Here is our list of the best team celebration ideas for work.
Team celebration ideas for work are ways to show team members how much you appreciate them and recognize their accomplishments. Examples include making accomplishment timelines, throwing surprise parties, and virtual happy hours. Many team celebrations can happen regularly, but events such as holiday parties and outings are specific to different months and seasons.
These activities are similar to virtual team celebration ideas and office party ideas. These events are a way to show employee recognition.
This list includes:
- in-person team celebration ideas
- company celebration ideas
- end of project celebration ideas
- activities for celebrating team success
Let’s get into it!
List of team celebration ideas for work
From virtual happy hours to accomplishment timelines, here is a list of celebration ideas that will raise the morale of your entire team.
1. Create an Accomplishment Timeline
Accomplishment timelines are one of the most creative team celebration ideas for work. Timelines give folks a visual chronology of accomplishments. It is fun to look back and see how far team members have come. You can choose an editable online document such as Google Forms and encourage team members to add milestones. Another option is to make a meeting where you add the accomplishments together.
You can stick to professional accomplishments or ask them to add personal milestones like getting married, having a child, or mastering a skill.
There are many significant accomplishments to add to the timeline. For example:
- Meeting a tough deadline
- Helping a coworker in need
- Leading a successful campaign
- Building a positive relationship with a new client
- Giving a good speech
Once the group understands how the accomplishment timeline works, review it weekly or monthly.
2. Play Virtual Games
Friendly competition is a fun way to reward and unwind with your staff. Remote games have gotten popular. Modern meeting apps allow users to share their screens. Using this feature gives you access to online board games or virtual party games.
Games give participants concrete tasks to focus on. Chattier individuals can have personal conversations while more introverted team members can focus on the game objectives.
Many classic board games are available online on websites like Board Game Arena and Jackbox Games. Players only need a smartphone and a shared screen to play the challenges.
Here are more online team-building games and online board games.
3. Hold Professional Accomplishment Meetings
Professional accomplishment meetings are one of the best end of project celebration ideas. However, you can hold these events regularly and without reason. Before starting the session, define which accomplishments you want your employees to focus on. Then, meet online once a week to review recent accomplishments. These meetings can be separate from other work-based meetings and are a great way to break up a busy workday.
You can pre-select accomplishments to feature during the meeting or encourage teammates to speak up and shout out accomplishments they achieved or witnessed throughout the week.
4. Make Time For Shout-out Lists
Shout-out lists are impromptu and casual celebration ideas. For example, you can announce an upcoming shout-out list or hold a regular roundup. The main idea is to eliminate the structure and open the floor for anyone to speak. Shyer employees will appreciate the opportunity to be recognized without taking center stage for too long.
When you begin this activity, inform employees that anyone can shout out a recent accomplishment. Teammates can use anecdotes, compliments, emojis, or high fives and thank you notes to celebrate their co-worker’s efforts.
For best results, keep these meetings short since they can be hectic. Recording some of the compliments is optional, and you can also choose to add them to a timeline or post them on a compliments wall.
5. Relax with a Happy Hour
Happy Hour is a fun, casual way to celebrate together. Since some employees may not drink, provide fancy mocktails or non-alcoholic beverages alongside beer, wine, or liquor. Whether team members drink champagne or Coca-Cola, this event is a great way to cap a busy week or celebrate a special occasion.
If your happy hour is online, then the company can send out gift cards to cover the expenses with an app like Hoppier. If you have a large team, then consider dividing members into smaller groups via breakout rooms so for easier interaction. You can hire a bartender to set up in a common room or head down to a local bar for in-office events.
Here are some fun happy hour ideas:
- answer icebreaker questions
- play trivia or Mingle Bingo, with extra drinks or snacks as prizes
- do a food pairing with drinks
- choose a theme like tropical tiki or drinks around the world
- participate in mixology lessons
- do a craft
- play drinking games
Check out work happy hour ideas and virtual happy hour ideas.
