Your workplace may be hell, what makes it worth surviving are the great people you meet there. Telling goodbye to your tea buddy, you tiffin partner is always hard, but you have got to plan the perfect farewell for your office BFF! Here’s how you do it... It is a great way to send off your friend, colleague and loved ones with great memories and wish them luck, as they embark on their journey forward. An employee leaving an organization should be treated just like a family member who is leaving the family. An office farewell party is a great opportunity to express goodwill and a spirit of human bonding with respect.

However, planning and organizing a farewell party is not that easy. If you are in-charge of planning the office farewell party, here are some pointers that will help you throw the best party for your colleague.

1. Decide on a Budget

If your company or organization has certain guidelines and budget earmarked for office farewell parties, ensure to follow the same. The company policy will determine the budget and scale of such parties.

If there are no such policies, then you have to first set yourself a budget and then plan accordingly. If a group of friends or colleagues want to get together and throw a party, then make a rough estimate of how much each person is willing to shell out. Make sure that you don’t go overboard and stick to the budget.

Setting the Budget is the first step in planning the office farewell party

2. Prepare the Guest List and Send Invites

Invites have to be sent discreetly and email is the best option to send out the invites for an office farewell party. Invite all the team members and immediate seniors for the event. Invites for these parties tend to be more on the formal side.

Get the RSVPs to assess the accurate headcount and then plan for the venue and food based on the number of attendees.

3. Decide the Venue

Are you going to be hosting the farewell party at the office or banquet halls? If you are expecting a large crowd, then arrange for a banquet hall to host the party. Else, if office space would suffice, then make the necessary arrangements.

Make sure to block a particular meeting room or conference room in the office well in advance. You can also throw the farewell party at a favorite local restaurant and have a friendly lunch or dinner.

Whatever the location is, remember that you should be able to have a great time without other people distracting or being distracted by you.

Decide the venue for the office farewell 

4. Delegate Roles and Responsibilities

Don’t try to over-burden yourself with all the work. Entrust some arrangements with other team members or volunteers to prepare for the office farewell party. For example, delegate the food arrangements and gift arrangements to another member.

This move will ease your work and also enable participation amongst all team members to instill a great team spirit. The more the people involved with the party, the merrier it will be. So, don’t try to do it all. Take help of others.

Delegate tasks and involve everyone

5. Organize the Food

Unless you are planning to have the farewell party at a restaurant or banquet hall, your food needs will be taken care of the in-house caterers. If you are planning it in the office, arrange for small snacks, sandwiches or desserts.

Finger foods are good enough for office farewell parties and will help the guests to move around and mingle. Office atmosphere demands simplicity in terms of food, so make sure to not go overboard with the food. Keep it minimal and at the same time enjoyable.

In such an event, food typically takes the back seat. Nevertheless, short eats and small drinks would make the farewell party even more appealing.

Planning for office farewell party – Keep the Food Minimal

6. Plan for speeches

Speeches are a great way to express your best wishes to the colleague who is leaving the workplace. Make sure that they are made to feel special and shower them your wishes in the form of heartfelt speeches. 

Make all the team members say a few words about how important the person was and how much they have contributed. Ask everyone to talk in brief and not to drag it too much,

Lastly, make the guest of honor also say a few words. As they express their gratitude for hosting the farewell party for them, you are sure to feel rewarded for the hard work put in planning for the office farewell party.

Make the farewell party memorable by planning for heartfelt speeches

7. Get a Farewell Party Gift

It is very important to give a gift to the person leaving. It would be a lovely token of love, that will be cherished throughout their life. Buy the right thoughtful gift that can be given to your colleague as a gratitude and appreciation.

You can also plan for a greeting card and have all the team members to sign them with their personal messages to the person leaving.  Other gifts that are also good are wrist watches, dinner set, wine glasses or utility items that can be valuable to the person.

A framed note of Thank You makes a great farewell gift 

8. Take Plenty of Photos

Remember to take lots of photos and remember the occasion. You can even make a big collage and mail it to everyone who attended the party so that everybody remembers what a great time they had together. This can be an added gift to your colleague who is leaving the office.

Have a fun-filled selfie session and store all the lovely memories as photo captures.

Make a memorable collage of photos from the office farewell party

9. Have Everyone Contribute

All the members should be involved and feel like that they contributed to the office farewell party. It will help foster great workplace relationships and when everybody is happy, your party is a sure hit.

You may be the in-charge, but you must not take the full credit. Let everyone contribute together as a team and have others also say their goodbye in a meaningful and unique way. There are a lot of people who care about the person leaving.

Work together and make the farewell party a success

10. Send-off Your Guest with Great Memories

Before the party winds down, let all have a moment with the colleague leaving, to say their personal goodbye. Give the best send-off to commemorate all the good times together and let the person leave with happy memories.

Give a final farewell with a toast that expresses all the love and admiration for the colleague.

Farewell parties need not always be sentimental or sad. Build the right moments and use the office farewell party as a great opportunity to celebrate your colleague’s efforts both professionally and personally. The above pointers will help you in planning for an office farewell party flawlessly.

Give your colleague the ultimate send-off and organize a farewell party that will be remembered forever.