The end of the year is a time to celebrate, reflect, look back and think ahead to the future. It’s also a great opportunity to gather everyone from your company and show appreciation for all of their work and dedication by organising an unforgettable event.
If you’re looking for ideas to celebrate the end of the year with your company, look no further! In this article we share with you 8 fun and creative ideas that will help you say farewell to the past year and celebrate the new year with enthusiasm.
Summary
1. Organise a team-building activity to strengthen team spirit
The end of the year is a perfect time to enjoy time spent together and strengthen team spirit. Organising a team-building activity is a great idea for fostering a sense of belonging and collaboration.
When planning the activity, it’s important to take into account the needs and interests of team members, as well as the objectives to be achieved. Team-building activities should be collaborative, such as team sports or games, group challenges and problem-solving tasks. For the occasion in question, you can take inspiration from the usual team-building activities and give them a more festive, Christmas-related or New Year’s Eve character. For example, if you want to organise a trivia-type activity in teams, with questions and answers, make it about the traditions and history of the holiday period. You can even personalise it further and include questions about your company’s history and anecdotes!
Generally, the key is to choose activities that are fun and engaging and which promote camaraderie and teamwork. By focusing on these objectives, you can create a memorable and rewarding experience that will help strengthen your team’s bonds and improve its overall performance.
2. Host a meal or party
A meal or party is a classic and essential part of your company’s end-of-year celebrations.
Like any event, arranging a meal and party requires preparation and organisation. Some of the main elements that you’ll have to consider are:
- The date: At this time of year, we’re all very busy and there are lots of events, so you’ll have to find the time and date that best suits most people. One way to do this is to propose several options and put them to a vote using one of the many free tools that exist for this purpose.
- The venue: Depending on the needs of your team, the number of guests, your budget and your preferences, some spaces will be more interesting than others. This can range from hiring a caterer and holding a meal in your own office to hiring out a restaurant and nightclub for your team, or renting more niche spaces such as a boat or even a sports stadium if your company is large enough!
- Decoration: An end-of-year party can’t just be like any other party. It has to be festive, and the decorations will be that essential touch!
- Food and drink: At end-of-year parties, food and drink play a major role, so don’t neglect them!
- Activities and entertainment: Don’t leave everything in the hands of the guests. Include mini-activities and entertainment during your company’s end-of-year meal or party. This will help guests interact with each other and create memories together, which will in turn strengthen the team.
- Invitations: Even if you spread the word informally, you need to send invitations for your party to all staff. The most efficient channel for sending invitations is email. Prepare a fun message and don’t forget the practical details: when and where they have to arrive, if they have to bring something, whether they can bring companions, etc. To manage all this and find out the number of people who will attend your end-of-year event, you can set up a registration process. Weezevent offers you a simple and customisable platform that will make it easier to manage registrations and to which you can add a festive touch by choosing colours and images.
3. Arrange volunteering as a team or a joint donation
The festive period and Christmas are a time when we’re more aware of the importance of helping and giving back to the community, which makes it a good time to do it together as a company.
Whether it’s at a food bank, a homeless shelter or picking up litter in the mountains, volunteering can make a real difference to our environment. By working together to support a worthy cause, you can help create a more meaningful and rewarding festive period for you and your team members. Moreover, volunteering can also be a valuable opportunity for personal and professional growth, allowing you to learn new skills, develop new relationships and enjoy a sense of satisfaction and achievement.
Another quick and direct way to give back is through a donation. You can organise a fundraising campaign in the company, among yourselves and involving your environment to make a joint donation to the charity of your choice.
4. Organise a secret Santa
Organising a secret Santa within your company is a way to create stronger bonds and relationships among the members of your team. By participating in this activity, the people who make up your organisation will have the opportunity to learn more about each other’s interests and preferences and express their mutual appreciation and support through small gifts. This helps create a more positive and collaborative working environment, where team members feel more connected and valued.
Communicate clearly and in detail about the rules, such as limits on gift prices, how the pairs are made and when the gift giving will take place. The process of selecting and discovering the gifts and pairings (if you choose to disclose this information, which can also remain secret) can be a fun and exciting activity in itself.
5. Decorate the office for the festive period
Decorating the office for the holidays is a fun way to lift your spirits and get everyone in the mood for festivities.
You can hang lights, put up and decorate a Christmas tree or wreath, and place other festive ornaments and decorations throughout the space. Don’t focus only on Christmas; include decorations typical of other holidays such as Hannukah for a multicultural festive period. You can also focus on celebrating the new year and use sparkly decorations, such as a disco ball or a countdown clock. You can also encourage everyone in the company to bring their own decorations to personalise their workspace.
6. Organise a party for employees’ children, gifts included!
Involving employees’ families in the festivities can be very rewarding for everyone, especially if you think of the little ones and organise a special party for them.
Prepare a children’s snack with appetisers and treats, aiming for a balance between, on one hand, the exceptional and festive and, on the other, healthier food. Decorate your office or the space you’re renting for the party with a wintry and festive theme so that, from the moment they arrive, they feel they’re in a space that’s been prepared for them and their party.
Take the party a step further and prepare themed activities for the children. Some activities could be creating snowmen with cotton balls and cardboard, a hot chocolate stand with different ingredients and mixes or even, if you have room, setting up a small hill to slide down with sleds, slides or simply inflatables with winter decorations. To involve all staff, ask for volunteers to help set up the party and lead or supervise some of the activities with the children. Employees without children can dress up as elves, reindeers or the Three Wise Men and their pages and be in charge of handing gifts to the children, calling them by name one by one. This will be an unforgettable experience for the little ones!
For this party it will also be especially useful to set up a registration system. You can customise the registration form to ask everything you need, from the children’s names to possible food allergies.
7. Reward your customers’ loyalty
Beyond the internal celebrations among colleagues, the festive period is an opportunity to strengthen ties with your customers.
The easiest way is to send greetings. You can send most of them by email and a small selection on paper. Either way, for the most loyal customers, don’t hesitate to personalise them so that they feel that you’ve really thought of them. If they’re important customers, sending a small detail along with the greeting will further strengthen your relationship and could also be an opportunity to re-enter into more direct contact if this has been lost.
As for smaller customers, usually the majority of attendees at your events, in another article we suggest ways to reward their loyalty and generate sales at the same time via mass reach.
8. Involve the entire company in the process
Even if you have a great idea for your company’s end-of-year celebrations, don’t jump in without listening to your team. What would they like to do? How would they like to celebrate the end of the year together? Listen to their preferences and welcome their involvement throughout the process, from conception to final execution. This will further strengthen the relationships between team members as well as excitement for the party.
All you have to do now is decide which ideas you’ll keep and how you’ll hold your company’s end-of-year celebrations, and get to work! Find out how Weezevent’s technological solutions can make it easier to organise your end-of-year event by clicking the button below:
