Company outing cost per person: what the price depends on

“What does a company outing cost per person?” is almost always the first question, and there's little to go on. The amount matters, of course. The problem is that most of the costs have nothing to do with the number of participants. The planning, the equipment, the travel and the hosting cost the same for twelve people as for forty. Below you'll find what the price really depends on, which ranges you can expect in the market, and what you get for the various amounts. All amounts are an estimate and exclude VAT, unless stated otherwise.

Fixed costs and costs per person

Every outing has two kinds of costs. The fixed side doesn't change if five more people join: designing the programme, loading the equipment, the drive to the venue, set-up, the hosts and take-down. The variable side does move with numbers: food, drinks, consumables, and from a certain point an extra host.

That difference explains why prices per person vary so widely. Take a programme that costs €550:

• With 12 participants: well over €45 per person
• With 25 participants: €22 per person
• With 40 participants: almost €14 per person

The same programme, the same hosts, and three different amounts per person. That's why a price per person without a group size is a number you can't do anything with. Always ask for the total price for your group size.

The reverse applies too. Above a certain group size that drop stops, because you then need extra hosts, extra equipment and sometimes a second set-up. In practice the kink comes at around forty to fifty participants, and after that every new block of roughly twenty people adds a fixed cost.

The six things that determine the price

1. Group size

The most important one, for the reason given above: it spreads the fixed costs. With a group of six to twelve people you pay the most per person, and there's no getting around that. What does help is choosing a format that needs little equipment, because then the fixed side is smaller.

Above forty participants something else changes: it's no longer about the price per person but about the number of activities that have to run at the same time. Forty people in one game means three quarters of them are standing around waiting, so you need several activities, and each activity costs equipment and a host. Going from forty to sixty participants therefore costs less than going from four to eight activities.

2. Duration

Duration works in steps, not in a straight line. Two to three hours is one block: you arrive, set up, run the programme and pack down. Four to five hours is still one block, but with a break and often food as well. A full day means two programme blocks plus a lunch, so not only the content but also the hosting time doubles.

In practice: going from two to three hours costs little extra. Going from three to six hours costs a lot extra, because you add a break, a meal and a second programme element. If the budget is tight, shorten the duration and keep the content intact, not the other way round.

3. Venue

This is the item with the widest spread, and often the reason two proposals are hundreds of euros apart. Three options:

• Your own venue: costs nothing extra. A car park, a canteen, a warehouse or your own lawn is more suitable than people think. This is also why we come to the client's venue.
• A free or cheap outdoor venue: a club's sports field, a stretch of park with permission, a farmyard. Sometimes it costs a fee of €50 to €200, sometimes nothing.
• A hired hall or event venue: as a rough guide €250 to €1,000 for part of a day, depending on the region and the size. Often you're obliged to take the catering there too, which adds another cost.

That last condition is the one most often overlooked. A venue that costs €400 itself but where you're required to cater per person can end up more expensive than a €800 venue without that obligation.

4. Equipment

This is where the difference lies between a €195 programme and a €1,500 one. A quiz or a game with questions and cards needs almost nothing. A course with inflatable elements, a laser tag set-up or an interactive installation needs transport, set-up, maintenance and sometimes power.

A rough ranking from low to high: question and discussion games, traditional Dutch games and table formats, field games with equipment, courses and inflatable elements, and finally technology with screens, sound or custom-built installations. Each step in that sequence costs more, and the top two also need more hosting.

One point that shows up in the price and that you don't see yourself: equipment built for one specific purpose costs more the first time than the second. We build our concepts ourselves, which means a custom set-up for a brand or a theme is a separate item in the proposal.

5. Hosts

The item where doing it yourself usually falls down, and the one you should ask most about in a proposal. A programme needs someone who explains the rules, keeps time, keeps score and steps in when things go wrong. That can't be someone who's taking part themselves.

Rule of thumb: one host per activity running at the same time, plus one person who oversees the whole. For a team games day with six activities, that's seven people. For a quiz it's one presenter plus someone for the scores. That difference explains why an active programme with several activities costs more per person than an evening quiz for the same group.

