Category Archives: Xmas Party

Party Planing 101: How to be a good client

Whether you’re throwing a hens, bucks, birthday or corporate party – the fundamentals of piecing it together are relatively the same and the process can be quite stressful for the organiser.

For some people, being in charge of planning a big event is a challenging but exciting opportunity to put on something amazing – for others however, it can be an incredibly daunting situation, especially if its a large group where you don’t know everyone in attendance.

But whether you’re excited to be in charge or not – the fact is that a lot of people simply don’t have the time it takes to research, contact and plan out every aspect of the party- even more so if your wanting to plan a party that has more than one main event.

So with everyone’s busy schedules these days its no surprise that more and more people are choosing to book through an events planning company such as GoBananas.
For some, using an event planner is the very best thing – whether they have time or not, whereas others can find it a little harder to let go of the reigns and trust their party rep.
This goes both ways however with your party rep being able to trust you (the client) to let us organise your party.

So, here are GoBananas top tips on how to be a great client and make the planning process easier for everyone involved:

Communicate your expectations clearly – from the very beginning its important that your party rep has a clear idea of activities you want to book, even if you haven’t 100% made up your mind we need to know the direction you want your party to go in.
Allow reasonable time for work to be done – of course planning an event is a time sensitive issue as the party date is the dead line, but its important for the client to understand that your booking is not the only party in motion for the whole company, while it is a priority for us – its not the only one.
Be available for questions – in some instances your party rep wont be able to continue on a certain aspect of your party until they’ve got the go ahead from you – making sure that you are available to talk or respond to your reps queries in a timely fashion is imperative for making sure your events progress doesn’t fall behind. Or if you know you’ll be unreachable for a few days – please let your rep know so they wont think you’ve vanished off the face of the earth.
Pay on time – this one is a biggy. A lot of the time our clients are waiting on their group members to pay before they can forward this onto us, so we always recommend that you give your group a cut off day to finish paying you at least week prior to the final payment being due overall. Nobody wants to be getting annoyed phone calls about overdue bills and we certainly don’t like giving them.
Don’t micromanage your party rep – you’ve come to booking agency for a reason so it doesn’t make sense to then try to control every single aspect of the booking at every point along the way. You’ve hired a company to do a job – so trust in their expertise and sit back and relax.
Be the single point of contact – a surefire way to get wires crossed and cause mistakes in a booking is to bring on another person half way through to deal with your party rep. Chances are they wont know the booking as well as you and things can get messy when they suddenly want to change something that has already been decided. Keep it nice and easy and follow through from the start.
Give credit where due – a lot of business these days relies on word mouth, so if you think the company did a great job with you booking and you were happy with how everything turned out, then pass on the details to friend or family who may be looking for something similar. A good word goes a long way.

Keep these tips in mind when booking your next party and you’ll be best buds with your party planner in no time – making the whole experience much easier and more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Happy Planning!

Mid-winter Xmas Parties and why they’re a great idea

You may think its a little early to be thinking about Christmas – I mean we haven’t even gotten through Easter yet, and while we agree that’s its not yet time to put up tree or start sending out the cards – it’s not too early to PARTY! Especially if it’s for a work do.

Now that summers over there’s always a definite shift in everyone’s mood – as the sunlight disappears on our commutes home its hard not to get a little down when you realise that you just spent most of your day light hours inside an office – it’s inevitable that your employees are bound to get the mid-winter blues. One sure-fire to fix this and improve office morale is to host a Mid-winter Xmas Party.

Fun activities for a mid-winter Xmas Party

Murder Mystery

A great option for both small and large companies a Murder Mystery is the ideal activity that can run in the afternoon or later at night. Have it a function room or if you can all fit why not host it at someones house? A great way to keep costs down as well. And while the theme of “murder” doesn’t exactly correlate to a cheery Christmas theme, trust us when we say that its not at all morbid. Our hosts are experienced actors who know how to make sure that your group has an amazing time and will keep the laughs coming. It’s always a lot fun and you could even arrange a trophy for the group that solves the mystery. A very popular activity that is sure to impress.

Boat Cruise

Boat cruises are not just for summer folks, and while you might think that heading out in the heart of winter doesn’t sound like the best idea, we have plenty of cruise options throughout Australia that make cruising in winter a breeze. Most of our vessels have indoor areas to shelter from the wind (or even a touch of rain) and we have charters available for every group size.
Choose between BYO and fully licensed, cook up a BBQ or splurge a little and get your cruise catered. This is a great way to get your staff out of the city for a few hours and have a really good time. Day and evening cruises available and so choose the time that suits you best.

