Keep Kids Entertained At Your Event

Karen Tips, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Formal events and children generally have a passing familiarity with each other. Many hosts will forgo including children at the event to avoid the chance of interruptions or meltdowns. But there’s no real reason why children couldn’t be included if you want them to be there, and options abound for how to keep the littlest attendees entertained and happy while the adults enjoy the event.

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Kids Only Areas

Arrange for a Kids Only area, if there’s space at your event location. This can be outdoors if the weather is cooperating, but make sure you have a backup plan.  Hire a sitter or two to keep the children engaged and involved in safe activities, minimize separation anxiety, and free up the adults so they can enjoy the party.  Depending on the ages and number of children, you may need more than one sitter.  If all the kids are over age three, typically one adult for 8-10 children works well.  For children under age two, the adult-to-child ratio is 1:3.  If space is available, but hiring a childcare provider is not an option, make sure you assign volunteers to take turns staying with the kids.

Art Tables

Art tables, located off to the side in the event space or in a separate room, are a fabulous idea to keep the little ones occupied. Make sure that the table is stocked with enough paper, coloring books, and art supplies for kids of all ages to enjoy.  PRO TIP:  If the children will be in formal clothes, avoid paint completely and stick to washable markers.  The kids can draw, color, and create whatever they want at the table. Hiring an artist or other adult to run the table frees the host and the other guests from managing the kids and allows them to enjoy the event. If you choose to have an unsupervised art table, it should be within sight of the adult guests.

Hire an Entertainer

If your venue has a separate area for the kids, you can hire an entertainment group which specifically caters to children at events to handle all the work for you. Some may do magic acts while others may include more “carnival” type entertainment, such as balloon animals, face painting, and clowns. Still others might have actors dress up as specific characters, such as superheroes, and come in character to play with the kids.  Some of these entertainers can be enjoyed by all ages and could be included as part of the main event if it is appropriate to the event program.

Off-Site Childcare

Consider securing a room in another location convenient to the event venue and hiring a babysitter(s) – see childcare provider to child ratios above. Finding a good babysitter can be a challenge, though, especially if you don’t have kids yourself, so think about asking for recommendations or going through a known website to find someone you can trust. For a typical wedding, you want to book them for about 5 hours to cover the ceremony and the reception, (more if the ceremony and reception are in different locations).  For other events, such as corporate office parties, book for the full time of the event.

Provide Quiet Toys or Activity Boxes

If your venue doesn’t have room for a separate area for kids, and they need to be where the festivities are taking place, bring some quiet toys or activities to keep the children occupied at their tables. For example, drawing paper and crayons, mini Etch-a-sketch, or fidget toys that don’t make sounds would be great to keep the kids entertained without adding extra noise.

If there is space for a supervised kids only area, feel free to include toys that are louder or which need more space, such as balls, balloons, Play-Doh, bubble wands, and classic outdoor games like cornhole.

Play “I Spy”

One idea I especially love is from a Buzzfeed article about entertaining kids at weddings. You could buy disposable cameras for all the kids and provide a sort of search-and-find game. This has the kids searching for specific items on your list that they have to take a picture of, such as “take a picture of someone laughing.” I love the creativity behind this as you could have the kids search for anything you want, it keeps the kids actively occupied, and it could even add to the wedding couple’s photos after the fact.

How do you keep children entertained at a big event or family function? What has worked for you in the past? Share your experiences with us!

4 Tips for a Corporate Holiday Party

Karen Tips, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A holiday party for your company is a great way to let employees relax, have fun, and get to know each other better. A party can encourage team bonding as well as let employees from different departments who may not interact on a day to day basis socialize with each other. It’s also a nice way to thank employees for their hard work through the year, and many companies will fold in awards, special thanks, or holiday gifts or bonuses with the holiday party to make it that much more exciting.

Here are a few tips for improving your company holiday party.

Planning is Key

Like any other big event, make sure you plan it! A holiday party sounds easy – just throw together some food, some music, and you’re done, right? Wrong! If you’re providing food, you need to account for any specialty diets. If you’re providing drinks, are you providing alcohol, and if so, is it open bar or cash bar? If you’re providing a special dessert, who’s making it and what kind will it be? In fact, who’s making any of your food?

Location is crucial if you plan to have the party outside of your office. Many locations book months in advance, and December is a popular time for parties in general. Plan to book a location and secure your spot during the summer months if at all possible. If you wait until the autumn to book a venue, be prepared to shop around or be turned down. If you need to wait until closer to December to book your location, it’s a good idea to have a plan B in mind already so you aren’t scrambling at the last minute, or forced to host a larger party in a small space.  

These questions and many more will come up in the process of planning your party, so it’s best to start early. You may want to have an events committee as well to help take on tasks so that no one person is doing everything.

If you’re planning a large party and you don’t have an in-house events coordinator, consider hiring an event planner to help get things organized.

Guest List

Your employees are invited, of course, but who else do you want to invite? What’s the goal of your holiday party?

If your goal is strictly to honor employees, you may want to limit the party just to your employees and maybe their families. If your party is more open to celebrating the business or a general end of the year party, consider inviting business partners, networking associates, colleagues outside the business, or potential clients or partners.

Once you decide, make sure it’s clear on the invitation who can come. Language such as “All employees and their families are invited – children welcome!” would cover all bases for most people. Also make it clear to whom questions and RSVPs should be directed.

Holiday Gift Exchange

A gift exchange for the office sounds like fun – but account for the length of the exchange when you’re picking the game! I know of one case where the office decided to do a White Elephant exchange one year and it took over an hour to get through all the gifts because of the number of people who decided to participate. While it could be fun, it’s maybe not the best use of your party time.

White Elephant is more fun for a smaller group, but it can be used by larger offices. Secret Santa can be fun, although it has been less popular as a choice for office gift exchanges. For this one, you may want to allow departments to do their own Secret Santa so that employees who know each other better will be more likely to choose gifts the person wants.

A Grab Bag could be a practical but fun gift exchange that’s similar to the White Elephant but without the potential for a too-long game. With Grab Bag, everyone who wants to participate brings a wrapped gift, which is put into a large opaque bag. Then the participants pull a gift from the bag on their turn based on how it feels and unwrap it. There’s no stealing in this game, so what you get is what you get.

Keep Diverse Backgrounds in Mind

A holiday party for your company is a fantastic idea. But you don’t want to accidentally alienate any of your employees or make them feel unwelcome. When choosing decorations or a theme, keep the diversity of your employees in mind. My recommendation is to either honor all the backgrounds represented by your employees, or none. For example, it’s likely that your holiday party isn’t going to be on Christmas itself, so rather than having the party be a “Christmas party”, it’s OK to leave it as a “holiday party” or “winter holiday party”. This also allows the party to be a simple celebration of the end of the year and keep it lighthearted and non-specific to any one tradition.