6. Watch a TV Show or a Movie
Watching movies is a common pastime. This celebration is not the most social choice, but it it is a great way to make introverts more comfortable being around their co-workers.
You can choose a popular TV show if a movie seems too long. Whichever you choose, it might be a good idea to vote on the title of choice. A democratic process will keep folks more interested. You could feature different shows or films and break people into smaller groups.
If you don’t fancy sitting quietly, you could turn your viewing session into a game. For example, choose a famous line or action from the movie and have everyone drink or take action whenever it happens. You can keep it casual or tally up points. Either way, the competition can liven up the evening.
7. Send Gifts
Employer gifts are one of the most common company celebration ideas. Gifts are a great way to show appreciation, especially when the presents are thoughtful and personal. Giving gifts will require coordination since you may not know where your team members live. While sending virtual gifts like gift cards is a viable option, physical gifts are exciting and interactive.
The company could choose to send out gifts to all employees. The team could also pitch in to send a gift to a team member celebrating a birthday or accomplishment.
A good gift can go a long way towards employee satisfaction and will likely boost camaraderie and promote a healthy reputation for the company.
Check out these lists of corporate employee gifts and care package ideas.
8. Exchange Gifts
Gift exchanges are not merely a Christmas party game. This activity is a great opportunity for employees to learn more about each other and express team gratitude. Participation can be optional, but it is wise to set a modest budget.
If you have a small, tight-knit team, then an exchange will be easy to execute. On bigger teams, there may be many unfamiliar faces. To eliminate any anxiety about buying a gift, you could create a theme for the gift exchange or ask for suggestions from recipients to provide givers with guidance.
Here are guides to virtual secret Santa swaps and virtual white elephant exchanges.
9. Solve an Escape Room
Escape rooms require teams to solve puzzles and find the solution to a mystery before time runs out. The goal of the game is to escape the room. Since the challenge is a cooperative activity, team members will share the success or learn to lose together.
This challenge is a fantastic activity for both team building and critical thinking. Team members must communicate and rely on one another if they want to succeed. Besides being entertaining, escape rooms also teach people how to think through a tough situation rather than panicking or giving in to stress.
Plus, if the team is successful, then you can celebrate your work victory and your escape room victory and relish the double win!
Check out this list of online escape rooms.
10. Sing with a Karaoke Party
Karaoke parties are one of the most fun activities for celebrating team success. This event allows team members to unleash their inner musicians and belt out their favorite 80s tunes. Thanks to websites like YouTube and Spotify, it is easy to pull up instrumental tracks with lyrics. With an event like karaoke, it is always best to make performance optional since not every team member will be as gung-ho on sharing their shower voice.
However, a karaoke party is bound to be lively and fun and is a great event to hold in tandem with a happy hour or cocktail party. You could make the event more robust by playing games such as name the song or fill in the blank lyrics.
You could even let people share their favorite team-building songs that inspire them to keep it more professional.
11. Hold a Talent Show
Team members often have interesting hobbies, and celebrating this diverse range of talents is worth celebrating. A virtual talent show is an amazing way to give your team members the freedom to show you a side of them you do not get to see at work.
Maybe your co-workers have interesting talents like juggling, playing a musical instrument, or doing funny impersonations. Keep in mind that some talents are not so easy to perform in a talent show. In this case, allow them to put together a video, slide show, or photo of their achievements outside the workplace.
Check out our list of talent show ideas for work and these fun virtual talent show ideas for more information.
12. Share Your Lives With a Story Slam
As human beings, we enjoy listening to a good narrative. Most folks have a good story to tell, no matter how big or small it might be.
You can vote on the theme for the story slam or have a host designate a topic. The participants will have five minutes to tell a real-life story that fits the chosen theme. Performers will tell a story about their own lives or an acquaintance or loved one.
Here are some good themes to start with for a story slam:
- life-changing moments
- romance
- learning a valuable lesson
- achievement
- first time trying something
- travel
- overcoming a challenge
- helping someone in need
- stranger than fiction
- wilderness tales
A story slam will whip up your entire team’s imagination and is a great way to celebrate life and work wins.