6. Catering

Almost always the biggest single item, and the one that rises fastest. As an indication, per person:

• Coffee, tea and water on arrival: €3 to €6
• Simple lunch with soup and filled rolls: €12 to €20
• Drinks with snacks, an hour and a half: €15 to €30
• Hot buffet or a catered dinner: €30 to €55
• Drinks package: €7 to €12 per hour
• Barbecue or a food truck: €25 to €45

Two things to watch for. Food and non-alcoholic drinks fall under the lower VAT rate and the rest of the programme under the higher one, so a total can be made up of two rates. And with a drinks package it matters whether it's charged per hour or per drink: for a group that mostly plays and drinks little, per drink is cheaper.

Catering is also the item that's easiest to adjust. Drinks with snacks instead of a dinner takes around €1,000 out of the budget for forty people, without changing the programme itself.

Price ranges by type of outing

Below are indicative amounts per person as a market guide, excluding VAT, based on a group of about thirty participants. For smaller groups they go up, for larger groups they come down.

• Activity of 2 to 3 hours at your own venue, without catering: €15 to €30. One programme activity, with equipment and hosts included.
• Half day with hosts and equipment, without catering: €30 to €60. Several activities or one larger concept, four to five hours.
• Half day with lunch or drinks: €45 to €80. The same content, with food and drink added.
• Full day with programme, lunch and drinks: €65 to €110. Two programme blocks, a meal and a wrap-up.
• Full day with dinner and an extended programme: €100 to €175. Often with a hired venue and a catered dinner.
• Evening programme with a game format and drinks: €35 to €70. Three to four hours, indoors, with catering.
• Multi-day with overnight stay: €200 to €400 and up. Here the accommodation and transport set the price, not the programme.

These amounts are a guide for drawing up a budget, not a price list. The spread within each line comes mainly from the venue and the catering, much less from the programme itself.

What you get for which amount

Around €200 to €400 for the whole group

This is the range for a compact programme: one format, two to three hours, at your own venue. Think of a quiz format, a game show, a scavenger hunt around your own company or a tournament with one type of game. You get the concept, the equipment and someone to run it.

What's not included: food, a hired venue, set dressing, several activities running at once, and customisation around your company. For a group of up to about twenty people this is often just enough, especially if the outing is part of a day you otherwise fill yourself. With us, a compact concept starts at €195 for the whole group.

Around €550 to €1,400 for the whole group

Here the custom work comes in. Several activities running at once, a programme written for your group and your situation, several hosts, scoring across the whole day and a finish with the results. For groups of twenty to fifty people this is the range where most outings land.

What pushes this amount up within the range: the number of activities that have to run at the same time, whether bespoke equipment is made for it, and whether set dressing or technology is involved. What doesn't push it up: ten more participants. With us, more extensive custom programmes start at €550.

Over €1,500 for the whole group

This is the range for a day with several programme blocks, custom-built activities, technology, set dressing and a team on site all day. Or for a group of more than fifty participants where everything has to be doubled. We price large projects on request, because the cost breakdown really differs from case to case.

What you get extra here is mainly certainty and shape: a programme that fits together from start to finish, with no gaps in the day, and someone to link it all together. Whether that's worth the investment depends on the occasion. For an ordinary team afternoon it rarely is, for an anniversary or a day with external guests it often is.

Costs people forget

• Transport. A coach for forty people easily costs €400 to €800 for part of a day, depending on the distance. Using your own transport with a mileage allowance is cheaper, but it does need someone to arrange it.
• Venue hire. See above, and watch out for compulsory catering.
• VAT. The difference between an amount with and without VAT is about a fifth. With every proposal, ask which of the two is quoted, because this is the most common reason two proposals can't be compared.
• A plan for bad weather. An outdoor programme without an indoor alternative isn't a plan. Hiring a tent costs a few hundred euros, keeping a hall in reserve sometimes costs nothing. Arrange this in advance, because on the morning itself it's expensive.
• Your own hours. Organising, coordinating, keeping track of sign-ups and chasing people easily takes ten to twenty hours internally. That's on no invoice, and it's still a cost.
• The difference between sign-ups and turnout. Allow for five to ten per cent not turning up, and see whether you can still adjust the catering. With many proposals you have to give the final number a week in advance.
• Prizes and gifts. A small amount that's routinely forgotten. A trophy that comes back next year works better than gift vouchers and is a one-off cost.
• Photos. If you want to use them internally, you need someone to take them. That can be a colleague, but then they won't be taking part.

