The Sound & Light Hire Company Talks Christmas Parties & Event Production
The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo
Normally at this time of year The Sound & Light Hire Company is busy planning Christmas parties…
Corporate Christmas dos, light switch ons and we would be talking to brides finalizing their winter weddings. This year however will be slightly different for a lot of us! This article will explain how you can still put on an event, plan a party and enjoy Christmas.
This year we have seen an increase in the demand for outdoor covered mobile stages. As all events are basically taking place outside due to Covid regulations, The Sound & Light Hire Company have been busy talking to local councils and event promoters about supplying outdoor stages for Christmas fairs, fetes, and light switch ons. Let us discuss a couple of the most popular packages that event organisers/ companies hire when they are looking for an outdoor stage package.
We will start with our 6m x 4m arce’d roof festival stage which is the perfect size stage for local fetes, fairs and Christmas town productions. We won’t go over all the technical details about this stage but some of the key points about this stage and why this seems to be the more popular choice is the low hire cost point. To give you an example to hire this stage in the Surrey/ Hampshire area for a day would be £1200. That cost includes the crew to build and de rig after the event, as well as the transportation cost. Not only does this come in at a very reasonable price point it is also very quick to set up ideal for those who have limited restrictions on set up time/ get out times.
We can set this stage at the standard height of 1.5ft but we can raise it on higher legs if this is preferred to 1m. We have noticed that during the Covid time more people are opting for a higher stage height due to the audience being more spread out for distancing reasons.
The 6m stage will comfortably hold a 6-8 piece band and at Christmas it is common for councils to organise performances from rock choirs where you can have a large group of people performing. We suggest 10-20 people on the stage at one given time as the limitation is roughly between 18-20 people. However, with the current regulations in place we would recommend halving that so people can distance from one another.
Most event companies / planners come to us for the sound and stage lighting as well. This is because we stock a vast range of sound systems, lighting and special effects all in house. We can put together packages of all different sizes enabling us to meet the most basic or more demanding of technical requirements. Not only do we cover the production side we offer LED video screen as well which we will come onto further into this blog.
For those putting on slightly bigger outdoor Christmas show that have more live music or bigger bands or perhaps they just require more space on stage to run the event in line with current Covid regulations our 8x6m covered stage will comfortably hold up to 30 people giving you that extra needed room. To give an example of the price point for this stage you would be looking at £2000 which covers the crew costs and transportation within Surrey & Hampshire areas. Again, most people opt for an all-inclusive package which caters for stage, sound and lighting. Not only do we supply this, but we provide a professional technician to remain onsite throughout the event to ensure it runs without a hiccup. What Is quite common with this stage is adding on LED outdoor screen and this year more than ever promoters and local councils are all looking to hire some form of outdoor digital signage. Promoting things like local events, Christmas performances and local awareness messages about current restrictions and lockdowns.
Continuing This Topic of Outdoor LED Screen
We can supply screens either side of your stage ground supported or flown, or we can supply one large screen at the back of your stage. We have some newly released renders on our Instagram page to show this, as well as our previous jobs displaying the stages setup.
Perhaps you are after one big outdoor LED screen to watch Christmas films on for example or outdoor winter wonderland cinema nights, we stock a vast amount of LED video wall and with a competitive price point of just £75 per square meter we are one of the leading screen hire companies in the Surrey, Hampshire, London and Berkshire areas.
We would say the more popular choice of hire item during the Covid crisis which has turned into a newfound form of entertainment for people is hiring the LED video screens for outdoor films to become a cinema experience. This can be achieved with ease as people can remain in their cars and we can tune the sound to their car radio, enabling them to stay comfortably seated inside. This has worked well over the last few months and we foresee this will continue to be popular over Christmas into the New Year.
Moving onto lighting, what lighting do we have on offer this Christmas and what lighting packages do we recommend getting you through this Christmas without having to spend lots of money?
