Mini golf/putt putt
Mini golf can be a great team building activity, and it gets everyone out of the office and into the fresh outdoor air and sun! You can setup 2 or 3 teams depending on the size of your party and see who gets the best score out of the teams, or just play for fun. If you’re lucky, sometimes mini golf courses serve adult beverages now, so you can enjoy a drink (if it’s after 5 of course).
Bowling with your Coworkers
Bowling is a classic go-to for many corporate event planners. It’s pretty easy to reserve a few lanes and the bowling venue usually doesn’t need a lot of lead time. This is also good for team building because, well, Bowling is usually played in teams – one team per lane. This is also great for winter time when it’s too cold to be outside or something to do during other types of inclement weather.
Drinks and appetizers
This is also something you can do in any type of weather. If it’s fall or summer and nice, you can go to a local restaurant or bar that has outdoor seating. If it’s cold or rainy, find a cool local restaurant or bar with lots of seating and bring your coworkers for some drinks and apps! If you want to get even more formal, many restaurants/bars will let you reserve a room or tables for your corporate event.
Top Golf (if your area has it)
If you haven’t experience Top Golf, it’s incredibly fun for people of all ages (and skill sets) – no golf experience required. Instead of playing a difficult 18 holes of golf, you just hit balls at targets (giant holes in the ground) and get “points.” If you can swing a golf club at all, you’ll at least get SOME points, so all your coworkers win! They also serve food and beverages so you can make a whole day out of it if you were wanting a longer corporate event. Be aware though, this IS one of the venues where you will want to book it well in advance, so if you’re the corporate event planner make sure you reach out and tell them how many “bays” you want (one bay will hold about 6-7 people so you may want a few). Top Golf also isn’t the cheapest corporate event venue option, so if you’re trying to save money use one of the other suggestions in this article.
Lunch and learn
The lunch and learn is also a CLASSIC go-to corporate event option. It’s also great for if you’re trying to save money on your event because you don’t even have to provide food! Many corporate lunch and learn events have you BYOL (bring your own lunch) and will simply have a speaker or presentation.
Corporate fundraiser event – onsite
Corporate fundraiser events can be team building, great for the community, AND fun! There are a wide range of things you can do for local charities, so reach out to them for ideas. Some examples are: building care packages for children in need, care packages for soldiers in the military, or even packing presents for children if it’s around December! This is a great team building activity because it requires a lot of teamwork to build the packages (you have to almost create a manufacturing line and each coworker has their own job in building the package). You can even do this type of event onsite – just talk to your local charity about what supplies you need to purchase and where to send the finished packages.
Corporate fundraiser event – offsite
Volunteering is another great way to help out in your community AND get your coworkers out of the office. Making a trip to the local soup kitchen is the go-to for many corporate event planners because it’s pretty easy to setup and soup kitchens are always looking for people to help out with loading food, unloading food, and serving to the homeless.
Dinner – for formal events
Dinner is a great option for a celebration, quarterly meetup, holiday party, or really any big occasion. If you have a large crowd, you’ll want to call the restaurant you’ve chosen and give them a heads up at least a couple weeks in advance. Sometimes restuarants will offer discounts for corporate events, so be sure to tell them! You can make it more formal by sending out customized paper invitations. For formal events like this (especially expensive ones), you’ll want to gather RSVPs. Consider using a text RSVP app so you can get your full head count quickly. To setup your event with Replied App text RSVPs, head over to www.replied.app
Escape room
Escape rooms are a fairly new type of outing you can use for your corporate event. It’s a great team problem solving activity and there are usually many different themes you can choose from. This is a good activity for a small team, since you’ll be in an escape “room” and not an entire restaurant, bowling alley, or larger venue.
Baseball Game
Baseball games are a classic go to corporate event, especially if you’re in a city that has a major (or minor) league baseball team. Your company may even be eligible for a corporate discount! Baseball game times can vary, some can even be during the day, so if you want to have an outing with your team, but need to get back to the office to get some work done you can go over a long lunch and watch the game and socialize!
Picnic in the park
Picnic’s are a great option for corporate events and are pretty popular during the fall and summer months. They are great for an all day event too. You can do coffee and have some activities in the morning like frisbee, volleyball, or bocce ball, then have a nice lunch in the park with your team. After lunch, finish out with some additional outdoor activities and snacks and beverages. Don’t forget the sunscreen and bug spray!
Museum tour
A museum tour is another formal event option and you can have a crowd of any size for this. Many museums will allow corporate event planners to setup an open bar so you can sip your beer or wine and admire all the fine art! It’s a great way to socialize and connect with your teammates while talking about the beautiful (and sometimes crazy looking) art. Be sure to book this type of event well in advance, and remember, these usually aren’t the cheapest option.
Wine and Design
Many areas now have wine and design venues where you go as a group and all paint a cool painting while a professional artist helps you all along the way. And obviously, they have wine. The wine is not required though, so sometimes corporate event planners setup wine and design events without the wine (especially if it’s during working hours). It’s great fun to see how each painting from all your coworkers comes out at the end, and you’ll even have a nice piece you can take home and show off to your friends!
Things you can do while still at the office:
Setup a game of corn hole
Having a corn hole tournament over lunch is an incredibly fun way to get your coworkers up and moving, laughing, joking, and having fun without spending a dime! You can even keep the boards and make it a recurring event if you know someone who owns some boards (just find a good place to store them because they are big and HEAVY).
Ice cream bar
Grabbing a few tubs of ice cream and toppings and setting it up in the office is an easy (and cheap) way to have a celebration for a team win, or to give your coworkers a break from work so they can socialize.
Coffee/Espresso bar
Just like the ice cream bar, bringing in some coffee from a local coffee shop in the morning can be a great small team event to reward employees and get them up and talking to each other. Just setup a table somewhere in the office or use your break room if you have one.
Helpful Tips for Planning your Corporate Event
- If you’re booking a big venue for your event, make sure you reach out to them at least 3 weeks in advance and follow up the week of your event to make sure everything is ready to go
- For formal corporate events, hand out or mail paper invitations. You can easily use an online invitation maker to set these up and websites like Zazzle.com and Canva.com have many beautiful corporate event designs to choose from.
- Get your head count faster by using Replied App text RSVP service so you can notify your event venue sooner. You can setup your event for text RSVPs at www.Replied.app