King Charles III’s coronation on Saturday May 6 will bring millions of Brits out into the UK’s streets to enjoy a right royal knees-up.
Coronation Big Lunch organisers are encouraging people to celebrate the King’s crowning in style by holding picnics or street parties with neighbours, friends and family.
Such events can be held between the day of coronation and Monday, May 8. This is an extra bank holiday for the coronation.
How to plan a street party
If you need to close your road for your event, you will need to contact your council. You can apply here or call your local council office. While councils prefer all requests by the end of March, they will continue to be reviewed after this date.
If you don’t need to close the road, you can run what is called a Street Meet. If you live in a cul-de-sac, councils are generally happy for this to go ahead without permission. Otherwise, use driveways, parking areas and front gardens – none of these will require council permission. Ensure you don’t obstruct pavements.
Another option is a Neighbour’s Picnic, which can be held in the local park. The only caveat is that you cannot have music or a barbecue, but it may work well for sandwiches and cake.
Involve your neighbours from the start
- Get your neighbours involved – and make sure everyone meets to discuss the big day beforehand.
- Ask everyone to bring a dish and drink, and don’t forget to include vegetarian/vegan-type options. Please make sure you ask your neighbours to label ingredients, and flag anything that contains nuts.
- Consider classic British recipes, such as scotch eggs, sausage rolls, bakewell tart and victoria sponge cake.
- You could plan a barbecue if you are using private land.
- Consider whether you will buy plastic cutlery or reduce waste and encourage neighbours to bring their own.
- If you need crockery, consider buying some mismatched plates from a charity shop. These appear much more authentic, cause less waste and a charity would benefit from your purchase. You could even clean them up and return them for resale.
- To keep decoration costs down, task the local children with creating bunting, flags on (paper) straws and paper chains.
- Consider setting up a Spotify playlist and sharing the link with your neighbours, who can add their music to it as well.
- Ask neighbours to chip in to arrange party insurance.
Do you need coronation party insurance?
If you are organising an event as an individual or as a collective, yes, you do. While event insurance isn’t a legal requirement, it could protect you from a whole host of issues. It is much better to enjoy the fruits of your labour than spent the day worrying about damage or accidents and injury claims.
It’s easy to take out single-event insurance to cover you for a street party. Much like travel insurance, you can choose “single” or “multi”. However, single does cover multiple days (up to four) so if you are planning on organising several parties over the bank holiday weekend, this would be ideal. If you enjoy the street party spirit and host more throughout the year, multi could be a good option. But why do you need it?
Litigation can range from a few hundred pounds to tens of thousands of pounds – could you afford this if a partygoer slipped on some food and injured themselves, or had a touch of food poisoning after the event? They could even burn their lips on a hot cup of tea. And you could be liable for all of it. Consider as well that, although the council may have closed your street, not everybody will want to move their cars. As such, be prepared to consider any claims for damage to vehicles.
If you are planning to super-size your celebration and use outside caterers, they would come with their own insurance which would cover food poisoning, burns or allergic reactions. However, if your buffet is likely to be made up of food you have cooked, or your neighbours bring it, it’s a good idea to ensure you are protected. And if you consider paying anyone yourself – perhaps a student looking for a little pocket money to prepare food or clean up; or even the keen cook on the street to do all of the catering – you might need to consider a form of employee insurance.
In short, street parties come in all shapes and sizes, so if you are planning one, talk to a broker who will find you the right policy for your party.
Coronation party insurance – what doesn’t it cover?
- When it comes to fireworks, think again, you will not be covered for pyrotechnic damage.
- And if you were thinking of a fundraising bungee jump, a bonfire, ballooning or flying, these will not be covered under your events insurance.
- Contrary to popular belief, bouncy castles are not insurable. However, if you hire one from a reputable hirer, it may provide a certain level of insurance.
- If you have a larger space and are considering a fairground ride, you will not be covered if you intend to operate it yourself. As such, make sure you hire it with staff to ensure safe operation.
- If a couple of your neighbours volunteer to act as bouncers to prevent unwanted guests from wandering into your celebrations, the organiser could be liable for any injuries they cause in a kerfuffle. If you are planning a larger event, or you are hosting a street party in a busier area, then we would recommend hiring an Service Industry Authority (SIA)-approved bouncer, who will come with full training and their own insurance.
