Staff BBQ

*To protect the privacy of the guests, no names or photos of guests are included in this post

Date: Saturday August 28th 1-4 pm
Guests: 40, staff plus families
Location: Erindale Park, Mississauga On

Menu:

• Hamburgers
• Veggie burgers
• Chicken breasts
• Sausages
• Assorted condiments and buns/pitas
• Potato salad
• Pasta salad
• Coleslaw
• Assorted drinks
• Watermelon slices
• Chocolate or vanilla ice cream cones

I also opted for biodegrable plates and cutlery, to green up the bbq a bit. I hate to leave so much garbage behind.

Catering by Simply BBQ, see website for more details

Simply BBQ provides all the necessary equipment and handles all the set-up, which includes a trailer bbq and service canopies.
They even bring along the music! The staff was fantastic and very easy to work with. See the photos on their site for more information.

Details:

Since we had a mixture of very young children, adults and teenagers I allowed for a free form event. Nothing was "scheduled". I added additional service time for the bbq in case some families with young children were a bit late getting to the event. The atmosphere was quite casual, and I think the guests enjoyed the ability to relax and mingle with colleagues and their families in an informal environment.

I supplied lawn games such as frisbees, nerf toys, lawn darts, ring toss and horsehoes and allowed the guests to structure the games any way they wished. The nerf football and frisbees proved popular with the teenage boys.

The battery powered bubble machine was fantastic. However-it sure went through alot of bubble solution very quickly. I'll be sure to bring a large jug next time I use it.

The picnic area features a playpark for the children, which they enjoyed throughout the afternoon.

Here is the site before the event-not much there

The weather was quite windy, more than I expected. I managed to jury rig tie downs for the plaid tablecloths with some twine. Some early arrivals helped me out. Thanks guys!

The weather forecast indicated it would be quite hot and humid. Knowing the picnic area is a wide open grassy field, without much shade I brought along a pop-up gazebo tent, similar to a camping dining tent.

This was the best idea of the day! Guests quickly labelled it " the baby tent". Six babies have been born to the staff in the past year, it was great to see them all, and for the parents to all meet each other.

I knew it was successful when the guests lingered long after the official end date of the event-especially the babies. They were amongst the last to leave!

Lootbags were provided for all guests, with specific items removed or added depending on the age of the guests. Some examples of items-pencils and erasers, bubbles, balls, hair clips for younger girls and socks for the babies.

Overall-success!

The Credit River