Retirement is a massive milestone to achieve. It means you survived decades of long hours, hard projects, and tough clients. So it goes without saying that a party is in order to celebrate this massive moment.
However, whether you are planning the party for yourself or someone else, you may soon find out that it might be harder than you anticipated at first. With normal parties, you don’t plan too much, and it usually turns out fun, but the added pressure of this special moment definitely adds an extra dimension to everything.
So make sure the party will be one to remember by adding some of our hand-picked party retirement ideas so you can be assured your guests will never be bored.
Throw a decades theme bash
Find out which decade the honorary guest started their careers and plan a party celebrating that specific decade. Naturally, this will include a killer playlist from that era. Since a retirement party is the most perfect moment to indulge in nostalgia, a party like this is always a huge success.
You can do as much or as little with the theme as you wish. Next to a playlist, you can go all out on decor reminiscent of that period and encourage guests to dress in the style of that era.
Have a themed dance off
If you are going to throw a decades-themed bash, you can dazzle it up even more by hosting a dance-off. Ask your guests to dress up like the decade and warm them up front to start practicing their best dance moves from that specific era.
Provide fun, themed party favors
This is a way to both celebrate a unique habit or quirk of the retiree and to remind the attendees of their retired friend long after the party has ended. For example, a bright tie that is reminiscent of the one the retiree used to wear.
People also often opt for a decorated cookie with a personalized message or even a pack of mints with the words “retire-mints” printed on the label.
A cocktail party with a twist
A cocktail party always has an elegant feel to it, so the retirement party will definitely feel extra special. However, you can make it extra memorable by hiring an expert mixologist to come and teach guests about the building blocks of a good cocktail.
After a demonstration, guests can be divided into teams, and they need to come up with their own cocktail and use the liquor that’s present. The final cocktails are then presented to the retiree to pick their favorite from.
Games night
Planning a games night might not be the first idea that comes to mind if you think about planning a retirement party, but with a little bit of preparation, it can be a super memorable night.
There are a ton of game ideas that are not only fun to play but puts the party’s honorary guest at the center of it all.
Plan a pizza-making night
This option provides catering and entertainment in one. Buy enough pre-made pizza dough and lay out all kinds of toppings for guest to top their pizza with. The guests that make the most enticing pizza at the end of the day get a special prize.
A special guestbook
Buy a beautiful guestbook that all attendees can write their names and special message in. This is probably one of the best souvenirs that the honorary guest can take home at the end of the evening. People may often throw out well-wishing cards, but a special guestbook is something you will certainly preserve over the years.
The Travel edition
If the soon-to-be retiree is dreaming of visiting somewhere like Italy or Japan, why not make that country and culture the central theme of the party?
The decor options are endless, and you should be able to incorporate food and drinks from any county pretty easily with just a bit of research. Definitely also weave in some of the country’s music into your party playlist if possible.
A wine tasting night
If the person retiring is a lover of good wine, then this is a retirement party idea you can’t pass up on. However, instead of doing wine tasting the usual way, you add an extra twist to it – everyone will be blind-tasting and then guessing the wines.
You can hand out index cards at the start of the game, and then everyone needs to write down their answers on them as the tasting progresses. You can let people wear blindfolds, pour the liquid into different containers to the label that isn’t visible, or put the bottles in brown bags, so the labels are covered up.
A slideshow memory
Preparing a slideshow of photos about the honorary guest’s life and career highlights is a beautiful way to pay tribute to the person. Pair it with their favorite song, and you might have to start handing out tissues to the crowd.
Go to a karaoke bar
If you don’t have a karaoke bar in the area, just renting a machine will work equally well. Make a playlist of all the retiree’s favorite songs to really ensure that the honorary guest will have a blast.
Host an elegant afternoon tea
For a celebration that’s a little bit more lowkey, host an afternoon tea. Many hotels and restaurants offer afternoon or high tea, but you can also do this yourself. Think about serving small little sandwiches, cakes and all kinds of little tarts.
Have a Bingo tournament
You can set up a whole area to play bingo, but not the type of bingo you will expect to play in a retirement home. This bingo requires a little DIY, but it’s definitely worth it. You can prepare for this tournament by starting off with bingo cards with the normal traditional spacing, but in the blocks, you will have text.
At the top of each bingo card, you write, “Never have I ever,” and then in the different blocks, funny and strange lines such as “lied about being sick at work” or “had a crush on a coworker.”
Each person will have one of these cards with the funny text, and then they need to walk around to find people that have actually done the things on the card. The person that’s able to cross off a row of 5 in any direction wins a small prize.
