A retirement party sits in an odd middle ground. It's not quite as loose as a birthday, and it's not as formal as an office event, because the guest of honor is leaving something they spent years on, and the party should feel like it knows that. The fix is a lineup that's genuinely funny without skipping the part where people actually say something nice.
Get the retiree's answers before the party starts
A How Well Do You Know the Retiree quiz, where they answer a set of career and personality questions first and guests guess their answers, only works if you hand it to them ahead of time. Pair it with a set of yes-or-no predictions for their first year of retirement (will they sleep past 9, will they finally take up golf) and you've got two games built entirely around them, ready the moment the party starts.
Bingo for the whole party, not just one moment
A bingo card built around things that happen at every retirement send-off (someone mentions "finally" within the first five minutes, a gift card to literally anywhere) is the one game that should run the entire event. Having several different card layouts in circulation means nobody wins in the first ten minutes and checks out.
Roast, then toast, in that order
Hand a Roast & Toast card to a handful of guests, coworkers and family both, each with a line to roast the retiree about and a line to genuinely toast them for. Running the roasts first and the toasts last means the party ends on warmth, not jokes, which matters more here than at almost any other party.
Would You Rather for the lulls
A deck of retirement-themed dilemma cards gives you something to pull out whenever a table goes quiet, without needing anyone to prepare anything.
Keepsakes they actually take home
A bucket list card, an advice card and a memory card, filled out by guests over the course of the party, add up to something the retiree can keep in a box, which matters more a year later than any gift that gets used up or forgotten.
Running the party
Get the retiree's quiz and predictions answered before the party. Let bingo run from the first guest to the last. Open with the quiz and predictions once most people have arrived, move into Would You Rather during any lull, save Roast & Toast for right before cake, and leave the bucket list, advice and memory cards out the whole time so they fill up naturally.
Our Retirement Party Games kit has all of this ready to print: eight games, a Retiree Quiz and Retirement Predictions, six bingo cards, 16 Roast & Toast cards, 16 Would You Rather cards and keepsake cards, built for an office send-off or a family party of 6 to 60.