Hope is Here… and Live Events are on the Horizon as Well!

It has now been an entire year since the initial shutdown of 2020. Throughout that time, we’ve kept our hopes high and have adapted to navigate through times of uncertainty. Finally, a year later, it’s really starting to feel like hope is ramping up across the entire party planning industry.

The burning question we’ve been grappling with is, “When is the right time to move back to physical events?” In truth? We really can’t be sure just yet.

We are receiving a huge increase in the number of inquiries resulting in booking a substantial number of 2021 events. After all, summer is coming, and people are looking forward to a proper start of the Roaring Twenties. Even still, we are advising our clients to err on the side of caution when planning events this summer. Rather than hosting solely in-person gatherings, we are advising our clients to consider a mixture of a small COVID safe in person celebrations combined with a virtual element, otherwise known as hybrid, if budget or desire allows.

An Everchanging Situation

While we still think hybrid events are the ideal party format at this time, we’re fully aware that our situation with the pandemic is changing all the time. We are closely following the situation and are ultimately waiting for an announcement of ‘herd immunity’ from the CDC as more and more individuals receive the vaccination. Based on our new inquiries, people are confident that this announcement will come soon! Once it does, we’ll be fully ready to retool and get back to our roots of hosting in-person events. We’ve also been hearing rumblings that herd immunity amongst children will hopefully be achieved by the start of the 2021 school year.

Without concrete numbers, it’s pretty tricky to safely plan events. The last thing we want to do is make the return too quickly and go backwards as a result. As we wait for the right time to return, we’re planning to attend meetings with COVID safety experts in order to be fully prepared for a swift and smart return.

Until then, our clients who prefer in-person events will be best off hosting them outdoors while adhering to their state’s social distancing guidelines. Corporate events should remain virtual for the time being, with a small in person component at maximum.  Meanwhile, there are still clients that are asking to further postpone their in-person events that were originally planned for the past year until next year, when they hope to host a 'normal' event.

Book Your Hybrid Virtual/ Live Event with Innovative Party Planners!

Innovative Party Planners is your resource for event design and planning in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Virginia. To learn more about our event planning services and how we can help make your event one of a kind, contact us by calling (410) 998-9999.