Here is our list of the best company outings in Chicago, Illinois.
Company outing ideas in Chicago are ways to entertain and engage employees out of the office. These outings provide opportunities for associates to interact with one another in a relaxed setting away from the workplace. For example, an afternoon at an adult arcade, dinner at a themed restaurant, and a spray-and-sip painting studio experience. The purpose of these activities is to build interpersonal connections and encourage meaningful interactions.
These outings are examples of company offsite activities, retreat ideas, and ways to have fun at work.
These ideas are similar to Chicago corporate event ideas, group activities in Chicago, and team building activities in Chicago.
This list includes:
- group outing ideas for adults in Chicago IL
- team building outings in Chicago Illinois
- work team outings in Chicago
- corporate outings in Chicago
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List of company outings ideas in Chicago
A world of culture, food, urban adventure, and creative activities await teams in the Windy City. Here’s a list of company outing ideas in Chicago to get you started.
1. Museum Hack
With Museum Hack, teams can take high-energy excursions through various museums in Chicago and the surrounding area. A two-hour customized and guided tour can include art, history, and science museums. These urban expeditions are unlike any other museum tours associates have experienced. The emphasis is on engagement, participation, communication, and, above all, fun!
You can find out more about how Museum Hack works.
2. Storytelling Workshops
Employees assemble for a two-hour lesson in communication improvement with storytelling workshops. These sessions can benefit employees in any role by sharpening workers’ skills for conveying critical information. Workshops feature master storytellers who make learning enjoyable and informative for the whole crew. These two-hour outings are prime settings for helping workers gain skills critical for success, even outside the workplace.
Look into Storytelling Workshops to learn more.
3. ScavBoss
ScavBoss provides customized scavenger hunt outings that make colleagues work for their reward. These two-hour hunts incorporate landmarks and neighborhoods around Chicago and even include local museums. ScavBoss’ design presents genuine challenges through gameplay. Divergent thinking and coordinated teamwork can help competitors rise to the occasion.
For information on booking an event, take a look at ScavBoss.
4. City Kayak Trip
Teams can experience the city from a different point of view with a kayak trip through the Chicago River. You can book a narrated daytime tour that focuses on history and architecture or a nighttime Ghosts and Gangsters tour that explores the more infamous aspects of Chicago. Each excursion lasts about two hours. There is no prior kayaking experience necessary for these outings.
You can find a list of kayak trip possibilities in Chicago through Waterriders.
5. Cooking Lessons
Chicago-based teams with a taste for gourmet dining can savor a group cooking lesson as a company outing. These classes feature experienced chef instructors who know how to turn learning to cook into an entertaining activity. Participants can choose a menu that suits everyone’s tastes, then collaborate on dishes and enjoy a meal together. The menus include international cuisines, domestic fare, and specialties such as desserts and bread baking.
There are cooking lessons for team outings available through the Chopping Block.
6. Chocolate Making
Chocolate lovers will get a kick out of discovering the secrets of making their own treats at Tiny B. You can find courses in making truffles, baking cookies, and pairing different types of chocolate with suitable wines. All ingredients are organic, and there are vegan options for teams with special dietary needs. Though Tiny B offers in-person classes, there are also hybrid in-person and online courses to accommodate remote workers.
With Tiny B Chocolate, teams can experience the tasty art by crafting chocolate for themselves.
7. Segway Tour
For company outings ideas in Chicago that get employees out and about in the city, try a Segway tour. These two to four hour excursions take riders into the best-known art and architecture around town, as well as treks that explore the darker side of the city’s gangster history. You can also find tours of the opulent Gold Coast, the Lakefront area, and special holiday events.
Take a look at the schedule of tours at Absolutely Chicago Segway.
8. Pizza Tour
Chicago’s reputation as the home of incredible pizza makes it an ideal location for a guided pizza tour outing. Teams can explore well-known pizzerias in various areas of the city, sampling slices as they go. Tours last three and a half hours and vary between walking and driving, with drivers provided for transport. There are also private versions of each available tour and a supreme pizza and cocktails option that includes a bus tour.