Build a wall of achievement
This is almost like the still-life version of a slideshow. Collect all kinds of reminders of achievements of the soon-to-be retiree’s life and put them together on the board. Reach out to friends and loved ones so that you can get more ideas.
You don’t want to only think about work achievements, but highlights and achievements from their personal life as well.
Check something off their bucket list
After many years of working together, you’ve probably learned about a couple of bucket list items the retiree still wants to check off. So why not use a retirement party as the ultimate moment to finally get around to one of these items?
For example, maybe they’ve always wanted to take out a boat to sea or go up in a hot-air balloon. If any of their bucket list items can be done in your area, use this moment to enable them to finally do it, and then everyone can celebrate together afterward with a more traditional party.
Set up a photo booth
A photo booth is always an attraction in itself at a party. You can opt for a photo booth with a vintage feel or something more modern. Don’t forget to add different kinds of props so guests can really get creative with the photos.
Bring in their favorite speaker
If you know who the retiree’s favorite speaker is, it would be an incredible memory if you could get them to come to speak at the party. They will most likely charge a fee, so make sure you get clear upfront about your budget and what that can afford you.
Throw a themed retirement party
So this theme option is different from the decades-themed party ideas. For this party idea, you can think of, for example, an island vibe. Think Hawaiian shirts and palm trees. This party idea has endless options as there are countless themes that lend themselves well to turning it into a whole party.
Combine it with a team-building exercise
If you are throwing a retirement party for a colleague, why not use the opportunity to turn it into a bigger team-building event? If you are the manager, this is also a way to indicate to your employees that everyone is valued and celebrated.
Make the speeches a central element
While it is pretty standard practice for someone to make a speech at a retirement party, you could also offer a little twist on the tradition. In this case, you invite anyone that would like to make a speech the opportunity to give a short one. Don’t forget to mention this on the party invitation, so people have some time to prepare before the party.
Video interviews
This idea requires that colleagues, friends, and family all record a short message for the retiree. Next to wishing them well in their next chapter, it would be ideal if they could include a special memory from the retiree’s life.
You can play some of these videos at the event, but you can also give them to the retiree on a USB stick as the most beautiful keepsake.
Plan a roast
A roast is a way to poke fun at something while honoring them. It sounds like a strange combination, but if you know well-known roasts of famous celebrities, you will understand the concept a bit better.
Make sure there are speakers from different fields from the retiree’s life and that the honorary guest has a chance to speak at the end. Before you start planning the roast of the century, ensure that this is something that the retiree will actually enjoy. Some people will find it a fantastically hilarious idea, while it could make others uncomfortable.
Smash the alarm clock
For basically our entire working life, our alarm clock dictates our lives. So having the retiree smash up an old alarm clock can be a fun and even cathartic experience. You definitely don’t need a new expensive alarm clock for this, so opt for one from the thrift store.
Plan it around a charity
If there’s a specific charity that the soon-to-be retiree is passionate about, why not opt to make that the central theme of the retirement celebrations? You can plan an event that raises money for the charity and then have the retiree make the donation in person.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to plan an event like that, you can also ask that guests make a donation to a certain charity instead of bringing gifts. There are plenty of digital fundraising tools available that make this completely effortless. For example, Facebook Fundraisers and Charity Miles are a good place to start.
Put on a scavenger hunt
Hide clues all over your garden, park, or even office for guests to find. You can have guests work together in teams and whoever makes it to the end first wins an extra special prize.
Do a pub crawl
You can plan a route yourself, so you have a drink at all your (or the retiree’s) favorite pubs and bars in town. Or, depending on where you live, there’s maybe a scheduled pub crawl that you can join.
If you are planning the route yourself, don’t forget to leave out the honorary guest’s favorite bar and the spot where colleagues would usually hang out after work.
Go to an escape room
An escape room is basically like a game where members are locked into a room together, and in order to escape, everyone needs to work together to solve the clues. It’s a fun way to do some team building, and you can have dinner and drinks before or after.
Host a murder mystery party
Like with the escape room idea, guests have to work together to figure out a murder mystery. You can easily buy a kit or download free ideas online. You can choose to go all out with the theme and have guests dress up according to their characters, depending on the game you choose.
Turn your home or rented venue into a casino
Hire a service that sets up blackjack or roulette at your home and provides professional dealers. While you’re at it, ask guests to wear their Las Vegas best and play some Sinatra.
Set up a carnival in your backyard
Yes, we know this is a very ambitious option, but by no means impossible. If you start Googling a bit, you’ll see that you can easily use decorated empty cans and a tennis ball to turn it into the classic milk bottle game. You can play ring toss with a few hooks and plastic rings. Plan to make some classical carnival snacks, and you’ll have a night to remember.