My sisters and I went on our first-ever women’s retreat a few months ago and we had a blast! In preparing to go, we looked up a bunch of all-inclusive women’s retreat options but all of them were well outside of our budgets. Not wanting to spend a fortune, we came up with a plan for our own DIY women’s wellness retreat on a budget.
Total we ended up only spending $118.43/person for our three-day trip! That includes lodging, food, and activities. Read on to hear how we did it.
Our Sisters Retreat-Yo-Self
If you are familiar with the Parks and Rec show on Netflix, then you will know what we mean by “treat yo’ self.” Essentially, a handful of characters in the show take a whole day to treat themselves to whatever they want: a massage, a new outfit, etc. Feeling like we needed some TLC, we decided to call our retreat the 2019 Sisters Retreat-Yo-Self, and we started planning our trip to Brian Head, Utah.
To show how you too can have your own DIY women’s wellness retreat on a budget, I’m sharing some tips we learned from our experience.
9 Ideas for a Fun DIY Women’s Wellness Retreat
I think wellness means having a good balance (and feeling well) physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. With that in mind, we tried to have our activities and downtime cater to those areas of life. Below are some fun things we did that I think are good ideas for planning a fun DIY women’s wellness retreat.
#1 – Pick a Destination with Outdoor Activity Options
Find ways to stay active by first picking a destination that has outdoor activity options and then do at least one active thing every day. Hiking, yoga, mountain biking, swimming, archery, or something else. This will help you get your exercise in and let you be in nature. Win, win!
We went to Brian Head, a ski-town in southern Utah. Since we went in the summer, we heavily utilized the mountains and hiked every day.
#2 – Plan Healthy Meals
With our sisters retreat specifically being a wellness retreat, we consciously planned healthy meals that wouldn’t take too long to make, would be easy to prep, and would fill us up for our active plans. Click here to view our meal plan complete with pictures and a full list of ingredients.
#3 – Have Relaxing Evenings & Nights
During our retreat we scheduled a chick flick for each night we were there. Not only is a movie easy and doesn’t require a lot of planning, but it was relaxing and felt well deserved after our active days.
#4 – Bring a Welcome Gift
I wanted to do something cute to welcome my sisters to our women’s wellness retreat, so I bought some journals and chocolate at Target and made a little welcome gift for each of them. I also put a box of mints on their pillows for them to find.
#5 – Give Opening Remarks
Some very touching opening remarks were given by yours truly. My sarcastically tear-jerking words were a fun launch into our sisters retreat.
My opening remarks: “Welcome sisters. As we come together with a common propose of heart at the beginning of this Sisters Retreat 2019, let us reflect and remember our why for this occasion. Is it to watch our children? No. Is it to do our daily responsibilities? Absolutely not. We are here to escape the burdens of the world placed upon us, release ourselves to our inner free spirits, and unite in our sisterhood. Ladies, I give you permission to let go. Just. Let. Go. And, finally, in the words of Donna L. Meagle and Tom P. Haverford: ‘re-treat yo self!'”
#6 – Go Hot-tubbing
If you can find an Airbnb or place to stay that includes a hot tub, do it! It added to the treat-yo-self vibe of our retreat and was a great way to relax after being active.
#7 – Take Milk Baths
None of us had ever had a milk bath before. So, throughout our women’s wellness retreat we took turns having luxurious milk baths. (Click here for the milk bath mixture recipe we made ready before hand.) We had tea-light candles around the tub, coconut water to sip on, and spa music playing. Here is a post with my tips for an extra relaxing bath experience. The milk baths were fun and relaxing!
#8 – Schedule in Reflection & Spiritual Discussions
At our women’s wellness retreat, we wanted to make sure we got a well-rounded experience. So, we put spiritual discussions into our schedule and had a great time discussing various topics.
We did a meditation and yoga session the first morning of our women’s wellness retreat. We also each lead a relevant 10-20 minute discussion on the topic of our choice (these ranged from spiritual to women’s health).
#9 – Have Scheduled Downtime
Although I could have spent the full 3 days chatting with my sisters, it was really, really nice to have scheduled-in downtime. For an hour every day we had “quiet time” where we could write in our journals, read, nap, relax, etc. I mostly spent my time reading which felt very indulgent–I never have time to read during the day!
Top 3 Tips for Keeping Your Women’s Wellness Retreat on a Budget
I know money is a big factor for you in this DIY women’s wellness retreat or else you would already have some all-inclusive retreat booked somewhere. Let’s talk the green stuff. Below are my top three tips for keeping your women’s wellness retreat on a budget.
#1 – Stay at an inexpensive Airbnb instead of a hotel/resort
I think your accommodations can make the biggest difference when trying not to spend a pile of money and staying within a modest budget. Go for somewhere you will enjoy but that won’t be unnecessarily expensive. I’m a huge fan of Airbnb when looking for places to stay.
Our 3-night stay at an Airbnb (with plenty of space for all four of us sisters to comfortably sleep and hang out) was $285.71. Split four ways, that breaks down to only $71.43/person. That’s a great deal for a 3-night stay.
#2 – Make Your Own Meals
Instead of eating out every meal or having the cost of an all-inclusive resort, take a little bit of time to plan and make your own meals. We were able to bring everything we needed to make delicious, healthy meals and had a few indulgent snacks and treats around too.
We did a grocery store run for all of our food and it was $100 total which meant $25/person for the three days. The only food cost outside of that was $10 each for eating out once on our drive home.
#3 – Opt for Free Activities when Possible
Instead of packing your retreat with expensive excursions and activities, opt for free activities when possible. Especially for a women’s wellness retreat, we found that just stepping outdoors and into nature (kid free!) was rejuvenating and fun.
Because we were located next to a lot of hiking trails, we opted for a free hike every day over something that cost money. We also utilized the hot tub that was included with the Airbnb and watched a movie each night that we brought along with us (chick flicks for the win! – Young Victoria, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility).
We did do an archery session once (which was a complete blast and well worth the price) for $12/person. This activity was available through the Brian Head resort across the street. And I was pretty decent at it if I do say so myself 😉
Hopefully these have been helpful ideas for you! Please let me know if you have any questions about my experience or how we did our women’s wellness retreat on a budget.
Pin it for Later
