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Corporate Festival for Alfa Fest delivered by Planet Pursuits at the De Vere Four Pillars Cotswold Hotel 2026

Corporate festivals and family fun days for 100 to 1,000 guests

Celebrating 25 Years of Events

We’ve been delivering corporate festivals and family fun days since they took off post-Covid in 2020, when companies wanted bigger, braver, more memorable employee events than the standard summer party. The format hasn’t slowed since, we've just branded it as Festopia. From outdoor employee festivals at Cotswold Water Park to family showcase days, polo hospitality activations, sports-fan festivals and themed pop-ups in office foyers, we’ve delivered the lot. End-to-end event management for 100 to 1,000 guests, year round.

 

Talk to us about your festival event | 01793 772999 

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  • 100 to 1,000 guests  

  • Delivering corporate festivals since 2020

  • Award winning end-to-end event management

  • SafeContractor accredited

  • Our own stages, bars and structures from our warehouse

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Festopia 

Festival format we formulated post-COVID for clients that wanted more than a standard summer fun day. Depending on event logistics, performers and activities, we can rig a Festopia-style party within three hours and remove on the same day. 

Five festival formats we deliver

“Festival” covers a lot of ground in the corporate events space. The five formats we deliver most often each carry their own production demands, audience profile and brief structure. Here’s how we’d think about which one fits what you’re planning.

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Employee festivals. All-day outdoor events built around the workforce and the brand. Multiple zones, stages, bars, food vendors, branded environments, entertainment running across the day. Typical scale is 300-1,000, typical venue is a country estate or specialist outdoor festival site. Brief usually comes from HR or Comms with the goal of a memorable annual event the workforce talks about. Festopia and Alfa Fest are examples below.

 

Family fun days. Workforce-plus-families format with the same scale and production weight as an employee festival, but the demographic mix changes everything - kids’ entertainment, family catering, daytime hours, more showcase content. Suits companies marking anniversaries, milestones or community visibility. Triumph Fest below is an example.

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Hospitality activations at public festivals. You’re not running the festival, you’re delivering branded hospitality within someone else’s. VIP marquees, executive lunches and branded entertaining zones at events like polo tournaments, racing meets or music festivals. The constraints are the host event’s, which reshapes the brief. The Cartier International Polo case below is an example.

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Fan and community festivals. Festivals built around an existing audience - football club supporters, members of a particular community, customers of a major brand. Higher emotional charge than a corporate workforce event because the audience identity is part of the design. Arsenal Fest below is an example.

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Themed pop-up festivals. Festival-vibe events delivered indoors in unusual venues - office foyers, atriums, warehouses. The “festival” here is the atmosphere and the design weight, not the open-air format. Compressed scale (100-400 guests) but high production density. Suits Christmas, Oktoberfest and themed brand activations. The RWE Oktoberfest case below is an example.

What we bring to the field

Festivals are kit-heavy. The infrastructure is what makes or breaks the day - stages the audience can see and hear, bars that don’t queue out, branding that holds up to a thousand photos, fencing and wayfinding that doesn’t look like an industrial estate, power that doesn’t drop, lighting that lifts the evening.

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Our 10,000 sq ft warehouse holds the stages, bars, stretch tents, branding structures, lighting, audio and power distribution we use across festival events. That means two things for you. We know the kit because it’s ours, the build crew know the rigging, the audio team know the speakers, and the set-up is fast because the team has done it dozens of times. And we don’t pad quotes for sub-supplier kit hire on every booking. On a build-heavy festival, the cost economics work differently when the kit is owned rather than rented per event.

Five formats in practice

When to plan a summer festival or fun day

Planning a festival takes longer than you think, especially as summer is only 16 weeks long from mid-May to mid-September. Late July and August tends to be a no-go, as people are on school holidays. Ideally, you're looking at late May, June, or September for a festival vibe party. 

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If you're thinking of something at a sporting event like the Cartier International Polo or Henley Regatta, you need to book your space well in advance - we always recommend booking a year ahead for premium spaces.

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Working backwards, you'll need to start thinking about planning your festival party at least four to six months before, ideally a year ahead, particularly if you want popular artists, bands, and performers. 

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Every festival we plan includes wet weather contingency, so plan into your budget:

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  • marquees

  • stretch tents

  • shade cover

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​But remember, festivals aren't just for summer. We've run Bavarian October festivals, Christmas vibe festivals, and spring party festivals. 

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Festival vibe venues we know well

As you'll appreciate, not everybody wants a Festival Vibe party near them, particularly if there's going to be live bands and a late finish. Over the last 25 years, we've got to know some great venues that are ideal for a Festival Vibe party including country house hotels and private manor houses. Here are just a few that we know well. 

