The Art of Appreciation: How to Throw a Thank You Party

Appreciation is best served…with a party! There can be many reasons why you should throw a thank you party for those you’ve worked with throughout your career.

Read on to discover…

• Why you should host a thank you party
• How to organise one
• The importance of involving the guests
• Thank you party ideas for inspiration

Why should you throw a thank you party?

The short answer? To show appreciation.

The long answer? To build and nurture long-lasting professional and personal relationships that will further your career and social life.

Believe it or not, even professionals have feelings. They’re human, too, and want to know that their contribution has made a real difference and that it won’t be forgotten.

No matter where you are in your career as an event organiser, chances are that you didn’t get this far on your own. Let them know you appreciate their efforts.

Finally, a thank you party is also a great way to connect all the significant people in your life with each other, whether they’re family, friends, colleagues, clients, sponsors, or donors.

How to organise a thank you party

The scope of your thank you party will determine how much planning goes into it. Large-scale events will obviously require more preparation than smaller ones.

1. Tell a story

You could simply invite everyone over for a nice dinner and a cocktail and then call it a night. But it will make your thank you party more significant if you have a story behind it.

Your thank you party story could focus on all the hard work you’ve done together, the lives you’ve changed through your work, and what the future could look like.

Tip: Read our guide on how to choose a theme for your event to help you tell the story.

2. Use media presentations

The narrative you create around your thank you event should be presented in various media formats.

These could, for example, include:

• Infographics
• Photography
• Videos
• Interviews
• Case studies
• Social media excerpts
• News clippings
• Sound bites

3. Invite the guests

You should invite the guests to your thank you party far in advance. Unless the party is for hundreds of people, you should opt for hand-written invites to add a personal touch.

Since most of the action happens online, it’s also a good idea to set up an event on a ticketing website. You don’t want to charge attendants, so find a platform that allows for free tickets.

4. Involve the guests

Since a thank you party is all about the guests, it’s important to involve them in the festivities. You could, for example, create opportunities for them to speak at the event.

That will not only show the guests how much you appreciate them, but it can also highlight their contribution to your company and inspire other attendants.

5. Prepare some awards

Few people would object to receiving an award for a job well done. So if you’re celebrating your team or a specific member of your team, why not prepare a few awards for the party?

This will an additional element of appreciation to the event. It’ll also give the recipients memorabilia they can use to think back on the thank you party.

Tip: Read up on how to organise an award show if you plan on including awards in your event.

6. Make it public (or keep it private)

Depending on the scope of your thank you event, you might want to consider announcing it publicly to garner more praise for your guests. But you might also prefer keeping things private, if the circumstances call for it.

You can publicly recognise your guests via your website, social media accounts, and press releases.

Tip: Read our guide on how to write a press release if you plan on making the event public.

Thank you party ideas for inspiration

So what are some situations where a thank you party would be appropriate? You’ll probably recognise many of the examples below. They’re just known by different names.

1. Work anniversary

One of the most common ways to celebrate the commitment of individual employees to their work is to celebrate when they’ve been with a company for a certain number of years.

Tip: This guide details interesting ways to celebrate a work anniversary for inspiration.

2. Retirement

Another thank you party is commonly held when an employee is retiring after many years of service.

Tip: Check out these steps to a successful retirement party for inspiration.

3. Staff party

The success of an organisation is often not down to one specific team member. That’s why many companies host staff events in the form of Christmas or summer parties.

Tip: This article is chock-full of ideas for staff parties that you can steal for your own event.

4. Donor appreciation

If you’re involved with a charitable organisation, you’ll have every reason to thank the donors that make it all possible. Why not throw a donor appreciation party?

Tip: Read this post on how to wow your donors with your thank you party.

5. Volunteer appreciation

It’s important to remember the volunteers that are often involved in events. Show them some love by organising a thank you party.

Tip: You can draw inspiration from this list of volunteer appreciation ideas.

6. Client appreciation

Companies that are in the business of, well, business, can apply the same concepts to important clients. Not only will they appreciate a party, but it’ll also help secure their future business.

Tip: There are many client appreciation event ideas you can use to create your own.

Thank you for reading

We would like to thank you for reading our blog and hope that we’ve given you some inspiration for your future thank you party.

Your support means a lot to us, so we’d appreciate it if you could drop us a comment below and let us know what you think about this post…and whether you have anything to add.