Company parties are not just your everyday parties. These parties are supposed to promote teamwork and camaraderie among company staff. In this day and age, it isn’t uncommon to turn your company party or company outing into a team building party or outing to promote those values and strengthen your relationship with others in the company. As the organizer of these events, you have to make sure to keep this in mind as you plan it. But sometimes, you just can’t come up with anything as you try to keep things fun for everyone.
Actually, it’s not that very hard to do. You can plan every event while keeping the events fun. You can have a Halloween party or even a casino party while keeping the team building aspect. So here are 5 ideas for company team building parties.
- Halloween Party. First thing you have to do is gather enough people’s opinions on what they want to see in a Halloween Party. The trick in making it fun for everyone is creating a party where everyone’s opinion is accounted for. You can also ask the staff to volunteer to be part of the committee involved in organizing, and distribute tasks to each one, especially those with good ideas for the party.
You can do a range of activities from simple parlor games to a small pageant, and have people vote for the Halloween costumes worn by the staff. If the staff is big enough, around 50 to 100 people, having awards for different categories is a good way to counter a popularity contest, should you opt to organize a pageant. If it’s less than 50, then just 1 category would be enough. For parlor games you can try some traditional Halloween parlor games but change them a bit in such a way that they can promote teamwork between participants. For example: Bobbing for Apples is something you can try, but make it in such a way that there are two teams competing to win, for example.
Another thing you can try is setting up a trick-or-treat event. This can be done two ways: you can invite children into the party and give them treats, and have the rest of the staff help. Or you can visit hospitals or special homes and organize a Halloween event for the kids there.
- 90s Party. Another idea for a party comes in the form of yet another costume party, this time one that centers on fashionable clothes that match long-gone eras. You can pick out songs from those eras to play during the party, so research on the trending songs during those times. You’re allowed to not just limit yourself to the 90s; you can do the 80s, the 70s, or the 60s. Again, just make sure to research the music and remind participants to wear clothes from that era.
- Casino-themed Party. This isn’t going to be cheap; you have been warned. A casino party is an alternative to organizing an event that requires people to go to an actual casino. But trying to imitate that Las Vegas feel won’t be successful without actual professional dealers, waiters, caterers, bartenders and real gambling tables. This is, however, ideal for bigger companies, around 200 to 400 people. Also remind them to wear semi-formal attire, especially the ladies.
It’s a casino so it won’t do to just have one game in the premises. Try to make other games available for the participants, especially poker and roulette. Of course, this means that you’ll need a big venue, so another requirement for a casino party is to have enough space for several tables. Also try to match how many people are willing to play versus how many games you’ll need as you don’t want to see dealers not doing anything because most of the people are already playing at other tables.
- Beach Party. A beach party sounds great especially if it’s summer. Try to find a good resort to hold the event. It doesn’t have to be cheap, but it doesn’t have to be really expensive. You can hold this event along with the company outing and you can even plan team building activities during the day before the party. It is not, however, smart to hold tiring team building activities on the day of the party as this can make people too tired to attend. It also isn’t smart to hold team building activities the day after the party because some people might choose to drink during the party and might be too tired to attend the activities the day after.
As for children, you can invite your staff to bring their kids along, provided that they will pay for some of the extra expenses, for example, the food. They can bring along their own food and drinks, but there might be a chance that the resort doesn’t allow bringing food and drinks from the outside, so be sure to ask for these details when choosing a resort.
- Masquerade Party. This is another costume party you can organize, but this one is with masks, obviously. You can choose between something like a modern formal gathering where attendees are required to wear formal attire along with the mask (the cheaper option), and one where attendees are required to dress up like nobles during the Renaissance. An activity you can do in this event is making participants guess who’s the person behind the mask. You can get your bosses to wear masks that completely hide who they are and give prizes to those who are able to guess correctly. You can also hold a pageant, just like in the Halloween event, but this time repurposing the categories for the masks.
And there you have it – 5 party tips you can do for company team building activities. As a general tip, when trying to pick a theme, make sure it fits the season and the budget. A beach party during the last days of summer when it’s starting to get cold is a bad idea. Similarly, holding an expensive party when the budget might not fit isn’t good either. Another general tip is to make sure of the number of attendees first before making the final decision. Ask them to reserve the date for the event. Organizing a huge event when there are only 50 people is a waste of money. And finally, try to have as much fun yourself while making it fun for the others.