Guides
Three situations where the money conversation is the hard part. Each guide covers how to ask, what the number should cover, and when to use something else instead.
For whoever is organising the trip
Agreeing a group trip budget
Why the first number posted in the chat becomes the budget, what the per-person ceiling should include, and how to word the room title so five people do not read it five ways.
For the maid of honour or best man
Setting a bachelorette or hen weekend budget
The widest range of budgets you will ever put in one group chat. How to ask before the planning starts, how the anonymous-form approach really compares, and how to announce the result without undoing the privacy.
For whoever started the collection
Agreeing a group gift contribution
How to set a per-person contribution nobody has to quietly opt out of, why the first reply decides it, and what changes when the collection is going round an office.
What they have in common
All three describe the same failure. Somebody has to say a number first, that number becomes the reference point, and the people for whom it is a stretch are the least likely to say so. The guides differ in who is in the group and what the money is for, because that changes how you ask, not what goes wrong.
If your situation is not one of these three, how it works explains the decision rule on its own terms, and the questions page covers the ones people ask before they trust it with a group.