The Concept
There isn’t a single blueprint or guidebook to planning an event from scratch. At Bright Ideas, sometimes the idea comes to us as a whole theme, the big picture, and we creatively fill in each frame. Other times, a single activity, or ‘tree,’ is our starting block and the whole ‘forest’ gets planted around that concept. That’s how A Gardening Green Picnic was born.
A repeat client wanted her Client Appreciation to include a meaningful, family-friendly activity that met a few criteria. It had to allow her guests to network while they got creative, meaning not too intense; she wanted the activity to double as a guest gift that would last a long time and remind her guests of the event; and finally, she wanted it to contain a competitive component.
Let’s think. Plants last a while…potted plants last even longer…gardening…a decorate-your-own-pot-and-arrangement Gardening Green Picnic is born with a competitive slant. Perfect!
Lots of Flowers and Dirt!
If Bright Ideas was going to produce a potted plant decorating competition for everyone to enter, that would mean sourcing flats upon flats of potted, pretty, garden variety flowers and presenting them in an easily, available manner. It would mean sourcing kilograms upon kilograms of potting soil and displaying it so that several groups could work at the same time.
It would also mean sourcing several styles of pots all of a similar size so guests could pick the blank canvas that spoke to them. And to choose and source a variety of decorations that would appeal to all personality-types, and also to display them so that several groups could work at once, creating minimal mess yet still be an efficient process for guests.
It was a huge undertaking!
The Competition
But more important than logistics was equality. How would each guest have a fair shot at the glory of winning the Gardening Green contest? To keep everything fair, each guest was allotted the same amount of each item. One pot. So many finger-fulls of whichever decorations they loved. And any varieties they wanted, but only so many individual potted plants. With the playing field leveled, guests were given coupons at Registration when they arrived, redeemable at each station, and so there was equal access to Gardening Green Glory!
In the end, the contest was hilarious, with various categories to enter; Best, Worst, First Runner Up, etc. Everyone had a lovely time, received a charming gift, and took home a precious memory of their afternoon of gardening.
So there’s our ‘tree,’ now let’s plant the ‘forest.’
Healthy Green Lunch
A picnic affair must have picnic fare. But a high-end venue like this hosting a once-a-year event called for more than wieners and potato salad. A gourmet menu was custom designed, inspired by traditional feel-good picnic munchies, and it certainly left guests wishing they could bring home more than their floral contest entry!
And that’s how A Gardening Green Picnic blossomed from the ‘tree’ of one, simple request to become a whole, cohesive ‘forest.’ Inspiration can be used in either direction, from the roots up or the canopy down. To see more photos from this creative, sustainable event, click here.
Call us for your Green Picnic today!
Bright Ideas is just brimming with inspiration, so if you’ve found yourself with one, creative ‘tree’ but cannot see the ‘forest,’ call us and we’ll bring you the whole wildlife scene!
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