M4 / M40  Corridors and west

  • Heron's Farm, Pangbourne - we have been using this great little location for many years now, and it is ideal for a small capacity festival​

  • Oxford Belfry - medium-sized hotel and great for an exclusive-use festival vibe party

  • De Vere Cotswold Water Park Hotel - being a preferred supplier at this venue, we know it well and combine it with Lake 86 next door

  • Science and Innovation Park Swindon - vast complex of buildings on the outskirts of Swindon, great M4 access 

  • Sherborne House (Cheltenham area) - country house with extensive grounds, suits marquee or branded festival format

London and Home Counties

  • Battersea Park - great Central London ideal for branded summer festivals up to 2,500. Factor in a long licencing process. 

  • Hampton Court Palace - Premium position, so early booking advice on selected dates, mainly garden hire 

  • The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) - we love this easy access central London ground with good marquee potential. 

Is your venue an option?

As experts in event management and festival vibe parties, we have explored holding festivals at many corporate sites, like for example Arsenal FC. So we include, sports facilities, foyers, car parks, warehouses, factories or training grounds. Just give us a buzz and we'll come down and do a complimentary site visit for you.​

A recent festival vibe party 

A recent festival vibe party we managed at The De Vere Cotswold Water Park Hotel, combining it with next door Lake 86 for Alfa Fest.

summer socials at the Cotswold Water Park, Devere Hotel.

How we plan a fun day together 

Here are five stages that helped us plan a successful festival vibe fun day

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  1. Initial exploration  (1-2 weeks) - it's critical we understand your thinking and what you want to achieve from a festival or a vibe party 

  2.  Build the concept and find the venue (3-6 weeks) - working with you, we build on the visual concept and find you a cracking venue with all the logistics considered. 

  3. Festival build phase (on the day or 1 day before) - it's no secret that we can build a festival within four hours, but of course some more time would suit, and it does depend on the size. 

  4. The day itself - we're here, managing every aspect of your festival, including suppliers, performers, catering, and event logistics 

  5. After the event - usually a few hours with you discussing feedback from your attendees and how we can make your event even better​

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​Cindy is our festival expert, and we will be on hand to discuss any festival or family fun day with you personally.​

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The most common questions about a festival

How long do we need to plan a festival event?

Twelve weeks is the practical minimum for a smaller employee festival. Six months is more comfortable for anything over 300 guests with branded build, multiple zones and booked entertainment. The bigger constraint is usually venue availability and senior performer booking lead time, not our production schedule.

We’re not sure whether we want a festival, a fun day or a themed party. How do we choose?

Three things separate them. Scale (festivals run from 300, fun days from 100, themed parties anything). Format weight (festivals have multiple zones and stages; fun days have showcase elements; themed parties run a single design). Audience (festivals can be workforce-only, fun days usually include families). If you’re undecided, send us the brief and we’ll come back with the format that fits the budget and audience.

Do you handle the licences - alcohol, music, public event safety?

Yes. Temporary Event Notices, premises licences, PRS music licences, food safety, public liability, crowd management plans, traffic management orders where needed. Festivals carry more compliance overhead than most event formats. We’ve delivered them through it many times, including at venues that hadn’t hosted a festival event before.

Can festivals work indoors?

Yes, and the RWE Oktoberfest case above is an example - a foyer pop-up that delivered festival atmosphere inside a corporate building. The principle holds for atrium events, warehouse hires, large breakout spaces and exhibition-hall takeovers. The compromises are scale (typically capped around 400 indoors) and ceiling-height limits on bigger production elements.

What time of year is best for festivals?

We deliver them year round. Summer is the biggest season for outdoor employee festivals and family fun days. Autumn and winter suit themed pop-ups, Christmas activations and Oktoberfest-style events. Spring works for outdoor events that want sole use of a venue before the peak summer rush. The right time depends on your audience and venue more than the calendar.

If a festival isn't quite the right format for you

For events better matched elsewhere in the corporate events service set:

  • Summer socials - for relaxed summer-afternoon employee events without the festival production weight Click here

  • Themed parties - for single-design themed events at smaller scale Click here

  • Conferences - for delegate-led, content-driven events Click here 

  • Corporate events hub - if you’d rather scope by service breadth than format Click here 

Pick up the phone or drop us a line 

Send us the brief. Send us the rough date, the rough scale, the rough budget, the rough format you’ve got in mind. We’ll come back with a written approach, a venue thought or two, and a sensible cost range. If you’re earlier than that and want to talk through what a festival format could look like for your audience, the first call is short and not a pitch.

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Phone us today  01793 772999 or email events@planetpursuits.com 

Corporate Family Fun Day for Triumph International at Purton House, Swindon, Wiltshire for 1,000 guests.
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