How to Split the Group Trip
Making the group trip more about enjoying company than stressing about money
Thanks for checking out Ten Dollar Latte! I’m not a financial advisor, just a 27-year-old trying to afford life in NYC. I write about how I spend my money while enjoying a $10 latte.
I’m 27 years old—I’ve been on two bachelorette trips already, and I know I’ll have many more. Bachelorette parties are no longer a one-night event—they’ve turned into a long weekend affair, often a plane ride away. And with that comes more $$$$ (yes, the number of dollar signs is intentional).
Don’t get me wrong—going on a trip with friends is one of the best ways to deepen friendships. I’ve made some of my favorite memories on those trips! But at the same time, I’ve also experienced stress on how to finance the same trips.
Here’s my top 10 ways to make the group trip (or group dinner!) work for everyone’s wallets:
Be considerate of the destination given others’ finances. This depends on what’s more important to you—the destination or spending time with those friends. Sometimes, it’s the destination, which is totally fine. But if it’s spending time with friends, consider their finances and if the destination is feasible for them. If someone mentions the trip could be too expensive, consider if a more local destination is a better alternative.
“I can’t afford it” is a valid reason for someone to skip. If someone can’t afford it, don’t take it personally, even if they’re spending their money somewhere else. There can be other reasons people can’t afford it, like if they can’t afford the PTO. And if it’s you that can’t afford the trip, you can recommend an alternative, but at the end of the day, if you can’t afford the trip, you can’t afford the trip. It’s not worth the credit card debt.
Plan as much as possible of the costs upfront. Even if you can’t plan them all (meals, souvenirs, gas prices), you can make a rough estimate. Let everyone know ahead of time if you want to do an expensive activity or go to an expensive restaurant so they can budget for it.
It’s great if you want to fund someone else, but it’s not required. If someone can’t afford to come and you want to pay their portion, that’s amazing! But it’s not required, and no one should be pressured to pay more than their fair share just because they have more money. I love treating my friends to coffee, lunches, a drink, and someday, it would be amazing to treat a friend to a trip!
The bride/groom/person of honor should pay for themself. This one is a bit of a hot take. If it’s a bachelorette trip, I think the bride should pay for herself. If everyone wants to treat the bride to a dinner or some fun decorations, that’s great, but the bride should be paying for flights, her portion of the accommodations, and offering to split everything.
Decide how you’re going to split things before the trip. Some people prefer to split things 50/50, and some people prefer to split by item. I do think that the person who wants to split by item should be willing to do the math to make that work, but if they are, that’s a great way to split the bill!
Another easy way to split the bill is to split any tax/tip/fees evenly, and then pay by item. Or, just round. For example, if the bill for lunch is $60, and only one person ordered a cocktail, they can pay $40 while the other pays $20 (even if that’s off by a few dollars). However you decide, make a decision before the trip, so you can keep track of expenses and split them fairly at the end.
Don’t throw a surprise expense on someone. This can come in many forms—buying a round of drinks unprompted and asking others to pay you back, renting a more expensive car spontaneously and expecting others to pay more, or expecting others to chip in to cover the bride without discussing that first. Other people might not want that extra beer or expensive car—ask first!
Allow people to substitute parts of the itinerary. Some people want to enjoy nice dinners every night, and some people would rather grab a slice of pizza and enjoy the location. Sure, group trips are about compromise, and part of that could mean doing the nice dinner one night and pizza the next, but it’s also okay if the group splits for a couple hours for different activities.
This is not only true financially, but also, everyone has preferences on what they want to do!
Don’t complain if you didn’t plan it. Okay, this one isn’t entirely financial, but it takes a long time to plan a trip, and time is money. If someone is gracious enough to take on most of the planning, don’t complain on the trip if you didn’t speak up in the planning stages.
Pay people back promptly. If others are footing the bill for the hotel, dinners, or other things, pay them back as soon as you get the Venmo request. Don’t wait for them to remind you.
And most of all, enjoy the trip! Part of being on a group trip is compromise—compromising on where to eat dinner, where to go out, where to stay, what excursions to do—and all that compromise may affect how much you spend on a trip. That’s life! Don’t stress over $50. Enjoy the time with friends—that’s the priceless part.
Thanks for reading! I post weekly on Thursdays about living in NYC, personal finance, and growing my small business. I also post a monthly reset on the 1st of each month sharing everything I spent money on the previous month and goals for the next month. My small business is called Sidetracks—it’s a collection of party card games I designed. Grab a game to make your next happy hour unforgettable.
I'm so glad I missed this era and bachelorette parties was simply a stripper at someone's house. A much cheaper evening.
Agree on all the points!! These bachelorette weekends are ridiculously expensive, add everything for the wedding with it as well...