Company holiday parties and picnics in the Blue Ridge

Not every company event needs a two-day retreat with breakout sessions and an agenda. Sometimes the team just needs a good meal together, a fire to stand around, or an afternoon outside. Wilderness Adventure hosts company holiday parties in winter and company picnics in the warmer months, on our 500-acre property in New Castle, about 40 minutes from Roanoke. Here's how to plan either one.

Why take the party out of town?

A party in the office break room is easy, but it rarely feels like a thank-you. A drive into the mountains turns the day into an occasion. Everyone is in one place, away from desks and inboxes, and with very limited cell reception people tend to put their phones away and talk to each other. If you'd like the property to yourselves, exclusive use is available, so ask when you inquire.

Holiday parties in the Main Lodge

Winter is a good time for holiday parties and tastings here. The Main Lodge is the place for it: a log lodge with a stone fireplace and a long covered porch. Its dining room seats up to 75 for dinner.

• Dinner together: home-style buffets, with vegetarian options, or something more special, like a fine-dining menu or a themed menu such as paella, Moroccan or Italian.
• Tastings: beer or wine tastings with tapas pairings make a relaxed alternative to a sit-down speech.
• Day or overnight: keep it to an evening, or book the lodges and let the party run late around the fire pit.

Company picnics in the warmer months

A company picnic is a day outside for the whole team. Picnics usually center on the open-air pavilion, which is covered, holds roughly 100 people and doubles as the wet-weather backup.

• Food: catered picnics or a pig roast.
• Games: field day games, volleyball and our 18-hole disc golf course (see our guide to disc golf near Roanoke).
• The creek: in summer, tubing on Craig Creek. Our guide to Craig Creek explains how it works.
• Something bigger: guided high and low ropes, the 50-foot climbing wall and the Giant Swing, led by trained instructors.

Add a little team building

A party doesn't have to be all play. If you want the day to do some work too, add a short session before the food: a low ropes challenge, team development games or raft building. These ask the group to listen, try an idea and make room for a different approach. Tell us what you'd like the team to take away and we'll help you choose activities around it. For a fuller program with meeting rooms and break-out spaces, see our corporate retreats page and our guide to planning a group retreat people will remember.

A sample holiday evening

• Late afternoon: arrive and settle in. Anyone staying the night drops their bags at the lodges.
• Early evening: a beer or wine tasting with tapas pairings in the Main Lodge.
• Dinner: everyone at the tables in the Main Lodge dining room. Keep the speeches short.
• Later: the fire pit, and no agenda.
• Next morning (if you stay): breakfast, a walk on the trails, and home.

A sample summer picnic

• Late morning: arrive, and start the field day games on the lawn.
• Lunch: a catered picnic or pig roast under the pavilion.
• Afternoon: pick your own adventure: tubing Craig Creek, disc golf, volleyball, or a guided session on the ropes course.
• Late afternoon: a few awards or thank-yous back at the pavilion, then home.

Where everyone sleeps

If the party runs into the night, there's room to stay. The Main Lodge sleeps 56 and Sly Lodge sleeps 33, with a full kitchen and a patio with a grill. The Sneaky Cabin sleeps 8 and the Old Homestead, an 1800s log cabin, sleeps 6. There's always room for more tents in the campground. See the camping and lodging page for photos.

Practical tips for the organizer

• Book early for December. We run retreats and events most weeks, so the sooner you pick a date the better. Winter also has discounted rates from January to March, if a January celebration suits your team.
• Send dietary needs ahead. Tell us about allergies and dietary restrictions at least two weeks before you arrive and we can guarantee alternatives at every meal.
• Plan for no signal. Cell reception is very limited and there's no high-speed internet. Share the office number, 540-864-6792, for emergencies.
• Think about accessibility. Sly Lodge, the bathhouse, the gazebo and the pavilion are wheelchair accessible. Tell us about any needs so we can plan activities that include everyone.
• Sort out the drive. The property is about 40 minutes from Roanoke (an estimate from our address). Carpools or a hired bus mean nobody has to skip the tasting.

How booking works

Call the office or send an inquiry with your date, your numbers and the kind of day you have in mind. A coordinator puts together a pricing proposal. Once you approve it, we send a reservation agreement to sign, then an invoice for a 30% non-refundable deposit, and a payment plan is available. Every group of eight or more is assigned a host, and at least one staff member is on duty day and night. More answers are in our group retreat FAQs.