Goho turned 5, and what a celebration it was.
5 tips to make your company party as good as ours was.

OK, so as one of the leading events agencies in the UK, the pressure really is on when we put on our events. Eyeballs are on us, and everyone expects the BEST. We take that challenge every single time, and we don’t just rise to it, we smash it out of the water. Take our 5th birthday party last week for example, if you want some tips on how to throw a company celebration like no other, then read on.

Firstly - Find the perfect venue.

As you know, we stay away from boring old meeting rooms, and steer well clear of the Hilton on Edgeware Road. No offense Hilton but you ain’t for us. We like to change it up, disrupt things a little, so we either use venues that are kooky AF, not meant as event spaces, OR we team up with a badass new kid on the block hotel brand that are pushing boundaries themselves. Step up Mama Shelter, Shoreditch. The Garden Bar is nothing short of beautiful, with twinkly lights, an island bar, gorgeous rattan furniture and a real indoor/outdoor vibe. They also have karaoke rooms and vintage arcade games dotted about. As a company who are always harping on about moving away from the traditional alcohol fuelled party, the spaces at Mama Shelter really allowed us to engage our guests in different activities, but more on that later.

Secondly - Programme the perfect party.

If you follow us on social you will know we are real advocates for moving away from a traditional “P**s Up”. Lots of people, especially Gen Z are throwing booze to the curb, so to ensure you’re catering for and appealing to all you MUST think of something new, and not just ply people with cheap Prosecco. We donned our thinking caps and after a site visit, inspired by the fabulous spaces available to us, curated a line up of activities that would hopefully appeal to all in some way or another. We lined up a completely zen West African drumming workshop, a stress-zapping back, neck and shoulder massage from the amazing female led Heat Massage, had a female DJ, a branded photo booth, and a Goho themed “pub” quiz. Oh, and Karaoke, we had ALL the Karaoke. Some of our client’s who I won’t name got kicked out when the venue closed, but they messaged me to say “They wanted more”. Now that’s the way to do it, ALWAYS leave people wanting more.

Third up - Cater to everyone’s taste buds.

But be clever about it. Remember the note above about not everyone wanting to drink? Yeah, I didn't think you’d have forgotten it already. I am going to go over it again though as it’s SO important. MAKE SURE YOU OFFER NON ALCOHOLIC ALTERNATIVES. And not just OJ and Coke. We made sure to serve up non alcoholic IPA and delicious booze free cocktails too. Being sober doesn't mean being boring. We also decided not to serve any red meat, one teeny weeny little chicken burger made it onto the menu, but the rest was all veggie or vegan, because EVERYONE can eat vegetables and it makes catering to a large party WAY easier. It’s also better for the environment.

We opted for canapes and bowl food to further implement the party vibe, and allow people to move around the rooms, networking and enjoying the spaces as they went.

Four - Give a banging goody bag or take away so your guests remember you.

OK, so this is a tough one. You need to either set aside a budget for this, or work with an incredible PR Agency, like, say, ahem.… us. They will help you find companies that align with your brand and values, and want to send samples to the demographic you’ll have in attendance at your event.

For our event, we ordered a cake from an incredible female run brand, Sara Tett and reached out to PRs to support with our custom made goody bags. Our guests were thrilled with incredible goodies from Etan Rum, gorgeous hand cream from Cotswold Lavender Company, the most delicious vegan chocolate from Play in Choc, incredible cream and cosmetic bags from Skin Genius, freshly ground coffee from Redemption Roasters, Probiotics for adults from BioGaia, Organic Haskap Berry Juice Shots from Haskapa, fresh, home-made Goho branded marshmallows from Hope and Mallow, organic sun cream from Organii, beautifully branded beer from Crafty Brewing, delicious gut friendly living soda from FHIRST, a personal styling voucher from sustainable fashion brand Deploy, and a beautiful do it yourself Macrame keyring kit from Studio HOIME. Now I’ve left this one til last as I wanted to give a particular shout out to Nikki, the Founder. We went to school together, which isn’t why I’m giving her a shout out, it’s because she has a bloody brilliant brand. Studio HOIME (or Here’s One I Made Earlier), is not only a super clever name, like ours, but her products and service are just banging too. She creates the most beautiful do-it-yourself kits, but also runs workshops and corporate events creating activities that people can enjoy, and have something to keep at the end too. She doesn’t have a website yet, but drop me a line if you’re interested in booking her for your event, I’ll hook you up.

Lastly - Make sure it runs smoothly.

Now this is a big job, it goes all the way from inviting your guests with a beautiful invite, getting their dietary and access requirements, the logistics of the event itself, sending reminders to your guests, briefing your team on what they need to do on the night, creating an event plan along with risk assessment, the list goes on. We do this day in, day out so it is like second nature to us, but it's SO important to get all these bits right, otherwise all your hard work in the points above, and indeed money, will go to waste. No-one likes a disorganised do.

The feedback from our event was amazing, everyone loved it and the team had a great time too. It was a brilliant way to celebrate Goho turning 5, something which I am incredibly proud of.

If you’d like us to help you with your celebrations, be it a birthday party, staff conference, incentive trip or product launch, drop us a line, you know where we are.