Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing
Planning an Office Holiday Party on a Budget
Are you trying to plan a corporate holiday party on a shoestring budget? Makes sense in these economically rocky times. Vault.com spoke to Sherri Foxman, founder and Party Girl of Party411.com, to get her advice on cheap-yet-fabulous holiday parties.
First, the good party planner must decide on a venue. If you can’t hold the party in your office (and who wants beer dumped in the server room?), you’ll need to find another place for cheap. Foxman has two suggestions.
First she suggests cheapskate party planners “poke fun” at the situation and “hold the party in a party room of a Country Buffet or something similar [aka, a Bonanza-like buffet]. It’s a huge choice of mostly fattening foods, but it’s terribly inexpensive and they have party rooms. And they will let you decorate any way you please! Same with McDonald’s. Most of the newer McDonald’s have huge party rooms!”
For those who do not wish to share their festivities with a brightly colored Ronald McDonald Fun Slide, Foxman suggests finding cheap space and contracting with a low-priced catering agency.
“Inexpensive caterers abound,” claims Foxman. “Even Super K is catering now and the food is actually good, with shrimp the size of small footballs. Even if you can’t find an inexpensive caterer, one can certainly stick to menu items that are inexpensive.”
No matter what your budget, Foxman emphasizes the importance of approaching caterers with a firm budget in mind. “Let them build the menu around your budget,” says Foxman. No apologies for a shrunken party budget this year.
Party Girl’s Party Hints
Serve wine and beer only.
You’ll save lots of money by not having a full bar and a skilled bartender. Employees can pitch in on pouring the wine and beer.
Throw in some inexpensive, fun activities – and people won’t notice you have a small budget.
Foxman once dressed a small person as Santa Claus who sat on the knees of attendees for a photo op. Popular and unexpected!
Have fun with the food.
At one party, Foxman built “The World’s Largest Egg Nog and Sundae Bar. It was mostly graphics and they put out all sorts of egg nog and ice creams, and it was served by administrative elves — cheap but creative.”
Don’t just decorate the room, decorate the servers and your guests.
Fun gewgaws like reindeer hats and glow-in-the-dark jewelry add to the air of fun and turn even stick-in-the-muds into party animals.
Play party games.
Reminisces Foxman: “For a mortgage company last year I did a version of Monopoly that had their logo in the title. People had to answer trivia questions to get property cards and turned them in for cash to buy prizes at a make-believe auction. The party was a huge success!”
You don’t need to serve dinner.
Heavy appetizers and hors d’oeuvres are fine.
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Posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 11:28 am and is filed under Employee Relations, Leadership, Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
