My planning frenzy

Fall is a busy time of year for me at home and at work. Part of my job at work involves planning employee parties and such. We have 27 staff members and approximately 89 consumers. Currently I am planning a staff appreciation dinner, a Halloween costume judging, a Thanksgiving potluck and a Holiday Party. Whew..... that's a lot of planning.


Here's a breakdown of my plans:

Staff Appreciation Dinner

October 23, 2008

Invitations are done now I am working on door prizes and games. A co-worker gave me an idea of having a few door prizes placed on a table with small bags or cans placed in front of them. Then I think I will have a game where employees can earn tickets (like raffle tickets). The more tickets they earn the better the chance they will have to win. Employees can see the prizes and place their tickets in the bag or can in front of that prize and at the end of the night a ticket will be drawn for each prize. Sounds a little confusing but I think it will work. The game I came up with involves me reading a statement and if the statement is true for them they get a ticket. Ex: If you have on a wedding ring, you get a ticket. It's hard to come up with activities for a large group in a restaurant. So hopefully this will be fun. I'm open for ideas for door prizes besides cash.

Halloween Costume Judging

October 31, 2008

Next is the Halloween party for our consumers. We started this last year and they really enjoyed dressing up and winning prizes. I've done the invitations and invited the mayor to be our guest judge and she has accepted. Yeah!

These are some pictures from last year.

I've still got to make goodie bags for all the consumers and get ribbons and gift cards for the winners. I can't wait to see the costumes they come up with this year.





Next on my list is our annual Thanksgiving Potluck for staff. We do this a few days before the Thanksgiving break. In years past we have done a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner and everybody brought a dish to share but then we realized that we eat the usual turkey and fixin's a couple days later so we don't want to get burnt out on Thanksgiving food. Last year we did a football potluck and staff dressed in their favorite team colors and brought a football food to share or a food related to their favorite team. That was different and we had some good food show up.

This year I'm sort of thinking about a soup and salad potluck. If I go this route I may do a sign up sheet and have only three categories, Soup, Salad or Dessert. Crockpots work well with potlucks and soups are easy to serve in crockpots. Salads are easy to fix, transport and store too. And well desserts are desserts. They are welcome at any potluck. So.... that's my plan and I think I am sticking to it.



Finally in the works is the Holiday Party. This is the BIGGY. I have made progress and picked the date (December 19th) and have two options in mind. The first is a local hotel which has a room big enough to accomodate our 175 guests and they do the food too. Several minor problems are keeping me from going ahead and booking it. First, the floors are carpeted and we need a dance floor which they say they can do. And they have no stage for our DJ. Secondly they are a bit overpriced. But they are close by and transportation is always an issue for us.
The second option is a local club's building. I haven't actually seen the facility yet but I am going to take a look tomorrow night. I like the price of the rental and they do have a dance floor and area for a DJ. I would have to get a caterer to do the food. Only problem with this option is the location and transportation. Decisions, decisions. Hopefully we will make a decision in the next day or two and go with it. Hard part done. Then comes the decorations and invitations which I haven't even thought about yet. I need cheap ideas. Any and all are welcome.