Retirement Parties

Friday and Saturday take about four fifths of the dates we are asked for. Everything else fits into the other twenty percent, spread across five days.

Retirement send-offs live in that quiet space. Whether it is the last day of work or a Thursday evening when coworkers can come without giving up a weekend, you are choosing from a much bigger pool of vehicles than a Saturday group is.

On size, the typical Valley group is fifteen people and the eleven-to-fifteen band is the most common thing we see. A department send-off usually lands right there: the team, a few people from other floors, and a spouse. That fits the 14-passenger executive Sprinter for a quieter ride to dinner, or the 18-passenger party bus if the group wants music and a toast on the way. When the whole office is invited, the 24-passenger coach bus moves everyone in forward-facing seats.

Most groups come to us a month out, and a month is comfortable for a weekday. Retirement dates are usually known well before that, so use the head start.

The same retiree often gets two parties, and the rides are not the same.

The office send-off. Coworkers leave from one building at 4:30 or 5:00, ride to a restaurant or a rented room, and are back in the parking lot by 8:30 so everyone can drive home. It is efficient, it is inclusive, and it spares the team a twelve-car caravan. An executive Sprinter or a small coach suits a group that includes people who would not set foot on anything called a party bus. A party bus suits a team that would be disappointed by anything else.

The family celebration. Usually a weekend, with a spouse, adult children, grandchildren and old friends. A scenic stop, a longer dinner, a slower pace. Eight to twelve relatives fit the 12-passenger stretch limousine with a real sense of occasion. Bigger families are more comfortable in a bus with a center aisle.

A weekday send-off has to fit between the end of the workday and a reasonable bedtime, and the ride out happens at the worst hour on Valley roads. Plan for it rather than hoping.

• Leave by 4:00 if you can. A four o'clock departure from a downtown or Tempe office reaches a Scottsdale restaurant in about 25 minutes. The same drive at 5:15 can take 45.
• Stay close if you cannot. An office in the Chandler Price Corridor has excellent options in downtown Chandler and downtown Gilbert, ten to fifteen minutes out. Deer Valley and North Phoenix have Desert Ridge and Kierland. West Valley teams have Westgate and Arrowhead. See the Chandler and Peoria pages for pickup notes.
• Schedule the speeches. Toasts land better at the restaurant before the entrées than on a moving vehicle over road noise. Tell the speakers when.
• Come back to the office lot. People need their cars. Check the garage is open in the evening and let security know a bus is returning.

Build it in the event timeline planner and send it out with the invitation so anyone with childcare or a carpool can plan.

Retirement parties have the least obvious funding of any event we handle. Settle it before you invite a single person.

• Company-hosted: the department or HR covers transportation and often dinner. Find out early who approves the expense and whether an invoice is needed. Our corporate events page covers how company-paid trips usually get arranged.
• Coworker-funded: everyone contributes and the retiree pays nothing. State the amount in the invitation and collect it in advance. The event budget planner puts the vehicle, dinner and gift on one page so your per-person ask covers everything. The driver's gratuity is already in our quote.
• Family-hosted: adult children usually split it. Agree on the budget before you choose the restaurant.

Guest lists for a well-liked colleague grow fast. Former coworkers, clients and the lunch group from the third floor will all want in. Set a cap that matches the vehicle, track RSVPs in the guest list manager, and offer a meet-us-at-the-restaurant option for latecomers. It includes people without needing a second bus.

Retirements tend to fall at the end of a fiscal year, a school year or a calendar year, and each one has its own conditions here.

May and June. Teachers, school staff and university employees finish as the heat arrives. Hold it indoors, keep the walk from the curb short, and put any outdoor photos after seven.

December. Year-end retirements compete with holiday parties for restaurant rooms and weekend vehicles. A weekday lunch or a Thursday dinner is dramatically easier to arrange than a Saturday in mid-December.

January through April. The Valley at its best, and when out-of-town family most wants to visit. It is also the busiest stretch on our calendar, with nearly half the year's demand packed into February through May. Ask earlier for these months.

For a retiree who golfs, an afternoon round and then dinner is a natural shape for the day, and our golf outings page covers getting a foursome or a full group to the course.

Plenty of people would rather skip the banner and the microphone entirely, and that is an easy party to plan well.

Six to ten of their favorite people, one pickup, their favorite restaurant, and the ride home. A limo Sprinter or a stretch limousine suits that group and does not announce itself on the street.

Some things that make a quiet send-off land:

• Let the retiree pick the restaurant. It is the one decision they should get.
• Skip the group speech. One toast from whoever has known them longest is plenty.
• Keep it to three hours. Short and warm beats long and dutiful.

For a lot of retirees, the best part of the whole evening is simply not having to drive, and not having to find parking in a district they stopped enjoying years ago.