07 Nov Five Fun Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving in Your Chicago Break Room
Happy employees are 13 percent more productive. With the holiday season approaching, it’s a great time to use the break room to show your Chicago employees how much they are appreciated, which just might increase happiness.
The ‘traditional’ break room is often an under used space. To reverse that trend and spread cheer and happiness throughout the workplace, consider using the break room as a place for fun, holiday celebrations that will convey employee appreciation.
Hold a Recipe Contest
Everyone has a favorite dish or two that they look forward to enjoying every November. Instead of only eating that favorite dish at home, offer your Chicago employees an opportunity to share it with everyone via a work sponsored recipe contest. Everyone gets to try the entries and vote on their favorites. The winner enjoys bragging rights as well as a hard-earned prize.
Organize a Team Activity and Enjoy a Potluck Meal
Depending on the size of your organization or division, sharing a communal meal in the break room can be a fun way to build team or company morale. Each participant takes one piece of paper out of two different containers. The first piece of paper lists a potluck item that they are assigned to bring. The second piece of paper lists an item to donate to a prearranged organization such as a donation for a local food pantry or animal shelter.
Give Back as a Group or an Individual
Serve your local Chicago community by participating in a volunteer activity as an organization. Organize a canned food drive, serve at a soup kitchen or volunteer at a local fundraiser. There are unlimited possibilities to get involved. If a group activity isn’t practical, make it easy for your employees to give back on their own. Give your employees designated time off to volunteer with an organization or help with a specific project.
Compete in Festive Games
Encourage your employees to relax and have some fun while celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday by organizing the Thanksgiving-related Olympic games. The following games should bring out the kid in everyone.
- Pumpkin Bowling: Instead of a bowling ball, use the roundest pumpkin that can be found. Set up the “pins” (paper towel rolls, water bottles or anything tall and thin) in the parking lot or hallway and bowl away.
- Pin the Feather on the Turkey: Just like pin the tail on the donkey, pin the feather on the turkey requires a picture of a turkey on the wall, feathers (or a paper imitation) and a blindfold.
- Guess How Many: Fill a glass jar with candy corn, skittles or another small, favorite sweet treat and have participants guess how many are in the jar. The winner gets the jar full of sweets for the prize.
- Mini Pumpkin Hunt: Instead of the traditional Easter egg hunt, plan a mini pumpkin hunt. Whoever finds the most mini pumpkins wins a gift card to a popular restaurant or bakery.
Holiday Grams
Another option is to offer to deliver holiday grams as a way for colleagues to say thank you to each other. During a specified period, employees are asked to choose several colleagues that they are thankful for and write a short note. The holiday grams are then delivered to the recipients and shared in a central location like a wall in the break room.
Lastly, there is one more way Chicago employers can show appreciation for their employees around the holidays and any time of the year – offer a relaxing break room with sought-after snacks and beverages, fresh food and delicious coffee service. Employees truly appreciate that.
For more information about updating your current refreshment menu or customizing a new one, contact Yami Fresh at 847.423.2448. We look forward to hearing from you.
