How to Plan a Retirement Party

Retirement is a milestone in a person's life. It is an event which represents years of hard work that a person has put working in a company. That's why, it is up to the other employees as well as the management to honor the person and show appreciation for his hard work by throwing him a retirement party. Close family members and friends too sometimes throw a party for a person.

Retirement Party Ideas

Invitations
In a retirement party, immediate family members, close relatives and friends of the retiree as well as office colleagues should be invited. The invitation cards should be sent well in advance, a week before at least, so that everyone invited is able to attend. On the invitation cards, you can put up the picture of the guest of honor. To make the invitations fun, an interesting idea is to put up the picture of the retiree which shows him dozing off under a tree from which a pair of shoes is hanging! The invitation can read something like "Now that Jack is hanging up his boots, he invites you to...."

Decorations
The retirement party can be planned at the home of the retiree, at his office (if the party is planned by his colleagues) or you can consider booking a hotel/resort for the same. While planning the decor, see to it that it highlights the personality, liking, hobbies and choices of the guest of honor. After all, you are throwing a party to celebrate him, so the party decorations should be all about him too. You can make a collage of the photographs of the retiree and paste it on the walls for everyone to see. If the guest of honor is a fan of a particular sports or a genre of music, you can put out cut-outs of famous sports persons who play his favorite sport as well as of popular musicians who play his kind of music. You can even keep a display table in the middle of the party venue, on which you keep the trophies, medals, certificates etc., won by the retiree. These days a very popular retirement party idea is to plan the party according to a particular theme. Hollywood, retro, beach, casino or any of the retiree's hobbies make for interesting themes for a retirement party.

Activities
Like the decorations, the activities too should center around the guest of honor and make him feel special. One of the fun activities is to play passing the parcel. The catch being that whenever the music stops, whosoever is holding the parcel, has to share an experience he has had with the guest of honor. The guests can choose some funny episodes or some serious ones. This is a great way to honor the retiree. Another fun activity for a retirement party is to keep a quiz on the personal and professional life of the retiree. To add to the excitement, you can keep small gifts like chocolates or candies for every right answer. Some other games and activities that you can plan are - having the retiree's colleagues put up a small skit for him, having each of the invitees come forward and make a toast to the retiree, keeping a slide-show presentation on the retiree's life, getting all the invitees to leave a message for him in a scrapbook.

Food
While planning a retirement party, keep the food menu simple. Snacks and fast foods such as pizzas, hotdogs, burgers, chicken wings, veggies and dip, sandwiches, mini egg rolls, make for a good menu. If you plan to keep only cake and dessert menu, that too is perfectly fine. Everyone invited to a retirement party would want to come wish the guest of honor. Food will be the last thing on their mind.

Favors
A retirement party is incomplete without a gift for the guests. A photo frame with the guest of honor's photograph in it or an address book which has the retiree's address already printed, are some of the gifts that can be considered.

Here's hoping that these tips come handy when you actually go about doing it. One last tip before I sign off - hire a good photographer for the party. Have some good videos made and beautiful photographs clicked. All these make for memories which the guest of honor will cherish forever!