If you are having trouble with planning a company party, you are not alone. A company party is one of those activities to improve workplace culture that allows your colleagues and management to interact and share positive experiences. It is a significant aspect of ensuring that everyone participates. It leaves a memorable experience for everyone who is involved. The planning process can be time-consuming and intimidating if it is your first time. You need to create a lasting impression while incorporating a couple of transferable skills. Moreover, you have to prove yourself to show that you are capable of handling projects that are outside your comfort zone. This can be a lot of pressure for anyone. There is an array of factors that you need to think about and the whole process requires immense commitment and motivation to see everything through. But what are these important aspects that are important to throw a successful company party? In this article, we will go through the essential things that you need to consider that will make your party one for the books.
Plan a Budget
As the designated event planner, it’s crucial to know the company’s budget for the party. This ensures that you stay within the stipulated budget margin. You need to draw up a flexible budget that you and the management team can agree on. You need to stay organized and prepared to give detailed information if any inquiries are made about what you will require to execute a successful party. To successfully plan your budget for the event, you need to know some important aspects of organizing an event on a strict budget. You can use an online spreadsheet to categorize your expenses. The following are the basics that you need to cover in your budget plan.
Rental Costs. You need to factor in where the event will take place. To roll this you have to figure out the kind of space that you need as well as the type of party that you want to have. Will you have decor? Hire any equipment? These are all projected costs that the person approving the budget need to be made aware of.
Catering Costs. There is no party without food and drinks. There is a high probability that you will need to hire a professional to handle your catering needs. In your costs, you need to determine whether you will reserve tables at a buffet restaurant or hire BBQ grills and order the best local pizza. This decision will involve finding out from every colleague who will be attending the event what they will be comfortable with.
Entertainment Costs. If you are renting out a venue to host the party, you will have to factor in entertainment. The costs for entertainment will vary depending on whether you are bringing in a DJ from out of town or if you will hire the local band. Additionally, when you require entertainment for your event, you may have to factor in transportation costs and charges for printing out invitations.
Other Expenses. If you want to make the party more enjoyable, you can incorporate things that will make everyone participate such as designing custom shirts. Everyone can wear these shirts that can come in different colors. However, there may be other additional expenses such as hiring an inground pool repair service if you plan on hosting it at an outdoor location. If you’re having an outdoor party, making sure you have a pool repair service onhand will make sure you don’t have to worry about having a way that everyone can stay cool.
Select a Party Committee
Once you have a detailed budget plan, you can move on to the next stage- finding and recruiting colleagues that will be part of the party organizing committee. You need to find people who will not only match your commitment and enthusiasm but people who will bring fresh, effective, and focused ideas. However, you need to make sure that you allow your colleagues the opportunity to volunteer. This will create the impression that you believe in equal participation.
It is always best to create criteria that you will use to select the committee members. This helps to attract people with similar interests that will execute your ideas seamlessly. Stipulate the guidelines and responsibilities of each member concisely. When issues are discussed and resolved on the onset, it assures the rest of the company that you can manage the responsibility conferred on you.
Do you have someone who will compare prices from different online sporting goods stores if you decide to include sporting activities in your event? Perhaps, you need a member who has a knack for landscaping and understands how to use xeriscaping and other landscape material to transform your ordinary office garden into a picturesque garden. If you set up your party outdoors, you need to find plants and flowers that can be used as part of the decor naturally. Do you have someone with the right kind of knowledge about plants who can negotiate with the local plant shop to find what you specifically want? These are all the considerations that you need to make before you select the people that will be your party committee members.
Choose a Theme
Once you have your budget out of the way, and you have enough members in your party committee, you are ready for the next step. Now, you can start thinking of ideas for a theme. Party themes are tremendously fun. They allow your creativity to shine through, they add an extra touch of festivity and essentially provide you with exceptional photo ops. However, the wrong theme can make or break the whole event, so make sure that you take your time and align it with the available resources to come up with the ideal theme that can enhance the atmosphere at the party.
You would be surprised to find out how many event organizers struggle with coming up with a practical and fun theme for their prestigious events. This is why we have incorporated some tips that can help you find the perfect theme for your company party.
