Hong Kong summer is an excellent time for families to spend time together. Many parents are looking for opportunities for fun activities for their kids and themselves. Family-friendly summer events are a golden opportunity for parents and kids of all ages.
The current Hong Kong family activities focus too much on young children and lack entertainment for adults. Family-friendly summer events are meant to cater entertainment for kids but always have a treat for adults. It is a perfect business opportunity to fill the market gap and spread brand awareness while doing something for the community.
Unfortunately, organising a family-friendly summer event is not as fun and takes a few detailed steps to guarantee success. Organising summer activities for kids is much more complex than any other event. The event has to be constantly entertaining, safe and have activities for the entire family.
Worry not; this article can help you understand the steps to organise a family-friendly summer event successfully. If you have an idea, these steps will help you possibly turn the idea into an entertaining reality.
Steps To Organise a Family-Friendly Summer Event
1. Set Purpose
Before making any booking and putting down deposits- there must be a purpose and great idea for the family-friendly summer event. The event must have a theme, for example, a fair, entertainment show or an interactive kids competition. These are just a few examples out of many possible ideas.
The brainstorming should also discuss the main target market of kids, their age, and how the event will entertain adults. After the idea has been set, you plan around the idea and think of how to promote the brand simultaneously. It’s great to do something for the community, but there must be a benefit for the business too.
Additionally, the idea must have a unique selling point than current family events and be strong enough to attract an excited crowd.
2. Decide a Budget
Hosting any event is not cheap, and there must be a suitable fund to guarantee a successful, fun, family-friendly summer event. After confirming the idea and event details, you must calculate the budget for an ideal outcome. For example, a fair may need a higher budget to hire rides, food stalls and big venues.
The budget should be enough to execute the event, hire staff, book the venue, rent equipment, insurance, marketing, and other emergency expenses. When the event is for kids, the quality must be high to prevent any breakdowns or unsafe situations.
Sponsors can help increase the budget and go bigger. The sponsors could include family-friendly product brands, food brands and anything that fits the theme.
3. Date & Time
Summer events are typically during summer hence between June to September. However, these family-friendly summer events need to match school holiday dates, hence from July to the end of August.
The date and time should fit the target market’s needs and be weather safe. The days shouldn’t be too hot or have a high chance of rain. The time should also reflect the event; for example, if a fun fair, it should be an open time where families can come and go.
Weekends are always the best days to ensure the entire family can attend without work stress. There should be a few date and time possibilities in case venues are fully booked on the first date.
4. Find & Book Venue
With the decided budget, you can start looking for suitable venues. The venue must fit the budget and the theme of the family-friendly summer event. The factors to consider when booking a venue are size, outdoor/indoor, location, and safety.
Kid-friendly event venues typically have plenty of grass, outdoors and are close to a family-friendly neighbourhood. The venue should be able to accommodate a large number of people, stalls, rides, stage and more. The family will run out if the venue is overcrowded and unsafe.
No family wants to stress about losing their child or the chance of crowd trampling. The venue is one of the biggest factors to the summer event’s success.
5. Rent or Buy Equipment
No event is fun without the right equipment. A family-friendly summer event needs a lot of equipment, from rides, speakers, booths to toilets and fans. The equipment can be rented or bought, but we suggest you rent the big equipment.
It is crucial to ensure the equipment is delivered on time and checked before and after the event. Additionally, every piece of equipment must be safe and should be almost no chance that it could cause any injuries. Even an electronic fan should be placed where children can’t reach it or put their fingers near the blades.
Think like a child to prevent thousands of injuries- kids could put their hands anywhere or press any button.
6. Purchase Event Insurance
As an event host, you must protect the event, equipment and, most importantly, the attendees. The best protection hosts can purchase is event insurance. Event insurance is crucial to every event and especially a family-friendly summer event.
The insurance will cover a range of event risks that could affect the event or an accident that occurs during the event. The coverage includes cancellations, equipment damage and public liability risks. Hence, the insurance will provide financial cover if the event is cancelled due to rain or if someone is injured.
The insurance is the perfect policy for the summer event because you never know what could go wrong.
7. Hire staff, Caterers and Entertainers
The family-friendly event needs staff, food and entertainers to be successful. As a host, you must hire the right number of staff with kids experience. The staff can include ticket checkers, ride operators, security, medics and more.
Along with staff, a range of caters and entertainers need to be hired. Food and drinks are crucial during the event and can help make the event even more fun. Finally, the entertainers for kids are the cherry on top; they could include magicians, popular animated characters and many more.
Having the right team, food, and entrainment is the perfect combination to turn a kids’ event into a kid’s party.
8. Purchase Personal Accident Insurance
After you have hired staff and entertainers, you must protect them like part-time employees. There is always a chance they may get injured while on duty, and you will be liable for the work injury. The work injury could be anything from them being pushed over by the kids, heat strokes or injury while operating rides.
As a host, you must purchase personal accident insurance to cover them from possible work injuries. The insurance will cover their medical bills and cover your employee liability. The insurance is much cheaper than medical insurance and can be purchased for short period covers.
Work injuries can occur at any point in the event, and with insurance, you don’t have to worry about the expensive medical costs you would have to provide.
9. Promote the Family-Friendly Summer Event
After all the family-friendly summer event details have been organised, it’s time to start promoting. Hong Kong families should know about the event at least a few weeks before the event date. The promotion should be a mixture of online and offline promotion to reach parents.
Online promotion can include social media and email marketing. On the other hand, offline marketing can be billboards, posters and leaflets. There needs to be a dedicated budget for marketing promotions.
A successful promotion strategy will help bring in many attendees and make the event profitable.
10. Execute The Family-Friendly Summer Event
Finally, on the day, it’s time to supervise and ensure the event goes as planned. There should be the right management staff to ensure everything is safe and the family activities are working.
There should also be a plan if things do go wrong-, don’t panic about financial loss as long as you have insurance. A great event means, Families are enjoying, and every member should be entertained.
To Learn More about personal accident insurance and event insurance and get the best protection for your family-friendly summer event in Hong Kong, contact Red Asia Insurance.
