Planning a Company Picnic

A company picnic is a great idea for rewarding employees, boosting morale and building camaraderie among coworkers.

The perfectly planned company picnic provides a fun filled day of activities with coworkers and their families. Whether you are a committee of one or one of several individuals planning a company picnic here are some basic hints that might just save you a great deal of time, effort and make the actual event something you can enjoy with your co-workers.

The most important thing you can do to help ensure the success of your company picnic is to plan ahead. Ideally, you’ll want to start the planning process 3-6 months in advance of the event date. Aside from the date, there are several other factors to decide upon ahead of time including the location, budget, duration and estimated number of guests expected.

Develop a budget. Knowing your budget will help you make the necessary decisions about location, duration and invited guests, basically how grand an event you will be holding. It’s easier to make your plans and arrangements once you work out the budget. Remember, costs have increased significantly since you may have hosted a similar event, do not be shocked by current prices.

The date is important and must take into consideration the company’s production and work schedules, employee travel commitments and the time of year. The date and the season will dictate some of the next choices such as whether it will be an indoor or outdoor event and employee availability if it is scheduled at a major holiday time.

The next step to planning your Atlanta company picnic is to develop an idea of how many guests and what ages you expect to attract to the event. Having a breakdown, even if it is an approximate idea, is a good start for making many of the decisions about your event from food to activities.

Location is another important factor. Is the event to be held on-site or at a local facility or park? Planning early enough will give you a better option of a first choice location being available for your company picnic. An on-site event will require a lot more coordination with other departments within the company, while an off-site event may involve less work and planning for you or your committee.

Once the basics have been decided, it’s time to move on to the next step, planning the event itself. This step can be broken down into two categories – entertainment/activities/games and food.

There are several food options to consider. If your company picnic is on-site, does your company have an in house food service company you have to use? Does the chosen off-site location have food selections available? If your able to go outside to another catering source many companies are capable of providing a full turn-key approach and that includes a full menu to select from.

Then it’s on to the selection of specific entertainment, activities and games for your company picnic. You will probably find no two entertainment/picnic companies will approach your event in the same manner. It is important to ask a few critical questions of the vendors:

• Do you own all the equipment in your proposal or are you sub-contracting to another organization?

• Do you have liability insurance and do all your sub-contracted vendors have proof of insurance?

• How do you staff the event? How many of your staff will be on site during the event?

• When will you need to start your set-up process?  When will all activities and support items being used be picked-up i.e. tents, tables, chairs etc.?

• Do you have staff to clean tables during the dining time frame?

Ask for references from your vendors, especially early and do not hesitate to speak with them directly rather than just emails. If communications with a vendor are weak in the beginning and they do not answer emails or telephone calls in a timely manner or provide the written proposal when you expect it, it may be time to move on to another vendor.

If you choose to go with an outside vendor for food and entertainment, consider using one that can help with both the food and activities for your event, Fun-Tastic Promotions. The professionals at Fun-Tastic Promotions will work with you to make certain that your budget is providing all the right activities for the right size and age groups of the event. When you hire Fun-Tastic Productions for your Atlanta company picnics, you can be assured that you and your committee enjoy the day with family and friends and leave the details day to us.