The quick answer: Pick the bean bag shape for what guests will be doing, the fabric for whether it's indoors or out, and one strong colour scheme with your logo on the back. Order all of them in one batch, approve a proof early, plan filling and freight before the event date, and decide where they'll be stored afterwards.
Event seating usually gets sorted last. Someone orders a few dozen plastic chairs, they get lined up in rows, and nobody sits in them for long.
Bean bags work differently. People actually stop, sit down and stay a while, and when they take a photo, your logo is in it. We've been making bean bags since 2011, including branded ones for festivals, sporting events, outdoor cinemas and venues. The jobs that go well tend to get the same handful of decisions right early.
Start with what people will be doing
Watching a screen. For outdoor cinemas and live sport, a low, reclined seat works best. When QV Melbourne showed the Australian Open and then outdoor movies in QV Square, we supplied 24 Media Lounges. The angled backrest holds you through a five-set match, and because they sit low, the people behind can still see.
Watching something live. If guests need to sit up and follow the action, go for a high-back chair. RACQ's bean bags beside the main arena at the Ekka were Merlins, which hold you upright enough to watch the cattle judging during the day and the arena events at night.
Lounging and sharing. For a festival lawn or a VIP area, bigger is better. Scape's 100 loungers at Tropfest in Centennial Park were Costa Loungers, 120 cm square with room for two.
A photo moment. For a launch or activation that's mostly about the pictures, go for something comfortable enough that people relax into it.
Indoors or outdoors decides the fabric
For indoor events, our 1680D polyester covers are tough, water resistant and easy to wipe down. Outdoors, especially on grass in an Australian summer, heavy-duty olefin is what we'd usually reach for. It holds its colour in the sun and shrugs off spilled drinks.
Neither fabric is waterproof, and no bean bag is. If rain is likely, have a plan to move them under cover. Our guide to festival seating ideas has more on what survives a full weekend outdoors.
One colour, and the logo where people look
One bold colour scheme across every seat reads as yours from across a site. Scape went with pink and white stripe. RACQ used their bright yellow, and you could pick those bean bags out on a green slope from the far side of the showgrounds.
Most of the time the logo goes on the back. Everyone sitting faces the stage or the screen, so the backs of the bean bags face everyone walking past. On a big lounger you can do both ends. Scape's loungers carried the logo on the front footrest and the rear headrest, 200 prints across 100 seats.
Go bigger than you think on logo size. The QV LIVE logo was 250 mm wide, and Scape's was about 60 cm wide. Small logos disappear on a lawn.
We print by screen print, heat transfer or embroidery, matched to your Pantone colour. Vector files (AI or EPS) give the sharpest print. Tell us the colour, the size and where the logo should sit. We'll send a digital proof, and nothing gets printed until you've signed it off.
Quantity, and why you should order them all at once
Our minimum for branded bean bags is 10 units. Past that, think about the space rather than a number. Twenty bean bags in one tight group look like a branded lounge area. Spread thinly around a site, the same twenty just look like spare seats.
If you're getting a custom colour, order the full quantity in one go. Custom colours are made in batches, and bean bags from the same batch match exactly. Topping up with a second order later can leave you with two slightly different shades side by side.
Give yourself more time than you think
Timing is where most event orders get tight. The event date doesn't move, and a custom job has a few steps that each need to finish before the next one starts: fabric, printing, filling and freight.
Our standard production time is 7 to 14 business days from artwork approval, and longer for large quantities. Filling and freight come after that.
A few from our own jobs:
- QV Live's logo proof was approved in mid-October for bean bags delivered in January.
- Scape's Tropfest order was quoted in December for a February festival, which was tight for 100 custom loungers.
- For National Corrections Day in Darwin, the NT Government's 10 branded bean bags took 21 days from artwork to delivery.
If your event is in January, remember that much of the supply chain shuts down over Christmas and New Year, so don't leave it until December. Send us your dates first and we'll tell you whether the timeline works.
Filling and freight
This is the part people forget to budget for. Our bean bags ship as covers, flat-packed, because couriers charge for the space a parcel takes up and filled bean bags take up a lot of it. One Costa Lounger needs 600 litres of beans. Scape's 100 loungers needed 60,000 litres between them.
On commercial orders we can supply them filled, depending on the quantity and where they're going. For Tropfest, the covers went to Sydney flat-packed, the beans went to a filling partner in New South Wales, and every lounger arrived at the park ready to use. QV Live's were filled in Melbourne and dropped at the loading dock.
If you're filling them yourself, work out the total litres before you buy. Our bean bag filling calculator does the maths for each style.
Plan for after the event
Branded bean bags can be used again and again if someone looks after them. RACQ's set went back to the Ekka every August for six years. After each show we emptied the beans into the inner liners, washed the covers, dried everything properly, topped up the filling and stored them ready for the next year.
A few things make that possible:
- Inner liners, so the covers come off for washing without beans going everywhere. Most of our styles have one, but not all, so check if reuse matters to you.
- Storage space. Filled bean bags are bulky. Howard Smith Wharves has around 200 Copacabana chairs at 500 litres each, which is roughly 100 cubic metres of bean bag when the lawn needs clearing.
- Topping up. Beans compress with use, and a saggy bean bag looks tired even when the cover is spotless.
Tell us about the site
When Betty's Burgers hosted guests on top of the Story Bridge, a standard bean bag would have blown over the rail in the first gust. We built tie-down eyelets into each one so they could be secured to the bridge.
If your site is windy, elevated, on sand or anywhere unusual, mention it when you first get in touch. It's much easier to build in from the start than to fix on bump-in day.
What to send us for a quote
- The event date, and where the bean bags need to be delivered
- Roughly how many, and what guests will be doing
- Indoor, outdoor or both
- Your logo, ideally as a vector file, plus your Pantone colours
- Whether you want them filled
Have a look at our custom and branded bean bags, or call us on 1800 888 911. You can read more about jobs like these in our write-ups on Scape at Tropfest, QV Live and RACQ at the Ekka.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the minimum order for branded bean bags?
Our minimum for branded bean bags is 10 units. For larger events, plan the number around the space you want to fill, and order them all in one batch so the colours match.
How far ahead should I order bean bags for an event?
Production is usually 7 to 14 business days from artwork approval, and longer for large quantities. Allow extra time for filling and freight, and for the Christmas shutdown if your event is in January.
Do branded bean bags come filled?
They ship as covers, flat-packed, which keeps freight down. On commercial orders we can supply them filled, depending on the quantity and where they're going.
Can event bean bags be reused?
Yes. With washable covers, inner liners, dry storage and a top-up of beans now and then, a good set can come back for years. RACQ used the same set at the Ekka for six years.