Poker Night

For something a little different why not book in poker night for your mid-winter Xmas party.
Fun but with a little bit of competition thrown in too. We offer mobile services in most big cities so this can be hosted at a suitable function room, someones house or you can even have it at the office. Everyone can play at once if you want to set it up as a tournament style, or we can do smaller tables and have it run as a background activity at the party. Most packages come with table tops, playing chips, cards and a host or dealer to run the game – all you need to do is show up and get set for a great night.

A few benefits of having a mid-winter Xmas party

Venues have more availability in winter. If you’ve ever been in charge of organizing a Christmas party for the months October through to December you’ll know how incredibly difficult it can be to secure a venue – especially if you’re trying to plan something last minute. Not to mention that Summer also means wedding season so you have a bunch of brides booking up every decent venue left, right and centre as well. Having your party in June or July means that a lot places will be available and if you’re lucky they might even offer cheaper winter rates.
It doesn’t have to be traditional – when people think mid-winter Xmas they can take the phrase quite literally and assume that they have to go all out with full on winter wonderland theme complete with fake snow – but that’s not necessarily the case. You can mix things up with a variety of fun day time activities that are either inside or outdoors, it can be something physical such as bubble soccer or maybe something that will make you think such a room escape game. Follow it up with a simple dinner or maybe even a BBQ at someones house – nice and simple and wont it break the budget. But if you do want to go full on winter-wonderland that totally fine too 🙂
A mid-winter Xmas do is sure to lift your employee’s morale. This is probably the biggest benefit of throwing a winter bash – giving your staff the chance to unwind, relax and have a laugh is sure to give them a much needed boost to get them through the rest of the winter.
This is the perfect opportunity to show them that the company appreciates their hard work and takes consideration into a healthy work/play balance.

So if you’re considering moving the crazy December mayhem to a calmer (and cooler) June or July – contact GoBananas today and find out what fun mid-winter Xmas options we have in a city near you.

http://au.gobananasworld.com/

Last minute Xmas Party to plan? Read on….

Seasons Greetings Party People!

It’s now 1 month until we all close up shop for a few days, crack open the booze, eat way too much food and celebrate Christmas with our nearest and dearest.
It’s a great time of year and the Xmas spirit is infectious – especially if you’re like our office and hound the local the radio station to play more and more Xmas carols every hour.

Now by this time in late November, a majority of you working folk have either already been to your works Christmas soiree or you’ll be looking forward to it occurring within the next couple of weeks – but for some of you, the Xmas party seems like a distant and complicated task that you’ve drawn the short straw on and now have very little time and resources to plan.

For those of you who started the planning months ago – we applaud you. For those of you who are only just now starting to piece something together… all hope is not yet lost.
So if you need to put something together quick smart – here’s a few tips to make your life (and ours) infinitely easier:

Be flexible – this late in the game you can’t come expecting to book exactly what you want at the exact date or time that you want it for, being open to what the activity supplier or venue has available means we can lock something in much faster.
Have your budget and RSVP list set – before you try to book in somewhere it’s best if you know exactly how many people you have coming and exactly how much money you can spend, it’s very difficult to get anything finalized when you’re still pending your final numbers or waiting on money from people. Having this sorted as early as possible means we have a much better chance of everything going as planned.
Be prepared to pay up front – in most cases venues for Christmas parties require full and final payment 1 month out – so if you’re coming in after that cut off date expect that you’ll have to pay out most if not all of the outstanding balance straight away. This point is especially important to take note of if you need to put anything pass accounts first.
Don’t confuse the situation – once you’ve taken that first step and locked something in with a booking agent (e.g GoBananas) don’t contact the venue or activity provider direct to sort out this or that, miscommunication is a sure fire way to make sure something goes awry. Trust your party rep to relay all your questions and concerns and you’ll find that come the day your party will be all set and good to go with minimum fuss on your part.
Don’t hate the messenger – your party rep will do all they can to try and secure your preferred date, activity or venue, but unfortunately they don’t have control over what’s available. So if they pass on that it’s fully booked please be open to the other fantastic ideas that they’ll offer as alternates – remember – flexibility is key when it comes to last minute parties.

Take this advice into consideration and you’ll find that getting your party plans sorted quick smart won’t be such a disaster after all. Then you can drink, relax and be merry as all your work mates congratulate you on pulling off such an awesome Xmas do, and you can be like this guy….

