Las Vegas Picnic at the Mine

Food Trucks

Entertainment Options

500

Employees

63,000

Square Feet

An Exciting Prospect

We were contacted by a clean energy material mining company to coordinate a very special company picnic for them. Being a mining corporation, they wanted to host a company-wide staff and family day excursion at a functioning mine in Las Vegas. We’ve hosted loads of excursion events, which are somewhat like a destination picnic (see our blog explaining the difference between excursions and other events), and find them to always be a blast.

We were blown away by this idea and knew we couldn’t pass up such a unique opportunity. We’ve planned staff outings in every place you could imagine, from resorts to iconic landmarks to Hollywood Hills mansions, and we love being presented with an extraordinary backdrop for a company picnic. (Looking for excursion ideas of your own? Check out our blog on planning your own company excursion!)

The event would be huge, with 500 guests of all ages from all departments of the company. Our client wanted to pull out all the stops for a truly remarkable company picnic.

Old Fashioned Picnic

The theme was old fashioned picnic, something rustic and homey, a country fair sort of décor. Since it was fall, being late September, we decided to give the mine a makeover into a fall carnival style. Our décor was full of bright orange hues and adorable scarecrows. Our client wanted plenty of games and inflatables for all ages to enjoy. We set up an adult gaming section with more challenging games for 16+ guests, and plenty of games and inflatables even the youngest could enjoy.

Our catering team arrived as early as we did, at 7:00 that morning when the sun was pale in the horizon. The way it beamed across the wide-open stretch of Las Vegas desert took our breath away. The vast expanse of the mine was astounding, at 165,000 square feet of beautiful tan Nevada hills. The pallid sunshine seemed to stretch forever in an endless, rolling horizon, casting its still-faint warmth over us as we prepared for the day.

Fun for All!

Our guests arrived at 12:00 sharp, a hum of chatter coming with them. We’d brought out a special treat for photo ops: plenty of functioning mining vehicles and equipment. It was seriously astounding how big the equipment was. We barely reached the top of the hubcap on the bulldozer wheel. It completely dwarfed families who posed in front of it, and it was absolutely incredible. We grabbed some amazing shots of groups posing in the bulldozer blade, their heads not even reaching the top of its scoop.

Lunch was ready for them as soon as they arrived, and, as we always do for big picnics, we had multiple buffets to shorten the lines. We’d planned a rustic picnic lunch perfect to eat at a mine. Our amazing grill masters cooked the most succulent BBQ tri-tip, whose scent while cooking had made our mouths water the whole time we were setting up. They’d grilled up some juicy BBQ chicken breasts as well that had also been calling to us all morning. For sides, we had two kinds of beans, one honey-coated, and one vegan BBQ baked beans. Our caterers had prepared country potato salad, delectable pasta marinara, and mixed green salad. For a little cooling snack, we had fresh fruit salad and an entire area dedicated to novelty ice cream. On the topic of dessert, our team had also baked cookies to fully satisfy our guests’ sweet tooths.

Games at the Mine

There was no shortage of fun at this picnic. Having so much space, 65,000 square feet of the mine allotted for us, we took full advantage of it. We’d set up a section of inflatables, with a variety of games to enjoy. There was our always-challenging Rocky Island Obstacle course, an inflatable with a rock-climbing side, and a slide, that could be played as a competition or solo. For the rustic Western vibes, we’d brought in our inflatable axe toss, with small inflatable axes to sink in the target. There was an inflatable basketball setup, with three hoops so a group could all play at one time, and a giant inflatable Skee-ball game that’s always a hit. We also had a Jurassic-themed inflatable play center, with some fearsome T-Rexes to ride and interact with.

We’d brought in a variety of tabletop games, too. They were all a collection of family day classics, like shuffleboard and ping pong. We’d also set up some lawn games, including the classic corn hole. A particular hit was our Giant Connect-4, as was our Giant Jenga game. Giant Jenga is one of those lawn games we always enjoy watching a group play. The pieces are massive, which makes it all the more challenging. And, of course, you can’t help but yell “Jenga!” each time the tower falls!

An Explosively Good Time

At 2:00 that afternoon, the event reached a particular zenith. Just before the company’s CEO came out to speak, we had something exciting in store for our guests. A team of miners came out to demonstrate a detonation for the crowd. Everyone lined up at the rim of the quarry and looked on as the miners began their show. The detonation was incredible, with a plume of dust and smoke rising up from the quarry into the bright blue sky. The crowd cheered, taking plenty of photos and videos of the event. We had to snag some too.

Besides the photos of the detonation, we’d set up plenty of mementos and photo ops for the picnic goers. Other than the mining equipment, we had a photo booth staffed with an amazing photographer to take pictures of the families for a keepsake. Our client also provided plenty of company swag for all the attendees. We’d spent the morning handing out shirts while we took the guests’ registrations. We hoped all of these little tokens would keep the memories of their fun event alive even after time had passed.

A Time to Remember

The event drew to a close at 5:00. The staff and families filtered out, taking their symphony of laughter and chatter with them as we went. We hoped those good spirits followed them home and into the next week as they returned to work. We hoped they’d reminisce about this day amongst each other. We set to work deflating our inflatables, packing away décor, and taking out trash. Our catering team packed up their equipment, and the mine removed theirs. As the sun grew pale once more, the beautiful Nevada sky lit up in gorgeous oranges and pinks. We, too, filtered out, our hearts full from the day and excited for what tomorrow would bring.

I wanted to thank you for setting up such an amazing event for us! Everyone was so happy with everything, and I couldn’t have done it without you and your amazing team! – Essa, MP