Planning the Perfect End-Of-Year Celebration for Your Business: Ten Aspects to Consider
For any successful business, the end of the year marks a time for celebration. It’s a fantastic opportunity to celebrate all that’s gone well, recognize the achievements of everyone who works there, and cement the ethos of the company for newcomers.
These events can be an excellent way to build morale going into the new year, but no matter whether your event is more low-key or all singing, all dancing, it’s going to take a fair amount of work to plan things out properly.
This article is here to get you started: here are 10 key aspects to planning a night to remember!
1. The Goal of the Celebration
One of the first aspects you need to consider is what you’ll all be celebrating in the first place; all events like this benefit from a clear focal point.
Will you be generally covering key company milestones, or is this year more about handing out awards to your employees? Perhaps it’s a bit of both, or maybe your focus is something else entirely.
Whatever the celebration means to you, make it concrete in your mind – it’ll guide you through the planning of the rest of the event.
2. Setting the Budget
Budgeting can be one of the most complex elements of planning an end-of-year celebration, but it’s important that you establish it as an initial priority to prevent complications later.
Plan things out from all angles individually and then bring it together at the end: factor in the venue, entertainment, catering, and whatever else you need, and also any contingencies for when you might have to cover unexpected expenses.
3. Choosing Your Venue
Naturally, the venue is one of the most important aspects to get right, and choosing will also require you to decide what kind of event you want to put on in general. Some businesses use the company offices to cut down on costs, so that’s always an option, but you could also go for local halls and hotels, or even outdoor venues if the weather and season permit it.
Have a hard think about what sort of vibe you want to create, as well as how many people will be attending, and then take a look around your local area to see what’s available.
4. On Catering
Catering is something you don’t want to fluff up on: nothing leaves a sour taste more than a bad meal (quite literally), so you’ll want to make sure you spend plenty of time vetting caterers to find someone capable of taking care of everything involved.
Businesses specializing in corporate catering are ideal: they understand the intricacies involved in supplying food specifically for occasions such as your own, and offer you the best chance of providing people with a meal they’ll remember for the right reasons.
5. Choosing the Theme and Decor
Deciding what theme and decor you’re going to go for is one of the most enjoyable aspects of this whole process (and indeed, the event itself), as the world is truly your oyster with this one.
There are so many different options, from a 1920s art-deco-inspired aesthetic to straight-up fancy dress and everything in between. As you work to make a short list of potential choices, do remember to consider who will be going: you know your staff better than anyone else, so think about whether the majority of the attendees will be open to and happy with your choice – you don’t want to be forcing people to dress up in a certain way when they don’t want to!
6. Organizing the Entertainment
An end-of-year celebration isn’t much without some high-quality entertainment. Live bands are always a good bet or even a DJ, and some opt to hire classic entertainers or comedians.
If your budget allows for it, you could also have multiple forms of entertainment throughout the night.
7. Invitations and RSVPs
It’s easy to get so busy planning the event that you forget you need to actually invite people! You can easily whip up some great-looking invitations by using free software like Canva, and then either print these out or send them digitally.
It must be said, though, that handing your invitations to each person individually offers the best reassurance that everyone is aware of the event. If you have a lot of people to invite, it’s easier to keep track of who you’ve asked and who you haven’t if you can remember physically giving people their invite.
8. The Importance of Employee Recognition
A celebration like this is one of the best ways to show your employees that you care about their hard work. Celebrating their achievements should be at the core of most events like this, so you should be sure to take the time to plan this segment out carefully and thoughtfully.
You can make personalized thank-you notes, for example – these go a long way and are often worth more than any gifts (though feel free to include gifts as well). One of the best ways to include employee recognition is with an award ceremony: these are often best sandwiched in between the evening's entertainment and after the main meal.
9. Utilize Professional Photography and Videography
If you’re going to all this effort to throw such a special celebration, you’re going to want to capture the moment. Preserve the memories by hiring a professional photographer or videographer: your guests will love to look back on these later to reflect, and you can also repurpose the pictures and footage to use for social media marketing to showcase the achievements of the company.
There’s also the option of hiring a photo booth – these are great fun, and you’ll find that come the end of the night, people will naturally gravitate towards them to make their own pictures.
10. Overall Logistics
Finally, there are overall logistics. This area of planning includes everything going on behind the scenes to ensure the event goes off without a hitch.
You’ll need to collaborate with and coordinate each moving part so that everything comes together naturally. To reiterate again, it’s best to start planning early on: once you think you have everything in place, start troubleshooting to take care of any last-minute issues, and double (and triple) check the schedules line up perfectly for each service you’ve hired.
A Few Final Tips
To close off, here are a few final tips:
Get Feedback from Your Employees
It’s important to make sure you’re not planning the event in a vacuum: reach out to the people you’re actually inviting and ask for their input on areas like food and theme choices. You can gather this data together in a survey to make a much more informed decision about what will make the best night for all involved.
Create a Timeline
Once you think you’ve organized everything properly, create a timeline and prepare further. Outline a full schedule for the evening, including what’s happening, when, and where. It may not go fully to plan, but an outline like this goes a long way in keeping the many moving parts of this operation on track.
End on a High Note
Finally, make sure to end on a high note! After a job well done throwing a brilliant event, close with a toast and a thank you to all your employees – it’ll leave the perfect lasting impression, and cap off the night with a positive sentiment.
Hopefully, this article has guided you through the process of throwing the perfect event. It’ll take a lot of work, but in the end, it’ll be more than worth it. Good luck!
Learn more about my new membership, Nourish, right here.
Hang out with me here:
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/nourish_with_renata
Free FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/getnourishedwithrenata
Love learning about nutrition and finding a way of eating that works for you? Then sign up for my email list here:
Hey! I’m Renata!
Your intuitive nutrition coach and fellow food lover. I’m here to help you find the foods that work best for your body, without feeling deprived or starving.