You can explore possibilities for delicious outings with Chicago Pizza Tours.
9. Revolution Brewery
With a visit to the largest independent brewery in Illinois, teams with a taste for craft brews can learn about the artisan beer-making process. A 45-minute guided tour through the 90,000-square-foot facility includes samples of several beers created by Revolution and a souvenir glass. Though the taproom offers a limited menu, visitors can bring prepared food for a bar bites session after the tour.
Rather than joining a public tour, you can set up a private tour at Revolution Brewery for your team.
10. Photo Excursion
One of the more creative team building outings in Chicago, a photo excursion lets amateur photographers view the Windy City through a different lens. These activities take participants through the streets of Chicago on a visual search for photo opportunities. You can customize a three-hour excursion that accommodates the interests of your group, such as including specific architecture or landmarks. With a creative urban photographer as your guide, your crew will find a host of intriguing subjects to shoot with their smartphones or cameras.
For a photographic trek through town, look at the outings Tour Through a Lens has to offer.
11. Krypton VR Lounge
Krypton VR Lounge is a fully immersive virtual reality facility, like the video game arcade of the future! Groups can play games as teams or individuals, experience simulated travel to far-off locales, or explore environments that only exist in digital form. Each one-hour session includes wireless VR play customized for your team. You can book a private room for your group or an open booth option that lets them move freely about the lounge.
You can find booking details at Krypton VR Lounge.
12. iFly Indoor Skydiving
Indoor skydiving provides the exhilarating thrill of actual skydiving without the risk! Participants at iFly get a lesson in the dynamics of human flight before suiting up and launching into the skydiving simulator, a high-powered vertical wind tunnel. Skydivers pair up with guides on initial jumps before trying it for themselves. For groups of up to five flyers, you can book a shared skydiving experience. However, a private booking is preferrable if your group includes six or more participants.
For schedules and booking information, take a look at iFly Chicago.
13. Millennium Park
Millennium Park, off the Loop near Lake Michigan, offers 24.5 acres of public recreation and enjoyment. This area is the home of the metallic Cloud Gate sculpture, affectionately known as the Bean. Teams longing for a bit of outdoor leisure time will love an outing that includes a catered or bring-along lunch and a few activities, such as a splash in the wading pool or walks among the garden displays. In addition, the park is a four-minute walk from Chicago’s cultural center, which offers even more fun opportunities for group interaction.
You can find more details and a schedule of events at Millennium Park.
14. Wrigley Field
Tours around Wrigley Field make popular work team outings in Chicago when the weather permits. This historic baseball field has been an enchanting Chicago feature for over a century. Teams can take a 90-minute guided trek around the stadium and learn about its history and legacy. These tours include visits to the press box, visitor’s clubhouse, and even the Cub’s dugout. For diehard baseball fans on the team, there may be no more memorable outing!
There is booking information and a tour schedule found on MLB.com.
15. WhirlyBall
If your crew has never played Whirly Ball, then a visit to one of their Chicago locations should be high on your list of outing possibilities. In this high-energy game, competitors pass a whiffle ball to one another using plastic scoops while driving their Whirly Bugs and trying to dunk the ball in a net ten feet off the floor. No actual athletic ability is necessary to play, just a sense of fun and a little competitive spirit. The facility also offers laser tag, bowling, and an onsite restaurant for a combined experience.
You can check into WhirlyBall to see how much fun you can fit into an afternoon or evening outing.
16. Knockerball
Athletic teams will love the excitement of playing Knockerball in a local park. In these games, also known as Bubble Soccer, competitors wedge their torsos into transparent inflatable balls and try to knock down opponents. Gameplay can take the form of Human Bowling, Full-Body Dodgeball, a freestyle knock-about, or games the players make up on the spot. Knockerball provides energetic, physical fun in a safe and hilarious format for fitter groups with a love of raucous fun.
Details are available at Knockerball Chicago.
