Company Picnic Ideas and Planning Tips
By
Ellen Zucker
The company picnic is a beloved tradition at many firms.
It's an opportunity for employees to mingle and "let down their hair."
A well organized company picnic with planned activities can help integrate employees with each other. This is particularly important if the company has undergone recent reorganization. As such it functions as a "team bonding" mechanism.
A company picnic can be held for an entire firm of thousands or for a single department of 30.
In my role of party entertainer (and prior to that corporate employee), I have attended countless such events. Here are some observations, tips, and ideas I picked up along the way.
General Considerations
Like any other type of event, you need to decide what you want your picnic to be like and how much you want to spend.
As with any event, it is important to keep the needs and tastes of your attendees paramount.
Allow yourself sufficient time to book your venue if the picnic is offsite. Demand for some venues is at a premium during peak periods. It is not uncommon to make reservations several months or more in advance of a given date.
You'll need to plan food and beverages, and activities and entertainment and, in some cases, transportation to the picnic site.
Allow enough time so you can give your employees sufficient advance notice to include the picnic into their plans. This is especially important if you'll be inviting family members or if it is held on a weekend.
Company picnics and company picnic ideas can range from the very simple to a pull-out-all-stops extravaganza. My observation is that people have a good time at both.
Do you want to have a theme? A theme is fun! Plus it makes it easier to organize food and activities.
WHEN do you want to hold you company's picnic?
Here, in the Philadelphia area, companies hold their picnics beginning in June through early October.
Considerations such as your company's workflow, availability of a desired venue, etc., will help you determine the date. Employees are less apt to be away on vacation in June or September, but they will really enjoy the chance to kick back in July or August.
There are pros and cons to weekday picnics versus weekend picnics.
Company picnics held during a workday will ensure a greater attendance for employees when they would normally be in the office. And, they don't cut into precious personal time.
But spouses and children are generally more available for a weekend date.
WHOM do you want to invite?
Staff only? Members of the employee's immediate family? What about significant others, friends? Decide where to draw the line.
Family picnics are a great way for employees to meet co-workers’ families. It humanizes co-workers by allowing them to relax their at-work personas.
On the other hand, single or divorced employees can feel like the odd wheel at a very family oriented event. That can be overcome by planning activities suitable for people of all ages.
Activities that require participants to form groups can help integrate the attendees. And it keeps your guests occupied.
WHERE do you want to have your company picnic?
While many picnics take place under a tent in the company's parking lot, offsite venues can make people feel more relaxed. If you're on a strict budget, one option is a nearby state park. Many have large pavilions ideally suited for such events.
I've also been to company picnics given at the home of the firm's CEO or owner. This kind of setting adds a homey touch to the festivities. In some instances, facilities were set up
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Manhattan is one of New York's five boroughs and is what people most often think of when they picture New York. Manhattan is actually an elongated island and includes most of the best known and most popularly visited neighborhoods, including the Financial District downtown.
Manhattan is divided by three districts: Downtown Manhattan, Midtown Manhattan, and Uptown or Upper Manhattan. Downtown Manhattan has many world renowned places such as TriBeCa, the "Triangle Below Canal Street", which is home to trendy restaurants and Robert DeNiro's annual film festival, and popular with the affluent trendy crowd; SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street", which flows north from Spring Street between 6th Avenue and Broadway and has largely evolved from 1980s urban artist colony to a fashionable, high-end shopping and entertainment district; and Greenwich Village with its coffee houses, wine bars, low-rise but high art and literary connections. The bohemian center of yore, today's Village is strongly up market (especially west of 7th Avenue) but retains its diverse flavor, with its historic community around Christopher Street and thousands of students who attend NYU. Downtown Manhattan is also home to the Financial District of New York, the financial bastion of America that is Wall Street, the World Trade Center site, and the Seaport and Battery Park. It is also a departure point for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Downtown Manhattan is the most diverse district in Manhattan with places like East Village and Chinatown sheltering people and families of all nationalities and culture. Pockets of Ukrainians, Japanese, Indians and young professionals make it one of the most vibrant Manhattan areas. Chinatown retains its scruffy, exotic atmosphere, especially around Mott and Canal Streets. The diminishing Little Italy still exists on Mulberry Street (and comes out in full force for Italian festivals such as the Feast of San Gennaro in September), but the surrounding blocks are morphing into fashionable Nolita (NOrth of LIttle ITaly) or have been annexed by Chinatown.
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It is Uptown or Upper Manhattan, however, that serves as home to the rich and famous. Here one can find Central Park with its lawns, trees and lakes is popular for recreation and concerts and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Central Park Zoo. The Upper East Side, primarily a residential neighborhood, it remains New York City's most desired address. Museums and restaurants also abound.
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The best ways to get around Manhattan are on foot, by limousine service, by cab, or by taking the subway or bus. Driving is strongly discouraged; most New Yorkers do not own cars and the infrastructure of the city are designed for people, rather than for automobiles.
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Maps of the New York subway system and Manhattan buses, schedules of subway and bus lines, and information about temporary service changes due to construction can be found at http://www.mta.info. Bus schedules and route maps are also usually posted on poles at bus stops.
Source: Wikitravel.org - Manhattan, New York
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