Planning a Hen’s Party?
How to design a tour that even the fussiest in your group will love!
If you’ve ever tried to organise an event for a group of 10-20 people, then you’ll know the pain I’m talking about…. Caitlyn loves chardonnay (but no-one else does!), Nicole wants to go to her favourite cellar door (however it comes with a $20pp tasting fee that completely blows the budget!) and 3 members of the group don’t even like wine!
Indecision and conflicting ideas can lead to “paralysis by analysis” quite easily, leaving you wondering “why did I get stuck with the job of organising this?”
It’s the kind of job you keep putting off till the last minute but this won’t help either as the venues in the Scenic Rim & Mt Tamborine are extremely busy and advance planning (3-4 weeks or more is ideal) is essential to ensure you don’t get left with a small list of choices. If you’re planning your trip in Feb or March or July, August or September or November, then you really need to enquire as far in advance as you possibly can – there’s a reason why we locals call it “Hen’s season”!
The good news is there is no need to stress about how to organise the perfect day & Mt Tamborine Wine Tour. Follow these lessons that we’ve learned from personally helping hundreds of groups to organise wine tours that their friends have loved and you’ll have the perfect recipe for a day of Instagrammable photos and no boredom!
Wine drinkers? Non-wine drinkers? Or a mixture?
Tamborine Mountain & The Scenic Rim have way more options than simply cellar doors offering wine tastings, so unless the majority of your group are openly dedicated wine drinkers, the “mixture” option tends to work best as there is something for everyone in your group. You can look at visiting a couple of cellar doors in the morning, choosing a casual eats lunch venue (Hampton Estate Wines or Cedar Creek Estate, are classic favorites) then visiting Fortitude Brewing, finishing with the Tamborine Mountain Distillery famous for it’s award winning spirits & ambiance or visiting the Fudge & Chocolate factories in Gallery Walk.
Keeping your cellar door visits in the morning tends to work best for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons is cellar doors prefer groups when they are fresh (not too tipsy) so it is often difficult to get appointment times in the afternoon. Many cellar doors make it a policy not to take large groups after 3pm.
Also some of the cellar doors have completely different rules for hen’s groups. There are some that won’t take them at all and some that charge additional fees. It is a common scenario for someone in your group to suggest their favorite cellar door only to find that when you ring them and mention you wish to book in a hen’s group for a tasting, you are met with disappointment.
Rather than spending a lot of time ringing venues and getting nowhere, it pays to leverage the knowledge of a Mt Tamborine wine tour specialist such as ourselves. We can let you know which cellar doors will take hen’s groups, what fees they charge and if they have a dress code (yes some of the cellar doors have a dress code so that “killer bridesmaids” costume theme you were thinking of for the day may effect where you can visit!).
But don’t despair – we know which cellar doors are relaxed and friendly and are happy to let you be yourselves ….. even when you lose all of your plastic wedding rings and get stuck wearing the banana suit?!
Expert tip: Let a tour operator approach the cellar doors to book your group in. Most of the Tamborine Mountain cellar doors have different rules for groups brought with a tour operator to groups from the general public that perhaps have a designated driver. 99% of the time you will be charged a higher fee as a “group off the street” so let us leverage our relationships and get you the best price at the cellar doors! All of our group tours are flexible and offer great value.
Keeping It Flexible So There Is Something for Everyone!
After a couple of morning cellar doors, it is time to change things up and let your group “choose their own adventure”! Venues such as Fortitude Brewing or Witches Chase Cheese Factory offer both wine tasting and craft beer paddles at the same venue.
Tamborine Distillery is a huge crowd pleaser with flavoured vodkas (fruit and dessert flavours), schnapps and gins. Their funky test tubes for tasting and Australian natives that you’ve never heard of before will keep the spirit drinkers cheering.
Need to break up all of those wines/beers/spirits? Cheese, Desserts, Chocolate and Fudge awaits!
If your group are not dedicated wine drinkers but are not really beer fans either, then you can shake it up with a visit to Chocolates On Gallery or Mt Tamborine’s very own Fudge factory or even Jasmine organics where you can tour the production factory. That’s the beauty of private tours – they can be customized and no two itineraries are exactly the same so just ask – if it’s possible, we’ll make it happen! Check our Wine Tour itineraries here – https://tictactours.com.au/wine-tours/hens-day-wine-tour-mt-tamborine/
Did Someone Say Cheese?
Cheese and wine is a match as old as time and a sure winner for a group of ladies feeling a bit peckish by the end of the day. If you’re after a dedicated cheese tasting then we can provide a complimentary Cheese tasting platter at either Witches Chase Cheese factory or Witches Fall Wines, depending on your itinerary for the day. This is included in several of our Mt Tamborine wine tours & Scenic Rim wine tours.
Your last port of call will be one of the Scenic lookouts so as you can capture some memorable photos to share on your socials.
Check out our full range of wine tours here: https://bit.ly/tictacwinetours
