When your event is an all family affair, it presents a whole new challenge to your event planning. How can you satisfy parents, kids, and every adult that attends? Whether it’s a grand opening, company picnic, festival, or another family event, we’ve put together some general event planning tips that are sure to please your youngest and “most experienced” event attendees.
Hire entertainers fun for the whole family.
One of the key things your event goers are going to remember is whether they enjoyed—or didn’t enjoy—the event. You don’t want to hear “I’m bored” from anyone. To avoid the boredom, contact a pro that can point you to entertainers that aren’t necessarily targeted at one age group over the other or can provide a group of entertainers for every audience in attendance.
If you’re hosting a country-fair themed event, set up stations that are suited for everyone, such as a dunk tank, face painters (that can do kid and adult designs), jugglers, and other acts perfect for your event. For a country luau, contact an entertainment agent who coordinate dancers that the adults approve of but can customize their act so the kids can join them on stage.
Include dishes in the menu that a picky kid would enjoy.
You don’t want the parents in attendance to have to be fishing in their bags continually for fruit snacks. Instead, plan a menu fitting for everyone in attendance. Talk to your caterer about adding kid-friendly dishes to the menu, such as PBJ’s, chicken tenders, cheese quesadillas, corn dogs. In addition, be open to dietary restrictions for buffet or sit down menus that can accommodate any dietary restrictions or allergies (i.e. peanut-free dishes, gluten free, vegan, etc.)
Avoid anything even remotely risqué.
Including anything risqué can back fire, so go to great lengths to plan an event that can offend attendees or leave the parents in an awkward situation around their kids. Make sure that every part of the event is kid-friendly without boring the adults so you don’t have an egg on your face when the event is over.
Choose a family-friendly venue.
It’s your job to think like a parent—even beyond their wildest expectations—and plan for any situation. One of the biggest ways you can do that is by choosing a family-friendly venue (another factor to add to this list when choosing a venue). Locate your entertainers in kid-friendly areas that are safe. Your youngest attendees are going to appreciate your efforts—and so aretheir parents.
