You already know celebrating is a key way to motivate and keep your team feeling aligned. So what to do specifically?
With a decade of experience having happy workers, we’ve put together a list of some of the best activities to do with your team. We focused carefully on making sure these events are a few important things:
Without further ado, here are some of the best ways to celebrate your team:
Everyone enjoys being recognized for their hard work, so start your next team celebration with a fun awards ceremony. There are typically 2 ways to prepare for an awards ceremony.
This ^ is an interactive presentation that you can use to have an "Award ceremony" type event where your team can pick the winners! You'd just copy it and launch it like a PPT presentation, and your team can join in on their phones to play along and send in their votes!
Whichever option you pick, make sure you have a backup plan for those who might have been left out. A few other things we recommend for your celebration awards ceremony are trophies or medals — like a physical award or prize and a fun costume theme. The best part of an award ceremony is you can do it on its own or add it to another team celebration idea!
Sometimes it’s the small things that make the biggest difference. Celebrate your teammates by getting their coffee orders and bringing in their favorites at the beginning of the day.
Covering the coffee order works as the perfect appreciation gift or as a way to start a day filled with other celebrations! Mix and match it with any of the other activities on this list for a truly delightful day.
Positive and definitely pro-social, team building games are a fun and easy way to keep your team connected. And when used right, games help your team learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses while boosting morale and encouraging collaboration.
Some of our favorite team building games include:
Any of the above games can be played collaboratively or competitively. You know your group best, so you’ll know how to make it the most fun. And don’t forget prizes for the winning team!
Health and wellness are important for any team, so why not make it into a good natured competition? Have your group break into teams and challenge each other to hit fitness goals or complete healthy activities. You can also set up rewards for the team that completes the most tasks. Some fun ideas includes:
A wellness competition will help encourage everyone to stay active and take care of their wellbeing and give the group something to work towards. Plus, even in wellness competitions, everyone wins!
Another way to celebrate and get your team working together is to play a little trivia! Our favorite option, of course, is our own Team Building Trivia Competition slide deck. However, if you’re looking for a themed trivia competition, try some of our other options, like:
All you need is a screen for everyone to see the questions and the rest of the work is done for you! You can also make these trivia competitions team vs. team or each person for themselves, which ups the competition and engagement.
For your next team celebration, end your workday with a little happy hour fun. Our Happy Hour Hang Game combines trivia with a few get-to-know-the group questions made all the better with a cold drink.
Combine the game with a Beer Tasting or Wine Tasting to turn the celebration into a real party!
An in-office scavenger hunt is a great way to add a little competition to your celebration and get the whole team moving. You can put your own scavenger hunt together in a few simple steps:
If you’re looking for a simple, done-for-you way to run a scavenger hunt, use our Scavenger Hunt Challenge deck and grab your prompts from our Scavenger Hunt Idea Lists, which include an Around the Home Virtual Scavenger Hunt, a Photo Challenge Scavenger Hunt and even a Riddle Scavenger Hunt
At the end, you can give out prizes to the fastest team, the most accurate team, or the fan favorite team. Happy hunting!
If you’re working with a new team and want to ease into a few fun team celebrations, you can focus on getting to know each other first. Some of our favorite ‘getting to know you’ games include:
But remember, when it comes to getting to know your team, you can keep things simple. The focus should be on communicating and relaxing.
There are so many awesome entertainers available for in-office parties, why not book one for your team? Whether you bring in a local comedian, magician, or karaoke DJ, they have the skills to get everyone in the mood for fun!
You can also hire an entertainer to lead some interactive activities that involve the whole group. This will give everyone an opportunity to get to spend some down time together.
A classic game, Never Have I Ever isn’t just for slumber parties anymore! You can make an office friendly version for your next team celebration by keeping the focus on at work experiences or accomplishments.
You can definitely put your own list together, but we recommend throwing our Never Have I Ever (Office Edition) up on the screen to keep things simple.
While the planning for a karaoke party might be a bit more involved, it’s definitely worth the effort! There are a couple ways you can plan your next team karaoke celebration, the 2 most common being purchasing your own equipment or renting it.
No matter which you chose, get your karaoke party up and going with a few tips:
Remember Spirit Week in school?
Well, bring it back to the office with a work-themed spirit week! Just pick a theme for each day and let your team creativity run wild.
Looking for ideas? Here are our faves:
You can also add in games throughout the week that tie into the themes. For example, if it’s hat day, you could have a team competition to see who can make the most stylish hat. At the end of the week, reward those who participated and give out prizes for the best costumes or ideas.
Obscure and silly holidays are perfect if you’re looking for an excuse to celebrate something with your team. We check the National Day Calendar or the Boutique Hub’s Fun Holiday Calendar to stay on top of possible celebrations.
Some of our favorites that are perfect for your next team celebration?
Just grab some themed decorations or treats and your whole group will be ready to celebrate!
If your team is made up of long-time colleagues, having a story hour is an excellent way to celebrate together. Have volunteers take turns sharing stories about their time with the company or stories they think will be inspirational or funny. They can use an assortment of presentation tools, like videos, pictures, or gifs to make their story time more entertaining.
Peer-led stories are great ways to reflect on all the amazing things your team has accomplished and build morale for the future. When done right, they can bring lots of laughs and create lasting memories too!
We said we were going to keep these activities positive and pro-social, so we don’t mean actual controversial questions. We’re talking things like:
If you think your team can debate these silly yet serious opinions, pull up our (office appropriate) Controversial Questions slide deck and let the friendly conversations begin.
Encourage your group to bring their favorite item or souvenir to an office appropriate show and tell. Just like in school, show and tell gives the group a peek into the lives of the people they spend every day with. And it’s a great opportunity for everyone to tell a little bit about themselves, perfect for new teams.
If you have the budget and capabilities, we highly recommend a company retreat. Even if it’s just a day trip, taking time off together outside of the office is a great way to celebrate personal wins or business accomplishments. Looking for where to start? Here are a few steps to get you started:
The key to a company retreat is keeping the goal of the retreat at the forefront, whether that’s relaxing, bonding as a team, celebrating victories, or setting goals. Learn more about How to Plan a Corporate Retreat with AvantStay.
Interested in getting out of the office, but not ready for a full retreat? Grab a local tour guide and explore your city with your team. The best part about using a guide is they provide the transportation, snacks, and activities, so you get to spend your time celebrating with your team.
Perfect for the holidays, an office decorating competition is a great way to celebrate together, get the office looking festive, and have a little competition. For your competition, you’ll want to:
Once your group is done decorating, use a Poll the Audience slide deck to let everyone vote on the winner!
Take lunch outside for your next celebration to give everyone a break from…well, the breakroom. There are a few ways you can use lunch to celebrate:
With very little effort, you can give everyone time away from the office while enjoying food together, which will always be a win-win in our book.
Ever wonder who in your group danced ballet in high school? Or who has the perfect yodeling voice? Find out by throwing a celebratory talent show and giving the stage to the hidden talents in your office.
End the talent show with a vote on who the winner is, but keep some extra awards for things like Randomest Talent or Most Unexpected Talent.
Team celebrations may take a little work and planning on your part, but in the end they will make your team feel so appreciated and connected. Even the easier options above (Coffee order! Lunch outside!) will let your team know you’re thinking of them and appreciate all their hard work.
Now go celebrate!