13. Take a Group Workshop or a Class
Learning is one of the best ways to keep life fresh and interesting. Employers often hold workshops for job-related skills. However, it is nice to celebrate with a seminar or class for pleasure.
Virtual workshops and courses are popular thanks to an increasingly digital landscape. You can find everything from online cooking classes to comedy workshops. If you decide to try out some online workshops, then rotate the topics. For example, one month you could try cooking lessons and the next could focus on ceramics. The more varied you do your workshops, the more teammates you will engage.
Workshops require materials. Make sure you find a way to get the materials into your team members’ hands before the workshop.
Here are a few ideas for online workshops:
- art
- cooking
- mixology
- candle and soap making
- meditation and mindfulness
- exercise
No matter what you choose, fun virtual workshops will leave your teammates with new skills and lifelong memories.
14. Bring in an Entertainer
Many entertainers do virtual shows. For example, you can invite a performer to liven up your team celebration online or book a performer to come to the office.
Your team members might be able to interact with the entertainer directly since there is a smaller audience. For instance, requesting songs from a skilled guitar player or participating in a magic trick.
Here are some ideas for entertainers:
- musicians
- magicians
- DJs
- psychics
- comedians
- impersonators
- motivational speakers
- meditation experts
- storytellers
Entertainers will inspire your team and get their creative juices flowing.
15. Celebrate in the Morning with a Coffee Break
Most folks do not think about celebrations happening first thing in the morning. However, a coffee break is a perfect celebration to wake up your team and get them excited for the workday. For virtual coffee breaks, sending digital gift cards to participants is best. A well-known cafe like Starbucks provides gift cards online and has locations in every major city.
You can set up a breakfast party in the office, take the team to a local cafe, or reimburse takeout java for a WFH celebration. Whatever approach you choose, these events are a good chance for your team to begin the day on the right foot and get a caffeine boost before tackling their busy schedules.
Here are lists of morning meeting games and office breakfast ideas.
16. Create a Celebration Fund
A celebration fund is a way to build anticipation in the workplace and is one of the best in-person team celebration ideas. You could tie team celebrations to revenue spikes or try something creative such as a “good habits jar” where team members contribute each time they progress towards a goal. Even a few dollars a month will add up and result in a fun time.
The trick with a celebration fund is to keep it casual. Nobody wants to watch the fund dry up after a difficult month. Make sure the fund builds up until the celebration, then start again. It is also wise to let people know what the celebration will be in advance.
17. Design a Trivia Challenge
Trivia is a combination of cooperation and competition. The game takes some preparation but is a good chance for your team members to show off their smarts. To prepare for a quiz competition, have a small group of your employees create the trivia questions and host the event. These questions can center around a theme or alternate each trivia session. Players will get into teams and compete to answer the most questions correctly.
Feel free to offer prizes to the winning teams. You can choose to give prizes to only the first-place team or create a system synonymous with the Olympics where there is a first, second, and third-place prize.
Check out this list of trivia games for adults.
18. Honor Employees of the Month
Employee of the month is one of the most common team celebration ideas for work. You can honor employees of the month who demonstrated amazing teamwork and coordination. Celebrating how different team members work together to achieve a goal will highlight the importance of cooperation. This gesture will also show everyone that the company’s success is a group effort.
You could let each employee nominate or vote on employees of the month. This method is a fun way to boost teamwork and show everyone the company notices their hard work. Offering honorees a free meal or a bonus might motivate team members to perform or nominate worthy coworkers.
Here are more employee of the month ideas.
Conclusion
Team celebrations are a fun way for your team to unwind and feel like the company values employees’ hard work. Ideas such as happy hours, online games, and shout-outs keep employees happy to work for you. When it comes to planning a fun celebration, you should ask the team for ideas to ensure that the party fits the occasion and employee interests.
Next, check out these lists of fun work social committee ideas and ways to foster company pride.
Angela Robinson