Simple things I organized for the entire office to boost morale and get everyone talking.
When I worked in an office setting, I used to organize fun, simple Halloween-themed activities to boost employee morale for a full work week. Below are several activities I organized at least once in the workplace.
In case it's helpful, below are the topics covered in this post:
Important Note
Let me start by stating that I did receive permission from our department's Director to organize the Halloween-themed activities provided that it did not prevent my colleagues and me from performing their regular job duties or tackling emergency events (instructional technology focused department at a university).
I planned the activities, created surveys for vote submissions, purchased cheap and silly prizes, and drafted emails during my free time outside of work. I did not mind doing so because it was a fun activity for me to do and share with my colleagues.
Another colleague took charge of organizing winter-themed activities for the department.
Every activity was organized by me in my own time and with my own money when applicable. I only received approval to do it all without help.
Informing My Colleagues
Prior to the five workdays leading up to Halloween, I would send out an email preparing my colleagues for the simple events I planned for the department. For example, if October 31st fell on a Friday, I would send my initial email to the department the Friday prior (October 24th) to the holiday letting everyone know of my intentions and how to opt out if preferred. I always respected everyone's wishes to avoid frivolous things I organized.
I made sure everyone knew what I planned for the department, when and how often I'd send a group email (which was often), and how anyone could opt out of my excessive emails over the next five business days. Every email related to the activities included a footer with a reminder of how someone could opt out.
The first year I organized such activities, only one colleague requested to be omitted from the emails because she did not want to be "spammed" with "frivolous" communication. After a couple days, she asked to be added to the group email because of FOMO (fear of missing out). The last activity I share in this blog post were her favorites to be included in.
Costume Contest
It took a year or two to convince our department's Director to permit us to wear a costume. As soon as he agreed, I got the crazy idea to turn it into a friendly competition with a dress code approved by the Director. This is the activity that started it all.
Prior to Halloween day (or whatever weekday we would dress up), I sent an email detailing the guidelines for the [Department Name Here] Costume Contest. The rules were approved by our Director.
While it has been years since I worked with the department, below are a few points I recall including in the email:
No masks.
No obstructive or offensive costume.
No excessive use of makeup or face paint.
No tripping hazards (geared towards me because I was accident prone and often wore capes as part of my costume).
Photos of costumes needed to be submitted to me by a certain date so that I could include it in a survey that everyone would use to vote on their favorite. I also sent a few reminder emails leading to the submission day.
During the first year or two, I limited entries to costumes worn in-person on voting day. However, I eventually made sure to allow colleagues working remotely, on leave, or simply not physically in the office an opportunity to participate if they wanted. Usually only a handful of colleagues participated, but most of my colleagues participated in the voting process.
I always kept the costume contest internal. I opened the survey the morning of voting day and closed it at some point after lunch. I announced the winner via email before the close of business and let them know to pick up their prize from my office.
I had a prize bag for the winner. I lied to my boss about the contents of the prize bag only costing me five dollars when I truthfully spent anywhere between fifteen to twenty-five dollars on the stuff I bought. I felt it was a worthwhile way of thanking my colleague for participating in my silly game.
The contents typically included candy (a lot of my colleagues liked Lindor chocolates), small Halloween decor items, and the Halloween bag I handed to the winner.
Decorating Contest
As I did with the costume contest, I sent an email detailing the guidelines for the [Object Name Here] Decorating Contest. The department assistant volunteered to have decorated submissions displayed on the reception desk for all to see.
Photos of decorated objects needed to be submitted to me by a certain date so that I could include it in a survey that everyone would use to vote on their favorite. I also sent a few reminder emails leading to the submission day.
For the first few years I organized this activity, I bought the objects my colleagues would decorate. One year I bought small unfinished wood coffins from my local Michaels store. For the next year or two I bought small pumpkins from a local grocery store.
