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Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, New Years Eve—the list goes on and on.
But holidays aren’t just for your immediate family. They’re for your functional fitness gym family too.
It’s time to start party planning for your gym, and get your members into a festive mood that will carry them through to Spring!
So how do you make your party hardy? What do you need to fill your gym with members and your members with mirth?
We’ve got you covered! Here are our 3 steps to make planning a party successful and easy.
Many owners are focusing on year end financials and planning next years goals for the gym so it is understandable that there is little time to do it all themselves.
Posting on social media is also a great way to ask around for help, people love to party so chances are there are many people who will jump at the opportunity.
If you look around the gym, it won’t be hard to find a jolly soul excited about the upcoming holiday. Maybe it’s a coach, a member, or a spouse of the member, whomever you assign will feel like they are being given a task that will help the community grow.
Harness that passion and ask them to take lead!
Who is taking the lead on which event?
Keep in mind that may rotate throughout the committee because your Halloween person might not feel the same excitement that your Easter person does.
If you’re planning a birthday party, you may want to reach out to the family or friends of your athlete or coach for planning advice. Even though CrossFit gyms are an inclusive community, everyone has ‘best gym friends’. This same logic applies when planning CrossFit kid’s birthday parties.
What is the overall budget for the holiday season?
Notice we didn’t say party. Allocate a budget and let the committee sort out which party gets more cash and what items can be reused (pro-tip: Cinco de Mayo and Christmas share a similar color scheme).
An overall budget will help the committee be more frugal and efficient in its planning. Check out your gym revenue reports in WODHOPPER to give you an idea of how much you can allocate to community parties.
Where do you want to host your party? Will it work best at your gym, a member’s house, or at a bar? Think about the pros and cons of having a party on-site versus off-site.
Cost, clean up, hours of party duration are all factors to think about.
Simply put, what is the timeline?
Make a list of purchases and what must be accomplished by what date.
Consistently thank your committee and remind them that all of this work to helps to build and strengthen the community.
Planning and setting up a party is a lot of work and it helps if the party set up volunteers know why they are blowing up balloons, baking cookies, deep-frying a turkey, etc.
If the team knows the overarching reason for a party they will be able to better decide what items are relevant and will have a sense of purpose during some of the more mundane tasks.
Encourage members to bring loved ones and friends to the parties.
Social media awareness is also key. Make sure you remind members to like, share, post information about the party, and build a buzz weeks before the party date.
Facebook events are a great way of getting the word out about a party but many people are abandoning FB so make sure to not rely on it as the only form of communication. Face to face invites always get a good response.
In our years of experience as a gym management software company, we have visited many functional fitness gyms—and one thing is certain: No two boxes are alike.
Each gym is its own tribe with its own style and traditions. The successful boxes make sure that members are at the heart of it.
With this in mind, be sure to cater to your members. If there are a few members from different countries chances are they miss their traditions around the holidays. Ask them about what they do to celebrate, and ask them if they would like to include these events or traditions into the culture of your gym.
If you let your gym culture reflect theirs, you have longtime and loyal members who feel like they belong to a caring and authentic community.
Before becoming WODHOPPER, the founders of this gym management software worked for a large payment processing company. This company had many ethnicities among its employee base with many different traditions.
Along with that came the hurdle of uniting all of these wonderfully different people to build a common understanding.
In November, the tradition at this company was to play football and have a chili cook-off at the office.
Once a party planner was appointed, it became clear that during this event, the employees would split off along ethnic lines. The goal of the Thanksgiving party was to create unity and camaraderie, yet the opposite was happening.
Next year the clever planner decided to still have a friendly football game and feast, but changed their theme around and called it International day. They still played a shorter game of football to also allow for a short game of Cricket as well.
They encouraged not only participants to join the chili cook off but also urged employees to bring food from their native homelands, in turn creating an international potluck. Food and sports brought the team closer together and fostered stronger, more authentic friendships.
The creativity of the Party Planner made Thanksgiving/International day a hit, and soon, Corporate Headquarters encouraged other locations to do the same. A little creativity went a long way in growing a stronger, more festive community!
We want to help you manage and grow your gym in every aspect. Join our positive and powerful community and gain the knowledge, support, and passion of our team. We’ll work hard to make your gym run better, faster, and more efficiently.
