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

 

QUICK GUIDE:

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. Whatever your plans, follow our quick guide below to get your plans underway. If you are planning a big event, download our Event planning checklist [67KB PDF] to keep you on track!

 

1. Start in plenty of time

  • Securing funding is one of the first things you need to think about. Check out our guidance on funding your event. Set a budget once you know how much you have to spend.
  • 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.
  • If you’re planning a street party some local authorities may want three months’ notice of road closure. Find contact details for your local authority at www.direct.gov.uk.

2. Get a planning group together

  • Think about who to involve. Don’t forget to invite children and young people onto your planning group! You might also want to invite: Local play associations, charities and voluntary groups with shared aims, local service providers, and shops and businesses.
  • Define your roles and make an action plan of key tasks, who will do them and agree target dates.

3. Set goals

  • Do you want to make your event bigger and better than last year? What do you want the people who attend to get out of it? Is publicity important to you? 
  • As well as having fun, Playday provides an opportunity to address issues affecting play in your local area. If you are coordinating a wider campaign as part of your celebration, think about how you can use your event to highlight the issues. Play England have launched Save Children's Play - a campaigning resource for communities that includes lots of information and advice about campaigning for children's play, which you could tailor for your Playday campaign.

4. Decide on a date

  • Playday 2012 is on Wednesday 1 August but if it’s difficult to hold your event on a weekday, think about the weekend.
  • If you're already planning an event for children and young people this summer, why not make it a Playday event and celebrate children's right to play in your community!

5. 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.

6. Spread the word

  • If it's a public event, tell everyone you know! Official Playday 2012 promotional materials will be available soon - sign up to receive the Playday campaign update to be the first to hear when these and other new resources are available. 
  • 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.
  • Read our guidance on getting publicity for more ideas about spreading the word about your Playday plans.

7. Make use of available resources

  • Sign up for Playday updates to receive the latest Playday campaign news and support.
  • Check out the resources page to see what was available to 2011 Playday event organisers.
  • Online event registration for Playday 2012 will open in the Spring. 

8. Plan play provision for the day

9. Plan publicity

10. Celebrate children's right to play!

  • On the day, make sure you have lots of fun celebrating children’s right to play and the benefits it brings! Once everything has been cleared up, take a break, thank everyone and congratulate yourselves on a successful event.
  • When you've had a chance to catch your breath, tell us how it went. 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.

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