In my post below I outlined a few of the things that we did for my best friend’s bachelorette weekend. What I didn’t mention is my surprise at how little it cost us in the end.

Just for perspective, I was estimating the personal cost to be somewhere around $200 each for the weekend, since it was only M and I picking up the tab.

I thought I’d lay out approximate costs for each activity, as well as the ways we were able to cut costs without sacrificing fun! First I’ll list our activities and ways that we saved, then I’ll do a grand tally of all the costs.

Friday Night

M and I drove up to Vaughan Mills to pick T up. We took her by surprise, she thought she was going to visit her fiancés friend that weekend instead! We stopped at a Pizza Hut on the way back because she wanted some. We saved money by having water to drink and sharing the garlic bread, medium pizza and salad.

Once back at my place, we broke out some of the booze we had purchased earlier and did a few shots, then moved onto a nice bottle of wine and a card game/drinking game/girltalk for the rest of the night. M and I had purchased snacks in bulk and booze earlier in the day.

Saturday

We had a nice bacon & eggs breakfast at home, then headed out to the St. Lawrence Market to do some shopping and pick up the food for dinner that evening. A great experience and we saved a small fortune by purchasing exactly what we wanted for dinner and cooking our steaks and veggies at home. Not to mention much of our food was local, which is good for the environment and our pocketbooks!

We did head out to a pub for lunch, but once again cut costs by drinking only water, and M and I shared a lunch entrée.

After lunch, we headed back to my place and watched a movie I already owned, bummed around then made our supper. It turned out quite delicious! T wasn’t feeling very well so we decided to stay in for the evening, and played cards all night instead.

Sunday

Another leisurely breakfast at home followed by an outing to the Eaton Centre (it was pissing rain that day). I am particularly proud of the fact that I did not purchase anything new on the trip, despite seeing several fashions and new purses I thought I would die without. I did spend about $5 on lunch in the food court, but T’s was free because M had some gift certificates to use at Quiznos.

Soon after we made a stop at the MAC on Bloor since T especially wanted to visit it. I ended up buying 2 new shadows, but I consider those an investment. I also abstained from buying the matching eyeliner. T paid for her own purchases in this case.

Following the makeup lessons at MAC, I took both of the ladies to the Windsor Arms Hotel for High Tea. There really wasn’t a way to save money at this, so we just enjoyed it and made the most of it. What a lovely experience!

Next up, we went home for another meal, and also began primping and pre-drinking for our night on the town. T had no idea that we were taking her to a strip club! M’s sister and cousin joined us for drinks, then we all headed out to Remington’s Men of Steel to catch a few buff men! What a hoot! Although it was much too expensive to drink ($6.75 for a basic drink) we had a blast. Saved money by only buying a couple of drinks each.

Now it was our turn to do the dancing, so we grabbed a quick cab over to Clubland and went to my usual haunt for some slightly cheaper drinks and cover charge. I introduced the girls to jagerbombs and we danced til closing.

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Ok, so I’m at work as I write this so I don’t have exact costs for each thing that we did, but it all broke down to $145 each for M and I. Not bad for 3 people! We saved a lot by cooking and drinking at home, and also not renting movies when we could watch ones I had or play cards.

If you’re curious, the high tea costs $24 each for a cream tea which includes tea, 2 scones with Devon cream and petit fours. Yumm.