Are you thinking of planning a charity event at your spa to raise donations to give back to the community this year? Let’s talk about some creative and easy ways to plan and prepare a special event at your spa while keeping the donation number high and the stress of planning an event low. Considering some of these steps will help you enjoy raising the money for your charity or community organization of choice and provide a fantastic experience.

GET YOUR IDEAS OUT ON PAPER

The most important step to planning an event is getting all of your reasons, ideas, and how you’re going to make the event happen down on paper first. This can be as simple as a bullet point or numeric list. I suggest making lists by category to help organize tasks (examples are food, drinks, decorations, and entertainment). Each list will serve a purpose and help you fill in the gaps with the little details. They will also assist in budgeting for marketing, supplies, and whatever goods are needed to make the charity event vision a reality. For instance, a list for your reasons why you’d like to donate to a particular charity or organization is important because when working on promotion and marketing of the event or when sending out invitations there will be a clear list of reasons that will make it easier to provide simple and direct responses for your donors’ questions.

The great thing about making lists and categorizing them by tasks is that there is less room for unanswered questions or lack of direction for the vision of your charity event. Once you’ve gotten your lists done you can start to accomplish all of your tasks in a clear and more organized manner. Having your ducks in a row will be a great stress reliever when the inevitable problems show up. If you get really deep into your lists, you may even have a solution for some of the possible problems that arise.

PLAN THE EVENT

Now that the ideas are written down and you have a clear visual of what needs to be accomplished, you can start planning. Planning requires several details (but we have lists so we are prepared) and attention to detail is very important when people are donating to your cause – they want to know that you care.

Let’s say your spa will be hosting a small evening social or gala (this is a great way for people to network with others and have a good time). You will essentially be hosting a party with your charity as your theme, so you want to make sure that is fun, enjoyable, and an event that people will remember, so they will be excited to attend next year’s charity event at your spa. The organization you are collecting donations for should be clearly represented in the decorations of the room. If you will have standing tables, simple centerpieces will work and will be cost effective.

Remember, you want to raise as much money as possible for your event, so although you will be providing a memorable experience, keeping costs down will help you reach your goal and keep expenses manageable. You can set ticket prices based on your goal and then create a budget, so you can make the experience worthwhile. Or, you can set special bundle packages of your spa services and a percentage of that price will go to the charity and a percentage will go to covering costs. There are many ways to raise donations, it just depends on what you’re most comfortable with and if you will have staff to help you execute your plan the way you are visualizing it.

You can have a performance, free spa service giveaways, or a representative of the charity come and give a brief talk to the guests to provide them with additional information. As for food and drinks, you can serve fun, custom-themed alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages that people will love and enjoy drinking because of the aesthetics. You can make or cater small bites and snacks for guests to eat. And, you will want to give a cute party favor as a thank you for their attendance and donations; it also serves as a reminder that they helped you reach a goal that will be for the betterment of the community.

In short, when planning any event at your spa, your to-do lists will save you time, stress, and money. I live by them and I’m hoping they will help the process of your charity planning become smoother. Be as creative as you want to be with the details of your party, give your patrons something to enjoy, and make it fun so you can enjoy the entire journey. Good luck!

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Mariasa Slaughter is a makeup artist and licensed aesthetician and holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is passionate about the skin, its conditions and treatments, promoting and educating ways to reach one’s goals, and keeping up on trends and tailoring them to her style of beauty. Beauty, although her first love, is not Slaughter’s only passion. She loves writing, language, and anything she can get her hands on to read. She spends a lot of time reading to gain knowledge on anything from skin care and makeup to cooking and budgeting.