The small-team holiday party usually ends up in one of two places: a restaurant's back room with a minimum spend that eats the budget, or the office with a tray of cookies and a speaker nobody knows how to connect. Neither one feels like a thank-you.
For a team of five to sixteen there's a third option: a weekday afternoon outside, a table already set for everyone, and two hours when nobody checks their email.
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What It Looks Like
The Gathering is our group setup: two table setups with low tables and plenty of cushions, two decorative umbrellas, candles and string lights, a Bluetooth speaker, champagne glasses if you'd like them, and warm tea or infused water depending on the weather. Two hours, set up before anyone arrives and cleared away after — with a 15-minute photo session, so the year-end team photo finally looks like a real photo.
- ✦The Gathering — $380 for five, $20 for each extra person, up to sixteen. For a team of ten that's $480, under $50 a person
- ✦Eleven or more? A second table setup is added for $50
- ✦Add a vision board for everyone, $25 a person — a gentle way to talk about next year without a slide deck
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Team Building That Isn't Trust Falls
The Canvas is the same setup with texture painting included for every guest: $500 for five, $45 for each extra person, up to twelve. Everyone paints their own canvas side by side, and people who barely speak in meetings turn out to have strong opinions about color. Everyone leaves with something they made — and the canvases look good on an office wall. For a team of ten: $775, including the second table that groups of eight or more get.
Weekday afternoons are the secret. Same light, same setup, quieter parks — and the people who would skip a Friday-night party will happily take a Wednesday afternoon out of the office.
Planning something like this?
We set up styled picnics all across Austin — built before you arrive, packed away after you leave.
Book Your Picnic✦
Food and Drinks
- ✦Order from the team's favorite place or do a potluck — we lay everything out on the tables before anyone sits down
- ✦If people bring their own dishes, add shelves and stands to show them off: $25 for up to eight people, $40 for a bigger team (The Gathering)
- ✦Bring wine or champagne and we'll set out the flutes for free. Or name any drink and we'll bring it for $10 a bottle
- ✦Infused water or warm tea is included for everyone
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Little Things That Make It Feel Like a Thank-You
- ✦Glowing letters on the table: "Great Year" $25, "Team Day" $20, or — through December — "Merry" $15
- ✦A chalkboard sign with the team's name, $10
- ✦Cozy blankets in winter, $40 each, November through February
- ✦The photo session is included: every good frame within ten days, ready for the year-end post
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Timing
In December the sun sets around 5:30, and we finish every picnic before dark. For a two-hour group picnic that means starting by about 2:30 — exactly when a team can leave the office early and feel like they've been given something.
- ✦In December, book two to four weeks ahead; weekday dates are the easiest to get
- ✦A deposit holds the date (from $150 for a group); the rest is due at least a day before. Card adds the processing fee, Zelle doesn't
- ✦Mueller Lake Park and Auditorium Shores are our usual spots — or someone's backyard; beyond 15 miles from North Austin it's $1 a mile
- ✦If rain shows up in the forecast on the day, you choose: another date within three months, or the same day at someone's home
A year of hard work deserves more than another thank-you email. Give them an afternoon.