An old-time favourite are our LED wireless up lighters, why are they popular and why do we still recommend using them after all these years? Well they are battery operated which makes them handy units to dot around and spread some festive light. The battery life lasts between 8-10 hours having said that though if they are left in really cold environments this drains the battery quicker which many people don’t know so a little tip there for you! We ensure they are fully charged before they are sent out on hire so don’t worry about that. The fact they are wireless means no messy looking cables, so not only is this great if you don’t have access to power but also if you are trying to keep it looking slick you don’t have to worry about reels of cables around the room/ marquee.
We can provide you with covers for them so they can be placed outside safely without worrying about them getting wet/ damp as the covers are IP rated.
So perhaps uplighters aren’t your thing and you are planning on a small intimate gathering at home we have more vibrant lighting suitable for disco lighting. Packages start from £20 and can turn any home into a dance floor! They can be hung form lighting t bars which we provide and just plug into the mains, extremely easy to use and just do the job. Sending out lots of colours and patterns for a great festive party atmosphere. We stock a vast range of different lighting options so if you have more bespoke lighting requirements with a custom light set up in mind then no problem we can help with that. This article is not covering everything we stock/ offer it is just to give you an idea of popular hire choices over the festive season.
What better piece of equipment to hire at Christmas with or without Covid, is our snow machine. This highly professional machine will enable you to spray fake snow in your garden, over your house, on your stairs or in the lounge! These machines are cheap to run and amazingly effective at covering a small area which is what we have found customers want. With this machine you can project your fake snow up to 15-20m away. Whenever you hire a snow machine, we suggest raising above head height which adds to the effect with the spectacular falling foam but please make sure this is put in a secure safe place, the last thing we want is for any accidents to occur. We must also note that although the snow fluid is not hazardous it should not be sprayed into peoples face or rubbed in people’s eyes as it will sting it can also potentially stain hard surfaces and carpet so an outdoor grassed area with adult supervision is recommended.
One Big Announcement
Is the fact that we are moving our forever popular speaker hire packages to wireless battery powered PA systems. One of out latest additions is our Bose Pro1 battery powered portable speaker. This wireless speaker will give you clear thunderous, powerful sound at your house party or outdoor event in a small slick package. Weighing only a few kilos the performance from this Bose powered speaker system is nothing but exceptional. Stream your favourite music from your iPhone/ laptop or iPad or plug in directly to the back of the speaker and for £65 you will get up to 12 hours of music. It also has the ability to connect to your device via Bluetooth which is definitely a plus point for those not wanting any cabling whatsoever.
We would suggest this speaker to cover a party of up to about 50 people, so if you are having a larger gathering or want that extra punch of bass don’t worry we still have our popular systems which include top speakers and subs requiring power.
All these systems are super easy to use, do it yourself set up packages which give you great sound at a very reasonable hire price.
Recently we have not been delivering as much due to the demand being much less, but we are still able to offer delivery should this be something you really require, within the Surrey & Hampshire areas.
Another firm favourite at Christmas is our large white LED light up sparkly dance floor. This twinkling dance floor is suitable for all size parties as we can offer this in several sizes from compact intimate spaces for your house party to a large 20ft x 20ft dance floor in a marquee. Please ensure the flooring we lay the dance floor onto is flat and level, this is important to keep the panels safely firmly together! White is definitely a colour of choice for the Christmas season, but we can also offer this in black if this is preferred!
What goes well with the dance floor at Christmas time? A low-level fog effect! Add this low-lying fog effect to your Christmas party to really enhance the Christmas vibe, like you are dancing on the clouds without a care in the world.
To sum up on everything we have discussed in this blog, we have all had to adapt and make changes to our lives during this dire time, but don’t let it stop you having fun especially at Christmas time. Whether you attend any outdoor events that are put on by local councils or you are making sure you stay at home, The Sound & Light Hire Company really do have sound, lighting, special effects, and production equipment to suit all eventualities so give us a call to see all the deals we have to offer.
So what are you waiting for? Call us on 0800 8611136 or send us an email to tell us all about your plans, we can’t wait to help you turn them into a reality!