The point of this post is share ideas for events I’ve had in the past and am planning on in the future for small references if you are trying or currently putting together social get togethers. Just scroll down and learn what you want.
For background, my events are for Lutheran adults in their 20’s and 30’s to meet each other, socialize and just have fun, but can be applied to a lot of different groups.
Past events:
· Wine & Cheese party: We paid for a wine & cheese connoisseur to come and share 4 wines and cheeses from France (not too expensive, if you have a few hundred dollar budget. Try researching wines & cheeses yourself and pick them up at specialty stores to save money). While our guests were sampling, she would explain things like what region the grapes and cheese were from and what the process was to make them. To lighten things up we brought a Wii and projected it on the wall so people could play Mario Kart or Wii Tennis.
· Wine & Wii: Sticking with the wine theme, we asked all of our guests (around 20) to bring their favorite cheap wine. We handed out sheets so everyone could rate each other’s’ wine and a winner was selected casually. Once again, there was Wii; it was a good opportunity for our guests to get excited and meet each other.
· Think ‘N Wing: This was our trivia event. I gathered trivia from the internet into 4 different categories (10 questions each): TV doctors, 80’s, sports and pop culture. It’s challenging to know what questions to pick; you don’t want them to be too easy or hard. About ¼ of the questions I knew myself and ¾ were questions I didn’t know and that was a pretty good gauge of how others did. I picked up a few buckets of chicken wings from a popular pub and told people to bring their own booze while I provided non-alcoholic drinks. Bring paper and pen per team keeping in mind you’ll probably want every team to have a new sheet of paper for every trivia round. Once everyone was seated in teams, which I let them pick, but maybe assign people teams so they can get to meet new people. I read the questions off my laptop and played music from my iTunes after each question for about one minute to drown out team conversations. The prizes for the winning team were gift cards and we also had a $1 raffle for 2 pairs of 2 baseball tickets.
· Red, White & Blue BBQ: This was a simple get together; there was just eating and socializing. I got hot dogs and burgers and took orders of what people wanted right when they arrived. I also had potato salad from Sam’s Club and BBQ potato chips. Decorations were minimal; I used what I already had in the house besides checkered tablecloths. Red, white & blue candles in festive candle holders were nice because I wanted an outdoor vibe even though we were inside due to heat. I tried to stay away from confetti and wall decorations; I could go nuts with that stuff, but I wanted this to still seem like an adult party.
· Nacho-Mama’s Bingo: I purchased a cheap bingo set knowing I would probably use it for future events and we played about 7 rounds of bingo (the rounds go by fast). I had a prize for each round winner, which included $5 gift certificates from Panera, Starbucks, Oberweiss etc. and I let people pick which one they wanted. I ordered quesadillas and make-yourself tacos from Chevy’s, which also came with a lot of chips and salsa. For good measure, I made Rotel, Italian sausage and Velvetta nacho dip in my crock pot and set it out for people to ladle. Guests brought their own drinks and everyone socialized after bingo.
· Oktoberfest: This event changed a few days prior due to the Cardinal’s playoff game so we had to arrange for the game to be projected on the wall from my friend’s computer, which the guests appreciated. Everyone brought their own drinks (beer was encouraged). I provided fall inspired desserts from our local bakery like mini pumpkin pies, caramel apples and ginger cookies. I also ordered pretzels and a party dip from a local pretzel place, which was great because you get a lot of pretzels in the group packs for cheap. My decorations were minimal, but anything “fall” goes: pumpkins, gourds, candy corn, etc. You could also do a specialty beer tasting instead of a wine tasting.
Future events:
· November Potluck: For this event, I asked guests to bring an entrée (homemade, store bought or carry-out). I will provide drinks and desserts that way I won’t have ten people bring pumpkin pie. I wanted to try mini-games for this event so I will have a tiny pumpkin with a sticker on the bottom for every guest attending. I ordered a relevant mug ($15) off the internet to give as a prize because I will call out a matching sticker to one of the pumpkins; the person with that pumpkin wins the prize. I have also created a half sheet of paper with a Thanksgiving matching game on one side and a harvest word scramble on the other. I will assign people teams at the beginning of the night; each team will get a paper and while eating can complete the quiz. Whichever team gets the most answers right wins gift certificates.
