Planning your event

Organising a Playday event is lots of fun. With plenty of help and support, you will be able to achieve a day to remember, and one that will make a big difference to local children and young people.

Playday parents

 

Your Playday event doesn’t have to be a huge public occasion, you may prefer to organise a small residents-only street party or celebrate with a group of friends and family.

The 2010 Get organised! guide is full of useful information to help you plan your Playday event. 

 

QUICK GUIDE - PLANNING YOUR PLAYDAY EVENT:

 

Sign up for Playday updates

  • Sign up to receive regular email updates for the latest advice and support.

 

Start in plenty of time

  • For a large event start planning as soon as possible.
  • Securing funding is one of the first things you need to think about. Check out our Playday fundraising guidance.
  • If you’re planning a street party some local authorities may want three months’ notice of road closure.

 

Get a planning group together

  • Think about who to involve. Don’t forget to invite children and young people onto your planning group!
  • Refer to the Working in partnership with your community section of the Get organised! guide for more ideas of who to involve.
  • Define your roles and make an action plan of key tasks, who will do them and agree target dates.

 

The message

  • The Playday 2010 campaign is Our place. Our place puts children at the heart of our communities, and asks everyone, young and old, to help create better places for all of us to live and play. Find out more about the Our place campaign. 

 

Decide on a date

  • Playday 2010 is on Wednesday 4 August but if it’s difficult to hold your event on a weekday, think about the weekend.

 

Decide on a venue

  • Playday events can be held anywhere, from your back garden to Trafalgar square!
  • You could use open spaces in your community like a park, village green, grassed area of your neighbourhood, or even close off the car park of a local venue.
  • Lots of local authorities hold events in pedestrianised town and city centre locations.
  • Think about whether you want to hold one large event or a number of smaller events to reach different parts of your community.

 

Set goals

  • Do you want to make it bigger and better than last year’s event? What do you want the people who attend to get out of the event? Think about the best way to promote play and the benefits it brings. Is publicity important for you?

 

Set a budget

  • How much can you or are you willing to spend? How much is it likely to cost to deliver? Will you need to fundraise?

 

Get the details right

  • You may need to apply for licences and permits. You should also think about safety, food and insurance for example. Refer to the Getting the details right section of the Get organised! guide for further advice.

Invite the guests

  • Spread the word. Tell everyone you know!
  • Invite people who can help you achieve publicity, or who could be influential in helping you achieve your campaign objectives. These could be local celebrities, the mayor or councillors.

 

Make use of available resources

  • Sign up for Playday updates to receive the latest Playday 2010 campaign news and support.
  • Check out the resources page to see what is available to 2010 Playday event organisers.
  • Register your event to receive extra support and a free registration pack!

 

Plan play provision for the day

  • Refer to Event ideas and play section of the Get organised! guide for ideas about how to incorporate risk and challenge into your Playday event.

 

Plan publicity

  • Local media love to feature fun stories of local interest, especially those featuring children. Refer to the Getting publicity section of the Get organised! guide for more advice.
  • Get advice from the experts by checking out organisers' tips for getting publicity or by posting on the Playday forum.

 

On the day

  • Have lots of fun celebrating children’s right to play and the benefits it brings!
  • Take lots of pictures to document your day, use in future publicity and share with the Playday team! Visit the photography at your event section for advice and guidance.

 

After the event

  • Once everything has been cleared up, take a break, thank everyone and congratulate yourselves on a successful event. You might want to develop a local campaign to follow on from your event. Refer to the Developing a campaign section of the Get organised! guide.  
  • Send us your photos (making sure you have required permissions) for the Playday gallery.
  • If you've held an evaluation of your event, you may want to share it with us or give us any feedback on how Play England can support your future Playday events.