Our company just did a company party and what they did was to transform the cafeteria into a cruise ship with a big picture of a cruise ship with the company logo added to the bulkhead.  They used the hallway to the cafeteria as the gangplank to the "ship".  All of the decorations were appropriate for whatever island they were pretending to embark upon i.e. the carribbean, Hawaii.  This time we visited Hawaii.  The officers of the company were dressed in cruise gear with the CEO the designated captain, the COO was first mate, etc. and they served the food to the employees also



Each employee that attended was given a passport at the entrance to the gangplank, designed by the IS department, and was given a entrance stamp on the "visa".  The food was appropriate for the island we were visiting and they had boom boxes playing the music of the island.  Since our cafeteria is on the first floor and has a door to the outside, island games were setup outside for the employees to play and for the winners there were some really great prizes.  They even had badmitten and a putting green for those so inclined.  It was really neat.  



They even had a puzzle in the company newsletter the week before the cruise and a drawing was held for the person who solved the puzzle.  Of course there were more than one who solved it correctly so they did a drawingfor a really great prize.



All of this took place on a weekday afternoon.  It seems they found out from prior years that employees value their weekends and the majority of them would not attend a company picnic held on a weekend.  And, employees enjoyed having a fun afternoon and they got paid for the four hours as well.



I just started this job on Monday so it was a nice way to get to see what people make up my new company and it showed me the big bosses were human too.



Sure hope this helps.



Diva