Planning a retirement party for a beloved preschool teacher - and I need help! 100 people in a picnic area with pizza, cake, a guestbook with an instax camera, and a request for guests to bring snacks to share. What else do we need?

Question

seán patrick john paul george ringo doran · Answer

The Whimsy Audio Guestbook /// After the Tone: Had one of these for our wedding. Low-friction async way to leave a message and a memory.

Lalleuca · Answer

Something creative: something pre-school related and unexpected, like posterboard and scissors and glue, maybe thrifted picture books for each person to pop an instax selfie with the teacher inside to take away. or similarly, to cut up (gasp!) and make a collage. basically I want a craft table. OOOO get one of your clever friends to make a custom colouring in sheet with the teacher on it like that Frizzle lady (not from US, I forget her title)

Jessica · Answer

Puzzle Table: Now I know you’re outside so this may not be totally doable,  but at any event I host I try to have a puzzle table (or something like it). 2-3 puzzles depending on the room we have.

With love to my fellow introverts, I need something to do with my hands, and a reason to strike up a conversation, so settling in with a cute little puzzle and working with 3-4 people (usually, other introverts) loosens me up to talk to people. Idk why it works, but it does.

Also, if it’s not particularly windy, open the box and sprinkle some pieces on the table. Sometimes I even match a couple pieces to get it started. People won’t open the box, but if it’s already open they’ll slowly flock to it.

(I host Christmas parties for my college students, and 9 out of 10 they’re all around the puzzle table or UNO.)

Jessica · Answer

PhotoCircle App: If you want to crowdsource pics from the event, check out PhotoCircle. Guests can upload their pics to a shared place and even like, comment and download each other’s pics.

Used this to get photos from students on a Study Abroad trip and they had a lot of fun with it. So many cute selfies and group photos.

Erika · Answer

Garden games: It might be fun to have a bunch of activity stations for people to join in - cornhole, croquet, painting?