· Christmas Bunco: At this event, each guest will be asked to bring a wrapped Christmas ornament around $5. If you have a large, even amount of guests bunco is great fun; it’s easy to learn, teach, moves people around and gets them excited. Everyone walks away with a unique ornament and decorations and food can be amazing. I’ve decided not to do dinner since people will be moving every few minutes, but to have hot chocolate, cookies. Festive M&M’s or candies on each table are always fun. I grew up playing this game with my school class and everyone’s ornament was put under a tree. Each time someone gets a “bunco” they get to pick a present from under the tree. Directions on how to play bunco are here: http://www.ehow.com/how_14930_play-bunco.html
· Winter Trivia: Trivia was so popular the first time that I decided it would be great to have every few months. There will be categories like winter weather, holiday origins, pop culture, holiday movies and maybe holiday songs. Instead of just reading questions from my lap top, I will create powerpoint slides for each question; this will make for more interesting pop culture, movie and music rounds because I can utilize more visuals. I’m not sure about food and drinks yet, but I want to have warm refreshments (literally and figuratively) so hot chocolate, tea or decaf coffee, maybe soup or stew, macaroni & cheese, warm breads or pies etc. I feel like sticking to comfort foods will be best since guests will probably have to brave the cold to come and they want something heartening when they arrive. For decorations, I will probably stick with a snowflake, silver and gold theme for more of a New Years vibe.
· Minute to Win it Fundraiser: Details are still being hashed out, but I wanted to try a fundraising event. We are too small of a group to do an auction of some sort. I decided we’ll do a “Minute to Win it” type contest. Guests will pay $10 at the door to compete and all money will go to a relevant charity. I will set up three stations each featuring different mini-game from the competition TV show that anyone can find online. There will be as many rounds as we need to determine the big winner. The prize will be something bigger than we’ve ever done before and I’m also considering having 2 runner up prizes. This event, however, will take a lot of prep time and runs to your local Target for all supplies.
Tips:
· To optimize budget, buy all white (or one color) plates/cups/utensils for every event. Themed plates are fun, but if you have leftover Halloween plates for example, you won’t be able to use them for future events.
· For budget, utilize dollar stores for favors, decorations, etc.
· I’m always tempted to use nametags because I never seem to catch peoples’ names, but avoid nametags if possible.
· Try to assign people to groups or teams; create common & fun goals for strangers so people get to meet if that is your event’s goal.
· If you don’t know everyone attending, set out an attendance list. Allow guests to put their name and email (if they want) on the list so you have a record of how many people were there and you have emails if you decide to send invitations for future events digitally.
· Let the seasons or events in your town inspire your event planning. Since my events are once a month, I’m fortunate to pick obvious themes according to holidays and temperatures. Let’s say you have Oktoberfest, an art fair, or Cheese Festival in your town, tie that in with your events to make them unique.
· Try to personalize prizes instead of doing gift cards or cash every time. There are a ton of options online for mugs, shirts, pens, gift baskets, play/movie tickets…the sky is the limit; your guests will appreciate your creativity.
Invitations: Since I throw community events, I use flyers and not really invitations. However, flyers are a lot cheaper and typically use less ink if you’re printing them from home.
· For flyers, I use Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, but have also used Microsoft Word, it just has less design options, but still pretty good.
· Make something on the page pop, it could be the font, color or a picture to get attention or use all three without being tacky.
· Obviously, you want to include the name of the event, date/time, location, and RSVP information, but I also include if the guests have to bring something, if there will be specific foods or drinks there already (I try to be descriptive like saying blueberry lemonade or ice cream bar (jazz your words up!)) and that they should invite friends if you want them to.
· If you’re trying to invite anyone and everyone make sure to utilize marketing tactics. I email my flyers to the offices of all Lutheran churches in the area and our seminary; all of these churches have bulletin boards and pamphlets for announcements. Make sure you get your flyer out at least two weeks prior to your event, but the sooner the better. If you are emailing people in the community make sure they are aware of your goal for these events and encourage them to get on board. I also started a Facebook group. This is great because you can automatically invite people into the group. You can post updates and make your event within the group, post pictures from past events and create polls to ask for feedback.
· Include if there will be any prizes or free food on the invitation; it’s a good incentive for people to come. We were lucky enough to have a church member donate some of their season tickets to Cardinals games for three events. It made guests excited and playfully competitive.
Location:
· Centralize: Make sure your location is a place that all guests can get to around and under 20 minutes. Especially if these events are on week nights the last thing a guest with a full time job wants to do after sitting through traffic is drive 30 minutes to the event location.
· All of my events have been in the meeting hall at my church; it’s very convenient since there is an attached kitchen and all of the tables and chairs I could need not to mention a large parking lot. Houses are the next best thing or maybe a quiet bar that has an offset or private party room.
Any questions or feedback?
