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Planning a fun and memorable retirement party can seem like a huge chore if you don’t have a game plan for the party already in place. To help get you on your way, we’ve created a basic guideline that is intended to make your job easier and spark your creativity. For organizational purposes, the guideline is broken down into seven major categories:

Venue

Selecting the right venue for a retirement party plays a critical role in determining how much time and effort you will have to put into planning the party. In general, parties held in the workplace demand more planning time and effort because they require you to supply your own food and beverages, decorations, and other party supplies. A restaurant can be an easy venue option for many reasons. To name a few, holding the party at a restaurant minimizes your setup and cleanup times, it eliminates the need for food shopping and preparation, and it reduces the need for party decorations. If holding the party at a restaurant isn’t an option, consider where exactly in your workplace you want to hold the party. The kitchen or break room isn’t always the best option!

Day and Time

Choose a day and time for the party when everyone will be in the office and will not be in a rush to get back to work or their home immediately after. We recommend hosting the party on a Thursday afternoon during work hours (4 to 5 p.m. works well). By holding the party during work hours, you will get a far better turnout.

Theme

Choosing a theme for a retirement party is not essential, but it can add an extra element of fun to the occasion, especially if you are holding the party at your workplace. In choosing a theme, consider where the person might be moving after retiring or if they have a favorite hobby that they will be pursuing in their retirement. For example, if the person is moving to Hawaii, you could throw and island-themed party. If they love to play golf, that could be a theme as well. If the person has a noteworthy trait, you can also make that a theme for the party (i.e. if they always wear blue shirts to work, you could inform the guests to wear blue shirts).

Decorations

Decorations for the party can be simple as long as they are creative. If you choose not to have a theme for the party, you can always hang framed portraits or pictures of the person that is retiring. If the person who is retiring has a good sense of humor, you can doctor the images in Adobe Photoshop to get a rise out of the guests.

Food and Beverage

Serve hors d’oeuvres and drinks to stay within budget and keep the preparations manageable. If you are holding the party in a restaurant, make sure to prearrange which hors d’oeuvres will be served. If the person retiring has a favorite food or beverage, serve it if it fits in with your theme. Be sure to consult your company’s alcohol policy if you plan to serve any alcoholic beverages.

Activities

Party activities should be fun but not overwhelming. Your guests will want to chat and have the opportunity to give their best to the person who is retiring. Slideshows and roasts are two popular retirement party activities. A slide show can either be played in the background during the party, or it can be narrated with a story. A video roast can be another good option. To organize the video roast, send out an email to the person’s friends and colleagues asking them for stories that you can videotape. Employ a funny and well-liked person to serve as the roast master. The roast master can introduce the video with a funny story and also conclude the roast with a few upbeat, witty remarks.

Invitations

Invitations for the party can be done in a number of easy ways: send an email, post flyers in the office, and place formal invitations in work mailboxes. A reminder email is always helpful the morning of the party to ensure maximum attendance.

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Can you think of anything more feminine, more lovely, more “girly” than a group of young girls… all dressed in their princess finery sitting down to a decked out tea table with royal dainties? Girls across the globe love dress up and love tea…so why not combine the two and make the perfect event for your girls – a Princess Tea Party!

Here are 7 easy steps toward making the perfect memory for your little princess:

1. Set a date: Keep in mind the ages of your little ones and set the time when they won’t be too tired, too hungry or too cranky! The “official” teatime is late afternoon, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a wonderful teatime in the morning as well.

2. Invite: The fun begins. Being a princess requires invitations of the most royal kind. Lovely linen paper is easy to find at your local craft or office supply store. Run it through your home printer with a fancy font and you’re done. Send the invitations out about 2-3 weeks before your tea so your guests can plan accordingly.

3. Decorate: Let your princess help with this part … after all, it is HER event. Royal colors include purple, gold, pink and silver and aren’t those the favorites of girls anyway? Balloons, streamers and more balloons! We’ll talk about the tea table in a minute.

4. Make the food: Traditional tea fare includes scones and clotted cream. Other royal tea treats are chocolate covered strawberries, thumbprint cookies, cucumber sandwiches (or substitute the ever popular PB&J sandwich for younger ones) and miniature teacakes. More details on tea party food can be found on our website at http://www.funevents4girls.com.

5. Set the table: Go all out here. Use a lovely tablecloth, cloth napkins and real teacups not plastic. Not only will this be fun for your little ones, but it’ll be a great lesson in etiquette as well as they learn to put on their finest manners for your tea.

6. Plan some games: Great princess games abound but keep it simple. Hide some gold-foiled covered coins around the house and have a hunt to return the royal treasure. Use a lovely glass bowl as the treasure chest. Spread your gold and silver balloons all over the “ballroom” floor and play classical music for a royal ball with much dancing.

7. Enjoy the day: Most of all make it fun. Take many pictures and record the memories. Your little princess will go to bed that night smiling from ear to ear with the joy of the day!

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Every little girl wants to be a princess. So when her birthday comes around, smart Moms and Dads know the best way to make it really special, is to have a princess birthday party. Here are a few ideas to make it a fun and unique event:

1. Every princess needs a palace, so first we must decorate the house! You can get pink sparkle tulle rolls and garland the tulle along the walls and tables. Tie big bows on the back of the chairs. Remember, the more girly and frilly the better. Next, place some inflatable unicorns, frogs & butterflies around to give the house the feel of an enchanted palace. You can give these away as prizes during the party. Groups of pink and purple balloons add a lot of visual punch and create a party atmosphere. I love placing plastic “glass slippers” filled with candy or other treats at each girl’s place setting!

2. Now we need food and treats! No matter what you choose to serve, little girls especially love the special touches that reflect the princess theme. Sandwiches or other foods can be cut out with princess themed cookie cutters. A really fun idea is to place pink rock candy in little treasure chest shaped favor boxes. Now each princess has her jewels! Lollipops in the shape of roses, flowers, frogs, stars or tiaras will complement your theme as well. Bubble gum shaped coins can be used as treasure in a centerpiece or on a side table. Of course, the cake should be shaped like a palace. Make sure to ask the baker to tint the cake pink on the inside. Another unique touch is to serve pink hot chocolate as a special princess beverage.

3. Another important element for a good princess party is the costumes. Give each girl an inexpensive tiara and wand as a party favor. If you want to go all out, give them each a ribbon tutu, as well. The little girls will have great fun dressing themselves, each other and showing off their princess style. Don’t forget to take pictures!

4. Next we need favor bags for the princesses to take home and enjoy. Rather than the usual gift bags, how about cute little purses that say “Princess” on them? Inside you can add sparkle body glitter, cute beaded jewelry, oversized jeweled rings and sparkling body stickers.

5. Plan some great age-appropriate activities to entertain your little guests. Children love a simple treasure hunt; hide plastic jewelry around the party room or in the yard. Pin the crown on the princess games are available and are sure to make everyone laugh. Guests could make their own princess wands or crowns using craft store supplies or princess craft kits. Hang a piñata shaped as a castle, dragon or tiara! How cute and fun!

6. Don’t forget there may be a prince or two at this party, so you might want to have a few prince crowns, swords and shields to delight them. You might even want an inflatable dragon for a prince to conquer!

Now you know how to throw a GREAT princess party. Be creative and enjoy!!!

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