As anyone who has ever been tasked with organizing a work party will tell you, pleasing everyone is a tough ask; where putting on an event for friends and family at least has the benefit of your knowing your guests, organizing an event for colleagues can be a little bit like guess work. And, after having put on a few lackluster parties, I like to think that I’ve now got this staff party thing down, with an epic reputation for nights to remember for the right reasons. So here are my top tips for ensuring that your work party goes off with a memorable bang rather than a rather pathetic whimper.
My top tips for an awesome work party
Before I share my experience and tips with you, let’s start off with a simple premise: awesome parties really only involve four things: the food and drinks, the entertainment and the celebration.
1. The all-important element of food
First things first: in order to rock at party organizing you need to keep your guests fed and watered. And this is far from as easy as it sounds. To begin, you have to decide whether you’ll go super light with Vol-au-vents only, middle of the road with a table buffet or all out with a full on dinner.
I personally plump for plenty of delicious finger food – perfect for keeping those energy levels up whilst avoiding the need for a buzz killing, post dinner nap. However if you do opt for a sit down dinner then don’t go for stodgy meals that will only bloat your guests out and make them feel like sleeping, rather than dancing.
Oh, and it’s pretty essential that you consider the different tastes of drinkers. And you can almost bet your bottom dollar that they’ll be a few categories to consider: those that opt for fresh, light cocktails (for which BACARDÍ Superior is perfect); those that go for something that is a coke or lemonade staple (for which BACARDÍ Gold serves as the ideal partner) and those that may prefer their drinks on the traditional side (where BACARDÍ 8 Años serves well).
Don’t forget: Always ask EVERYONE about whether they have any allergies or dietary considerations that you need to know about. The last thing that you want is for your staff party to be remembered only for an ambulance inducing case of Anaphylaxis shock.
2. The entertainment
Here’s where things get interesting. With your entertainment you have to play to your strengths. If you’ve got a killer skill then go ahead and rock your party with it.
Can you sing? Perhaps you can dance? Or maybe you’re the king of the party game. Whatever it is you should capitalize upon it.
Of course after a number of seriously successful parties it seems that I’m having to get ever more inventive. And my past entertainment has involved flash mobs that have joined in with my singing and my impersonations that have been coupled with professional look alike for some surprise celeb guests (it’s totally OK to go for a pro service if you don’t have any killer entertainment skills yourself. Over the festive season I love the idea of an in-house magician who will circulate amongst your guests putting on tricks that will have guests scratching their heads).
3. The celebration
The final element to the party that goes down in history involves considering what the actual celebration is. Here’s how I’ve made my events epic and my parties bold by factoring it in:
– For the business celebration of hitting one sales goal or another I’ve previously went for a fresh take on the normally hated team building, ice breakers and corporate away days by adding awesome prizes and timing it just right so my guests are pepped up by a killer soundtrack and a fair few drinks.
– For a farewell party do I’ve outdone them all by opting for a secret sharing box where guests left their memories of the staff member (the more embarrassing the better) – perfect for a little leaving speech later in the night that is half warm and fuzzy and half toe-curlingly embarrassing.
After all that hard work…
Organizing a staff party is seriously hard work, and I personally feel it’s worthy of a paid staff bonus. Failing that however you can always pencil in one of the following dates for your diary and be treated to an event by a brand that truly knows how to perfect the art of the #BacardiHouseParty.
With BACARDÍ, there’s nothing getting in the way of an epic house party.
