answered what.
How to use this template
Send the questions before anything is booked, copy each answer into the tally, and let the lowest maximum set the cap.
- Settle the honoree rule first. If the group covers the honoree, the honoree skips the spending question and the paying guests carry their share. Who pays for a bachelorette or bachelor party covers how groups decide.
- Send the message and the five questions below, with a reply date about a week out.
- Copy each answer into the tally, one row per guest.
- Set the cap at the lowest comfortable maximum. A plan inside it is one everyone can say yes to, while the average hides the guests a plan would stretch.
- Multiply to get the budget. The cap times the number of paying guests is the most the shared costs can total.
- Price extras separately. An extra that not everyone wants is offered only to guests whose maximum has room for it, and only the guests who opt in pay.
Say eleven people are going and one is the honoree, so ten paying guests answer. Their maximums are $250, $275, $300, $300, $325, $350, $350, $400, $450 and $500. The average is $350, but the cap is $250, so the budget is 10 times $250, or $2,500.
A base plan of a two-night house ($1,100), groceries and drinks ($500), a Saturday dinner ($450) and decorations ($60) comes to $2,110, which is $211 a guest and leaves $39 a guest of room. A spa morning at $60 a ticket is an extra. If six paying guests join and the honoree’s ticket is covered, that is 7 tickets of $60, or $420, shared by six, so $70 each. A guest who joins is then at $281, so the spa is offered only to the eight guests whose maximum is $281 or more.
The template
The message to send
Hi everyone, I’m planning [name]’s weekend on [dates] and I want the plan to fit everyone before anything is booked. Please answer the five questions below by [date]. I’ll use the lowest budget anyone gives as the cap for the shared costs, and I won’t share who said what. Extras such as [activity] will be priced separately, so only the people who want them pay for them. Thank you.
The five questions
| Question | Answer format | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| What is the most you can comfortably spend on the weekend, not counting your travel to get there? | A dollar amount | The cap |
| Which nights can you be there? | Tick each night | The dates to book |
| For each activity on the list: must-do, happy to join, or skip? | One answer per activity | Which extras get priced |
| How do you feel about sharing a room? | Private room only, one other person, or up to three others | The size of the house |
| Can you send your deposit by [date]? | Yes, or the date you can | The deposit schedule |
The tally
| Guest | Maximum | Nights | Must-do | Room and deposit date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
From the answers to a plan
| Line | Example | Yours |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest comfortable maximum | $250 | |
| Paying guests | 10 | |
| Cap budget (lowest maximum times paying guests) | $2,500 | |
| Base plan total | $2,110 | |
| Base plan per guest | $211 | |
| Room left per guest | $39 |
What to agree on
- The cap is a ceiling. Aim to land under it. In the example, the $39 of room left for each guest is what pays for extras.
- The nights. Book the nights most guests marked, and bill a night only to the people who are there, so a guest who arrives Saturday does not pay for Friday.
- The room rule. Eleven people who will all share with one other person need six bedrooms, five pairs and one single. Each guest who wants a private room changes which house you can book.
- The deposit date. Put it in the message, and say what happens to a deposit if a guest drops out.
- Privacy. Share the cap and the plan, not the list of who said what. That way nobody is compared with anyone else’s number.
Once the weekend is booked, EvenOut can track it. Make it an Event group, add each cost as a “Split equally” expense and tap the honoree to leave them out, and add anyone who is not on the app as a guest. For an extra, tap everyone who is not joining to leave them out. The bachelorette party cost calculator shows each paying guest’s share before you send the number, and the bachelorette budget template has the cost lines.
Frequently asked questions
Should the honoree answer the budget question?
Not when the group is covering them. They still answer the nights, activities and room questions, because those shape the plan. If the honoree will pay a share, they answer all five like everyone else and the cap budget counts them too. In the example, if their maximum is $250 or more, that is 11 times $250, or $2,750, instead of 10 times $250, or $2,500.
How long should guests get to answer?
About a week, with the date in the message. Ask for answers a few days before the first booking deadline, so there is time to chase anyone who has not replied and to rework the plan if the cap comes in lower than you expected.
What if guests can only come for different nights?
Plan around the nights most guests marked, and bill each night to the people who are there. On a $550 a night house, 10 guests on Friday pay $55 each, and 8 guests on Saturday pay $68.75 each. Agree on this before the first deposit so nobody is surprised by a second number.
What if one guest's maximum is far below everyone else's?
Ask that guest privately whether a shorter stay or a smaller house would work, before you raise the cap. Raising the cap only helps if that guest agrees, because their answer is the one the plan has to fit. Raising it from $250 to $275, the next guest's maximum, would add $250 to the budget across ten paying guests.
Keep reading
- Calculator Bachelorette party cost per person calculator Add lodging, transport, food and activities to see what each guest pays when the honoree is covered. Example: 9 people and $3,150 is $393.75 each.
- Guide Who pays for a bachelorette or bachelor party? By custom the guests share the cost, including the honoree's part. Emily Post lists the party among the attendants' expenses and says to keep it affordable.
- Template Bachelorette and bachelor party budget template A fill-in bachelorette and bachelor party budget that separates shared costs from honoree-only costs and ends with the cost per paying guest.
- Guide How to split bachelor and bachelorette party costs When guests cover the honoree, cost per guest is the bill divided by people minus one. $3,150 for 9 people is $393.75 each, not $350. Handle skips and deposits.