Choose a theme that can have a personal meaning for the company. You will be able to be more creative with it which will get more people involved with your planning process. Remember to always ask yourself if the theme you are choosing will be fun for everyone. This will help you to create a shortlist to get the rest of the company to choose from. You can have a voting system where majority votes choose the final theme.
Think beyond the decor that you are going for. It is easy to limit your creativity when it comes to choosing a theme. When you restrict your ideas because of the decor that you have chosen, you end up losing out on what the other elements can offer you.
Make sure that the theme matches the venue. You have to inspect the venue before you decide on a theme. If you will be using certain landscape materials, will you also need to find an asphalt paving services provider?
Narrow down your theme and don’t be vague when you are explaining to people how it must look. One of the biggest mistakes that you can make is choosing a theme that is too broad. For instance, if you are adamant about picking a vintage theme, you should narrow it down to a precise year so that the attendees can understand your vision better and honor it accordingly.
The theme that you choose sets the tone of the party, and it will be the ultimate deciding factor for your colleagues to attend it. You should pick something that will leave a lasting impression.
Consider Offering Prize Giveaways
Now that you are wrapping up the planning process, you should consider including giving away prizes. Custom shirts are a great idea, but you need something spectacular to end the company party for the books. You can select prizes according to things that are personal and that keep the spirit of the work environment simultaneously. Research what has worked or hasn’t worked before. It is easy when you use the time that you get together with your colleagues to brainstorm decent ideas for prizes. You don’t want to raise expectations and not deliver.
If you don’t have the time to find out what can make everyone happy, you can choose a method that fits your theme. The following are some of the ways that you can give away prizes.
Do a raffle
Mark items with numbered tags. You can distribute them randomly according to who ends up with the marked item and numbered tag.
Generate numbers like how the lottery does.
What your colleagues see when they receive the invitation is important. You want to make it easy for them to attend the party. Offering prizes is a great way to motivate their decision.
Promote the Party
Enhance participation by creating office buzz around your party. You can do this by using the company’s online resources to send internal information about the party to your colleagues. An effective way to do this is by creating a specialized hashtag that is relevant, short, and unique that you can send to all company employees. This is a great way to get everyone talking about it. It will trend and provide you with relevant feedback that will allow you to review the size of your venue and catering costs. If you have more people showing interest in your event, you can go back to the person who is authorizing the budget to review some categories and increase the budget accordingly.
When you have more people in the company engaging with each other about the party that you are planning, you can create the opportunity to have guest speakers. This will widen the expected attendance and make the anticipation of the company party more exciting. Moreover, you get to prove yourself and showcase your skills while you improve your credibility to host future company parties.
It is important to find ways to make the promotional aspect of the party personal and to reflect the company’s environment. For instance, when you use the prize giveaways as the main feature of your party, it gives undecided people a tangible reason to attend. Even though online resources are a fast way to promote your event, using printed materials can make more of a lasting impression and show everyone that you invested effort into the planning and promoting of the party.
A company party is a significant aspect of boosting morale in the office. It offers everyone something fun and rewarding that they can look forward to. Providing a relaxed environment as a way to recognize the hard work that employees are doing encourages loyalty. When you strengthen connections between employees, it maintains motivation aimed at improving productivity. This allows for the brainstorming of new ideas that will enable the company to grow more. To ensure that you can gain the benefits of hosting a company party, you have to extensively plan out all the important steps.
Having a flexible and sufficient budget is the most crucial starting point. It will cover the costs for all the components that execute the idea effortlessly. You need to make sure that you will be able to ask for more money should the need arise before you make promises when you promote it. Other factors include finding the right sized venue that will fit your guests even if more people attend unexpectedly and choosing the right theme. When you choose your theme, you should go beyond the decor and find ways to make it take center stage.
You need to remember that how you promote your company party is important. You want to have people talking about it positively to improve your marketing strategy. Letting your colleagues market the party for you saves you time and improves the chances of its success. Moreover, you should allow everyone an equal opportunity to participate if they volunteer. You need all the help that you can get to organize everything, so use it.