17. Battle House Laser Tag
At Battle House, teams compete in mission-based games using tactical weapons for an above-average laser tag play. Unlike the usual laser tag experience, this facility provides realistic training for gameplay scenarios that encourage team strategies and collaboration during competition. You can book private room packages for a variety of team battles that last between one and two hours.
Specifics about gameplay and scheduling are available at Battle House Laser Tag.
18. Teatro ZinZanni
You can add this cabaret dinner theater experience to your group outing ideas for adults in Chicago. This blend of high concept theater, avant-garde circus acts, and musical vaudeville is a quirky and unique adventure in performance. With dinner and brunch menus created by a renowned chef with a background in catering for rock stars, your teammates are in for a thrilling outing that will dazzle their senses.
Schedules and menus are available at Teatro ZinZanni.
19. Drunk Shakespeare
For teams who love uproarious theater, Drunk Shakespeare offers a fun outing centered around cocktails and the Bard’s best-known works. These performances occur in a cocktail bar with a fully stocked library and feature five classically trained actors onstage. Four performers remain sober while one takes five shots of whiskey. The troupe then performs Shakespeare to the best of their combined abilities. The results are different every time!
For ticket prices, schedules, and bookings, take a look at Drunk Shakespeare.
20. Futuristic Dinner
You can treat your team to a one-of-a-kind immersive dining experience at the X-Pot. This cinematic restaurant engages all five senses as teams enjoy a traditional hot pot dinner. Hot pot dining is similar to fondue, with diners cooking their own vegetables and cuts of meat in pots of boiling broth. While the food is interactive, the atmosphere is a riveting combination of high-definition 360-degree screen projections, sound design, and light displays illuminating the table tops.
Menus and scheduling are available at The X-Pot.
21. Urban Art
Company outing ideas in Chicago that creative teams will enjoy include interactive art studios like Native 312. Your team can try their urban art skills by learning to spray paint their own graffiti art designs. Spray and sip experiences bring out the creative side in anyone willing to test their talents. If a private outing is a better fit, then you can also book a private 90-minute workshop for a more in-depth lesson. Team members can add their own design to a mural, create a custom shirt, and collaborate on a group canvas to hang in the office.
There are project lists and details about the facility at Native 312.
22. House of Blues
Dinner and a concert at House of Blues can take company outing ideas in Chicago into a smoother groove. Teams can enjoy delicious selections from a menu featuring southern-inspired dishes and refreshing cocktails from the full-service bar. In addition, live performances from some of the best Blues bands in the city take place nightly on the Backporch Stage.
You can find a monthly schedule with upcoming events at House of Blues.
23. Game Night Out
Game Night Out provides interactive gameplay with activities that focus on collaboration and competition. You can enjoy friendly rivalry in a warm living room setting, complete with a homestyle bar for enjoying bring-your-own snacks and drinks. In addition, there are private events to get your coworkers engaged with games that are all original yet easy to learn and a blast to play.
Learn how to set up a game night outing at Game Night Out.
24. Three Dots and a Dash Tiki Bar
Your team can take a trip to the tropics without leaving Chicago with a visit to Three Dots and a Dash. The menu is chock full of delicious rum and spirit drinks featuring spices and herbs from around the world. Visitors can linger in the Bamboo Room and learn about mixology and rum-making. If your outing is a private event, then you can book one of six rooms for your group to enjoy without distraction.
The menu and booking details at Three Dots and a Dash can help you plan your outing.
25. Navy Pier
Few corporate outings in Chicago bring the fun like a trip to Navy Pier. This expansive waterfront locale is an amusement park, an open-air food hall, a shopping plaza, and a cultural destination all in one. You can plan a lunch at one of the 48 restaurants before taking a carousel ride or heading out for a historical tour of the area. Free events also happen throughout the year.
Learn more about Navy Pier to find out how to coordinate an outing.
Conclusion
As a destination for food, entertainment, and culture, Chicago offers a rich variety of possibilities for team outings. No matter your team’s interests, there are tours, events, and activities to get associates interacting outside the workplace in exciting and enriching ways.
Next, check out these lists of executive team building ideas and leadership activities.
Grace He