Here’s a list of 7 planning tips that have been successful for my group of girlfriends on making our girls trips amazing!
- Core Crew Meeting: Your core crew is the group of people that you know are interested in going on vacation regardless of location. I’d suggest having a meeting with your core crew at least 9 months before you’re interested in having your trip. This is where you’d decided on the dates. My group likes to keep it at Labor Day each year because we know it will always be a 3 day weekend and whether or not you can attend, you always know there will be a girls trip that weekend so you can always plan accordingly.
- Volunteers needed for the planning team: This is not the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. This doesn’t mean the planning group is paying for everything, it just means they’re spearheading the planning process. 2-3 volunteers would be super helpful in getting things organized. Although it is still a group trip, it helps when there’s a couple people to move the planning process along.
- Select a budget: This is where the planning team is helpful. They would get the discussion going with the group, on the maximum price the group would be willing to spend on a vacation package.
- Top 3 locations: Pick your top 3 locations your group would be interested in traveling to. This is the time to see what locations are available to you that will keep you within the previously agreed upon budget. I use online travel websites just to get a good estimate of what the cost is for vacation packages (flight and hotel) so there are no surprises when the travel agent provides pricing.
- Select a travel agent: What’s a travel agent? Travel agents are real? People still use those? Yes, and they’re super useful! I really like using a travel agent because you have a neutral party handling all money that’s not involved in the decisions for trip, you can pay for your trip in installments, get hassle free trip insurance, they will work out cancellations for you (if necessary) and find all the fun extras that would make your trip amazing (who doesn’t like a private chef in their villa? I know I don’t want to cook on vacation!) While the planning team could easily plan the trip from beginning to end, no one in my group wants that responsibility in addition to their daily life duties. We don’t mind putting those duties on our travel agent and they benefit from booking for our large group!
- Select the final location: Once your travel agent has your selections, they’ll be able to price the locations. As you receive the price comparisons of your locations, the group can vote on the one they want to attend the most.
- Send out payment plan dates: This task is more so on the travel agent. Once you have the location selected, it’s pretty much smooth sailing! The travel agent would be in touch for pertinent information for each group member in addition to deposit, payments, and day of travel details.
Bonus tips: Welcome bags with your favorite swag are always a nice surprise from the planning team! Small trinkets like hand sanitizer, lip gloss, condoms, sunscreen, bug spray, and snacks for your room are a nice gesture. Also, we like to hire a photographer to capture solo shots and to do a group a photo shoot! We tend to have multiple ladies coming from different parts of the country so it’s not often we’re all in the same city. Why not capture the moment?
These tips seem to work well for me and my friends. Do you have any suggestions on what I could add to my list? What works well for you when planning your trips? I’d love to see your input in the comments section below!
