What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 2 September 2013

Welcome to another week and who would believe its September already?!

We've a busy few weeks ahead preparing for the Freshtival, planning the Brand You Awards for Bristol Media and then our long awaited office move, as well as forward planning a busy schedule for 2014.

Whilst this frenzy of activity occurs at the current Cloud 9 Towers, we know that many of you out there are planning for the end of the Summer Holidays and for some, the dreaded "Back to School" feeling is probably upon you.

With this in mind, we thought we'd share one of the current popular trends for corporate hospitality so dig out that old school uniform, put your school cap at a slant, find that half mast tie, don a cheeky face and don't forget the catapult for a  "Back to School Party" event.

Think reception drinks disguised as scientific experiments served in glass phials, school bells ringing to summon you for dinner, and a master of ceremonies dressed as a Headmaster, complete with mortar-board and gown, aided by a glamorous Sports Mistress, to check your guests names from the school register. 

After registration, you can treat your guests to a little playtime in the school playground, enjoy a visit to the tuck shop and indulge in a little hopscotch maybe.

Before dinner its time for the class photograph (so you can show your Mum later) so take a seat, stop fidgeting and comb your hair so the nerdy Photographer can take your school photo. When he's finished you may go, and not a moment before!

Think long dinner tables, with centre pieces constructed from giant rulers, protractors and pencils, and the teaching staff sitting at the top table keeping an eye on your guests. 

You can ditch the waiter service at this sort of event, and make guests wait their turn to see what delights the dinner ladies are serving up from the buffet of school favourite dishes (none of which has Jamie Oliver approval!).

With spot detentions for bad behaviour and even being put on report for the smallest of misdemeanours you can keep your guests royally entertained throughout the event.

A school examination (which is really just a fun quiz) or impromptu performance by the Drama Department (which is your guests cajoled into playing the parts) of a typical school play, this is bound to be a very cheeky and cheerful event.

You can then end the evening with a good old fashioned school disco, using music from the era in which most of the guests were at school, evoking nostalgia and probably some very bad dancing! 

Decor and party favours can be great fun for this sort of event, so think giant blackboards with chalk drawings, comical report cards featuring some of your guests, signs directing guests to the bike sheds and even graffiti walls.

If you don't have the budget for a full on corporate party then perhaps you can organise your own, and you can do this on a shoestring!

Get a little creative on your computer and generate invitations to look like school report cards for guests, detailing the events. Include fun subjects and grades, like "Having Fun - A+", "Being a Great Friend - A+", "Soaking Up Summer Sun - A+", Being Excited About School - B" etc. Write your party details underneath the grades. Or make them look like flash cards, or even just pop giant sums on one side, and party details on the back.

You don't need to spend a fortune on decor for this type of party and there are lots of creative ideas you can use to make a real impact.

For table centres you can simply stack a pile of books with an apple on top, or ask all of your guests to send a drawing using only crayons and peg these to washing line. A drawing by John aged 34 and 7 months will either be brilliant or comical, but either way you will have a talking point.

Pop a few chalk boards up with some simple sums, dig out your old rulers and pencils and have lots of pots dotted around with them in, or bunch some pencils together tied with ribbon and topped with flowers.

Food for this can be really inexpensive too. Borrow as many lunch boxes as you can from friends and neighbours and in each pop a a selection of sandwiches cut into triangles, a bag of crisps, an apple and a mini chocolate bar or cup cake.

As long as there is plenty to drink, some real cheesy music and the right guests, you can probably have a blast and enjoy some seriously bad dad dancing - what could be better!

Have a great week, don't dread back to school, celebrate it!