10 unique ways to celebrate the holidays with your Finance team

You’re probably still eating those Thanksgiving leftovers, but it’s time to shift into holiday mode.

Two-thirds of companies will be hosting a traditional holiday party this year, according to the folks at Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s the lowest number since the recession began in 2008.

And whether your company has a big party or not, there are plenty of ways you can celebrate with your own team.

In fact, it’s worth doing something to mark the season with your smaller group even if your company throws a big bash.

A smaller celebration within your own finance team gives you an opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with the people you work with. And you’ll boost morale during this hectic (and often most stressful time of the year.

Try one; try several

Here are a few creative suggestions for more unique ways to end 2018, courtesy of RoamingHunger.com:

1. Game day. Let everyone bring in their favorite board games – and try to dig up a few retro ones (eBay is a great source). A couple hours of dice rolling and mousetrap building and folks will have everyone feeling like a kid again.
2. Get charitable. Embrace the spirit of giving by choosing to clean up a local park or work at a soup kitchen together. Or gift everyone $20 to donate to their charity of choice. (Givewell.org is a great resource to rank charities and show folks where their dollars will really go.)
3. Bring in the puppies. Adoptable pups can come into your office for an hour to give everyone a chance to get their cuddles in. Bonus: That serves as a major stress reliever, studies show.
4. Try a food truck. Parking one of these in the parking lot will be a big hit on a Friday afternoon. Hint: Groupon often has deals on these.
5. Build gingerbread “cubicles.” No fussing with those tricky roofs like a traditional gingerbread house. Let your staffers decorate mini cookie offices (you can do this with graham crackers too).
6. Try a pinata. Another great stress reliever, who wouldn’t want to take a whack? In addition to the usual fillings, toss in a gift card or two to up the enthusiasm.
7. Institute “Traditions Tuesday.” Everyone has special things they do this time of year. There are five Tuesdays left in the year – each week let a different employee (or several of them if you have a large team) share one of their traditions.
8. Reverse Santa! Turn that childhood tradition on its head by asking all employees to dress as Santa-like as they can (red and white will do), then have them take photos with one person dressed like an office worker.
9. The great unwrap. Everyone likes opening presents. But make it a little trickier by having folks do it wearing oven mitts. Fastest one wins!
10. Hold a holiday-themed scavenger hunt. Send your team searching all over the office based on your clues. It’s a terrific team builder and gets people out of their seats. It’ll take some advance planning and thought, but it’s worth it.

All of these certainly beat the worst holiday gifts ever.