To add a few more dollars towards the prize bag, I eventually encouraged my colleagues to buy their own pumpkins to decorate. I worried that many of my colleagues would not participate since they had to purchase their own pumpkins, but I was pleasantly surprised with the number of submissions I received before voting day. This worked beautifully because some colleagues decorated foam, wood, and paper pumpkins so they could keep it longer.
The decorating contest was voted on internally for years. However, one year (sadly my last year organizing this event before my departure from the department) I received permission to include our regular customers. In our department's case, our customers were faculty and staff who utilized our services frequently.
With the "OK" from our Director, my boss, and my colleagues, I decided to have two winners and two prize bags. A winner was chosen internally while a winner (usually different) was chosen by a select number of faculty and staff who agreed to participate in the voting process.
The prize bags cost me approximately twenty-five dollars each and consisted of candies, small Halloween decor items, and the Halloween bag I handed to the winners.
Our director and I were nervous about inviting customers to vote on our department's decorating contest. However, many customers thanked the department (they were unaware that I was the sole organizer of the activity because I worded emails on behalf of the department) for including them. One customer said it was a lot like getting a behind the scenes look at the light side of the department.
Trivia Questions
As an educator with instructional design expertise, I enjoyed creating assessments like quizzes. Therefore, I enjoyed giving my colleagues a trivia "pop quiz" to test their knowledge of Halloween fun facts. My Thanksgiving Pop Quiz from 2020 is an example of the email format I sent my colleagues.
An email would consist of the trivia questions for that day and the answers to the prior day's trivia questions. Despite having done this activity the same way for years, I often had colleagues email me for the answers the same day because they were too impatient to wait until the next day.
This was a simple activity that did not take much time for my colleagues to complete during their slow time or break.
Whodunit Mysteries
One year I became obsessed with whodunit mysteries. In place of daily trivia questions, I decided to email daily mysteries. I would pick a mystery puzzle in one of my whodunit books and modify it to personalize.
For example, if a mystery puzzle detailed the theft of a rare gem from the front display of a jewelry store, my modified version detailed the theft of a Funko Pop from the back-left corner of so-and-so's desk in the main office building. The suspects, victims, and detectives were renamed to members of our department.
The whodunit mysteries took me the longest to organize. Microsoft Word's find and replace feature became my best friend in making sure I did not mess up the puzzle's logic. I also made sure that the locations I changed fit the logic of the puzzle and the layout of our offices and campus. I wanted to make sure everything was right, so this was something I worked on outside of work for a couple months in advance of sharing it with my colleagues.
I also carefully picked my colleagues' roles in the mysteries carefully. The criminals were always colleagues I knew had a sense of humor or would not take being the culprit personally.
If I was unsure if a colleague would want a role in a mystery, I either excluded their name from being used (it was impossible to include all twenty-plus colleagues in a week's worth of whodunit mysteries) or asked them privately if they minded. I only had one colleague ask not to be included in the mysteries, but they had no problem with being included in the "spam" emails.
As I did with the trivia questions, an email would consist of the modified/personalized whodunit mystery for that day and the solution to the prior day's whodunit mystery. I would then get spammed with colleagues asking for hints or asking if their solution was correct because they were too impatient to wait until the next day for the correct solution.
I would sometimes overhear my colleagues discuss the mysteries in the hallway or in the meeting room. They often discussed clues they read or questions they were left with. A few would get into character and accuse others of their fake crimes. It was fun to hear and fortunately never got out of hand.
One 'tech' colleague I rarely spoke to would email or call me to discuss the daily mysteries in more detail. Even after explaining that I was plagiarizing a printed whodunit mystery, he was so invested in it and wanted to talk through his thought process thoroughly.
After the first year I organized the whodunit mysteries, he thanked me for giving him something to ponder periodically when work was overwhelming.
What's Next?
Hopefully, I have given you some ideas for organizing holiday-themed activities for your workplace. Remember to be respectful of your colleagues, employer, and customers. With planning, fun activities could be a great morale boost for many!
Comment below to share your favorite workplace holiday activity/event!
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam
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