Happy, carefree and ready to GOBANANAS……

A Merry Melbourne Xmas Party

There’s no denying that Melbourne is an amazing city at Xmas time, every inch of the city screams festive cheer: the Christmas lights on Bourke Street, the numerous trees in Fed Square, the giant baubles in Crown Casino and the huge decorative ribbons on the bridges – all these sights and more, are enough to make anyone excited for the silly season.

Now a lot of companies may think that organizing an Xmas party for their office is a waste of time and money, but here at GoBananas we beg to differ.
At the end of hard year, when your staff are starting to feel a little lethargic and in serious need of a re-boot, a well planned Xmas Do will be like a breath of fresh in to your work place.
Not only does it make your employees feel appreciated and valued, but it’s also a great way to improve work place relationships and let colleagues build up a rapport – something that is especially important for larger companies. And besides, even the boss needs a break sometimes.

However, because Melbourne is such huge city, the number of Xmas Activities available can be somewhat overwhelming. If you’re the “lucky” person who has been selected to throw together this years soiree, the thought of trying to pull off something fun and exciting for a large group of people is probably enough to make you tempted to reach for the box of Christmas booze early and hide out on your couch until the ordeal is over.

But here at GoBananas, we’re here to tell you that piecing together an Xmas party is not something to fear, well – it’s not when you let us help.
We have a fantastic range of day and night time activities to keep the masses entertained, and since we work only with the best venues and suppliers in the city, you can be confidant that you’ll be getting great value for money.

And since we’re so nice here, we’re going to give you a sneak peek at some of the awesome options we have available:

Boat Cruise – The crème de la crème of Xmas party options. You can’t go wrong with this choice, just picture cruising along the Yarra River in the warmth of the afternoon sunshine, a cold drink in hand, relaxing and chatting with work mates. You’ll be sailing away from all your work place woes – literally.
Function Room – Ideal for the group that has a few members with unsteady sea legs. We have a wide range of fun and sophisticated venues available for exclusive hire by your company. Rock up, grab some good drinks and food and settle in for a night of fun and frivolity. We can even arrange some extra activities to take place such a Murder Mystery game or Casino tables.
Cocktail Class – A fun and instructive activity that everyone can get involved in. Your group will get their own experienced bartender to show them all the flashy tips and tricks that go into making these delicious drinks. Who knows – maybe you can even stage your own cocktail party in your office afterwards where everyone can relish in their new-found skill.

This is just the tip of the ice berg when it comes to Christmas Party options in Melbourne, so if one of these takes your fancy or you want to see what else is on offer, call the office today on 1300 635 462 or visit our website.

It’s Xmas Party planning made easy!

‘Tis the Season….(to be prepared)

Christmas is a magical time of year, especially for us folks Downunder who don’t have to deal with freezing cold temperatures and snow.
Now there’s no denying that all us at some point in time, have wished we lived somewhere where we could wake up on Christmas morning to a fresh frosting of snow on our front lawn and the dream of sipping hot cocoa by the fire…. but for the most part we love the fact that for us, this festive season means beaches, BBQ’s and booze. And of course: XMAS PARTIES!!!

Some of you might think we’re crazy – bringing up Xmas already when we’re not even out of winter yet, but every good party planner knows that when it comes to the silly season, adequate preparation is imperative!

Just think – out there now is some poor soul who’s fretting over the fact that they’ve drawn the short straw this year and are now in charge of organizing an amazing and entertaining array of events to entertain a bunch of people, all of whom have very different tastes and opinions about the ‘in’ thing to be doing.
Why are they fretting you ask? Surely it’s not so difficult to piece something together when we’re still at least 3 months away from putting up the tinsel? Well fret they must, because even now function rooms, party boats and fun-filled activities are starting to book out for the summer. It can be a lot for one person to take on.

So what should a person in this position do? Book with GoBananas.
Now we’re not saying that we’ve got the Monopoly on all the Xmas party activities in Australia and that your first choice is absolutely going to be available for the time and date that you want it, but what we are saying is that when you book us you get the piece of mind of knowing that your party plans are in very safe hands.

We’ll take care of everything for you, from chasing up venues and suppliers to lock in availability, organizing payments and answering any questions you have, you wont have to do any of the boring work that comes with putting together a large scale party, all you have to do is tell us what your after and then show up on the day and reap the glory that comes from planning such an amazing soiree.

Even if you haven’t the faintest idea about what to do, we can send you through suggestions and ideas that are suited to your group size and budget.

So give a call, flick us live chat or submit and enquiry via our website and we’ll welcome you into the wonderful world of Christmas Parties – Downunder Style!

1300 635 462