Retirement do - creative help required please!

joolsybools

I'm looking for help in organsing a 2 hour lunchtime retirement do for a colleague who has worked for our charity for 20 years.

After some debate we have decided to hold the do at our head office instead of hiring a venue as, understandably, there are issues around spending money on this whilst there are other people in the organsiation who may be faciing redundancy soon.

We have invited around 150 people about half of which are external partners. There are some top people within our charitable sector invited: people with OBEs / MBEs / Chief Execs of large non-profit making organsaitions, so whilst having to work within a very limited budget for catering I want to make this a nice occasion in terms of making the room look presentable/stylish/saying thank you for 20 years of highly valued and very respected work.

I think I may have sourced some gorgeous cheap fresh flowers locally (SW London) but I need some help to decorate the room i.e. make a naff room look respectable! If anyone has any creative ideas then please help!

I'm NOT looking for donations/sponsorship, purely ideas how to make the ugly duckling room/situation blossom!

Thanks x

Fourcandles_3

Keep it to one main colour and a complimentary colour. Lots of mixed colours looks too busy and cheap.

Depending on what the room you are using is normally used for, (is it a canteen, or office area?) simple white paper table cloths the sort on a roll looks good. You could pick the main colour theme out with napkins.

Debt_Free_Chick

I went to a sixtieth birthday party earlier in the year and the guy's wife had found about a dozen photos of her husband "over the years" and had them reproduced in black & white A0 size. They looked fantastic dotted around the room and reminded him of the occasions concerned.

Could you contact the colleagues OH and see if something similar could be arranged. Do you have any photos of him at work or on a work-related thing? You should be able to have them reproduced fairly easily and I don't think it would cost too much.

leylie

in addition to the previous comments how about
* including pictures of ANY special events during your colleagues time
* can you get a ledger sheet from when your colleague started with your charity? how much things cost then? or people were paid then? how many staff were there compared to now? etc

If you've got (or can borrow) a display stand or 2 this can be a good way to hide/ distract people from a 'scruffy' wall/corner etc

Have you contacted any other local charities/voluntary groups? - they may well know someone who is good at this sort of thing and could come and give you some ideas or lend you some table/wall cloths etc

Good Luck

joolsybools

Thanks all for your support and ideas :-)

skirt

Do you have a cuttings book of all the press clippings about the charity (especially those that mention their name) Blow them up to A5 and *wallpaper* the room with them.