Three worked examples

Three outings broken down, so you can see where the money goes. All amounts are indicative and exclude VAT.

Team of 14 people, a three-hour afternoon programme on your own site, finished with drinks.

• Programme, equipment and hosts: €350
• Drinks with snacks, 14 at €20 each: €280
• Venue: your own site, no cost
• Total: €630, or €45 per person

Department of 35 people, half day with a programme of several activities and a lunch, on a borrowed sports field.

• Programme with four activities, equipment and three hosts: €950
• Lunch, 35 at €15 each: €525
• Sports field fee: €150
• Total: €1,625, or €46 per person

Company of 55 people, full day with two programme blocks, lunch, drinks and a hired venue.

• Programme, equipment and hosts: €1,900
• Venue hire for a full day: €700
• Lunch, 55 at €16 each: €880
• Drinks with a two-hour drinks package, 55 at €20 each: €1,100
• Total: €4,580, or €83 per person

What stands out: in the first example catering is almost half the budget, and in the third it's almost half again, at a much higher total. The programme itself isn't the biggest item in any of the three. If you need to cut the budget, look at venue and catering first.

How to compare proposals

Two proposals that are hundreds of euros apart are often not about the same thing. Check these five points in each proposal and you'll know where the difference lies:

1. Is the amount including or excluding VAT? This is the first thing to look at, and it makes a difference of a fifth.
2. How many hosts are coming, and what do they do? A programme with one host for forty people is something different from a programme with four.
3. Is the equipment included, with transport and set-up? Sometimes the equipment is listed separately, sometimes a call-out charge is added.
4. How many hours is the programme, and how much of that is playing? A four-hour programme of which one hour is explanation and breaks is a three-hour programme.
5. What happens in bad weather, and what does it cost? If there's no answer to that, it hasn't been arranged yet.

A sixth question that few people ask and that says a lot: what happens if ten fewer people come than the number you gave them? With programmes that mostly consist of fixed costs, that barely changes the amount. With programmes that are charged per person, it should change.

Our prices

We're based in Enschede at Piet Heinstraat 12 and work throughout the Netherlands. We design and build everything ourselves and come to the client's venue, which usually takes venue hire out of the budget. We run programmes for groups of roughly six to sixty people.

• Compact concept: from €195 for the whole group. One format, two to three hours, equipment and hosts included.
• More extensive custom programmes: from €550 for the whole group. Several activities, a programme written for your group, several hosts.
• Large projects: on request. Full days, custom-built activities, technology and set dressing, or groups where everything has to be doubled.

Catering and venue hire aren't included, because they differ so much from case to case that putting an amount on them only causes confusion. We're happy to help with that and can itemise them separately in the proposal. Send us a request via the quote page or the contact page and you'll get a reply within one working day.

What you get from this

The price per person only means something when the group size is given, because most of the cost is fixed. So always work with the total amount and divide it yourself by the number of participants, and then you can really compare proposals.

As a market guide: an activity of a few hours at your own venue comes to roughly €15 to €30 per person for thirty people, a half day with equipment and hosts between €30 and €60, and a full day with food between €65 and €175. The difference within those ranges almost always comes from the venue and the catering, not from the programme.

If the budget needs to come down, cut back on catering and venue first and keep the programme intact. Drinks instead of a dinner takes around €1,000 off for forty people, without the group noticing any difference in the game. If you'd like to know what your plan would actually cost, have a look at company outings in Twente, team outings in Twente or the overview of activities, or put it to us via the quote page .