13 Employee Appreciation Party Ideas for a Healthy Culture

An easy way to ensure that your employees feel appreciated and seen is through an employee appreciation party. If you are looking for an employee appreciation party idea, we can help you out. This simple act can help boost not only the morale of your employees but also help create a platform to foster teamwork and strengthen interpersonal relationships within a workspace. As a general rule, it is always great to have some sort of small-scale, low-key get-together every month, it gives your employees something to look forward to.

As an alternative to a party, you can consider hosting an employee appreciation day to demonstrate how much you value your staff. If you need a bit more employee recognition inspiration, check out this list of 24 tried and tested strategies, as well as our posts on no-cost employee appreciation ideas, employee recognition for large companies, employee appreciation for long service, and employee recognition for customer service staff.

We've even got a how-to article on creating a well-rounded employee appreciation program, in addition to some examples of how other companies successfully run their employee recognition schemes. Other ways you can boost morale are by sharing some well-chosen motivational quotations or penning a heartfelt employee appreciation letter. On the other side of the coin, you may want to write a note of appreciation to thank a boss for their support.

1. What Is The Importance Of Appreciating Employees?

It is important to appreciate employees as it shows them that the company values their contributions and recognizes the hard work that they put in. Appreciating employees doesn’t always have to be monetary compensation. Recognizing them for their achievements and work on a day-to-day basis also goes a long way in ensuring that they feel like they are an integral part of the company,

Employees who feel appreciated are happy, more engaged, and thus more productive. Making this an integral driver behind retaining and attracting top talent in the industry.

2. Employee Appreciation Party Ideas

2.1. Hooray Teams

If you are looking to appreciate your team for all the hard work they put in, look no further than Hooray Teams, a virtual teambuilding marketplace that helps you organize the perfect virtual events for your team. They have everything covered, right from the hosts all the way to the materials required for each activity.

They have hosted activities to cater to all kinds of interests. If your team would like to cook, they have a Hot Sauce Making class, if they would like an adrenaline rush, they have Murder At the Manor, and so on. So, just get in touch with them to throw a great employee appreciation party.

2.2.Themed Parties

A themed party is a fun way to engage staff appreciation party ideas beyond the workplace. There are endless options to pick from ranging from something fun like a superhero-themed party to celebrating a holiday like St. Patrick’s Day Green Party. After all, who wouldn’t enjoy a green-themed party with green drinks and food as well?

This is just one instance, you can throw a similar soiree for any other holiday as well like Christmas, or Easter as well.

2.3 Add Decorations to Office

For every occasion you might not want to throw a party, but at least you can decorate the office. A decorated office brings the festive mood right to the workspace, without too much effort on your part. Simple trims and trinkets can go a long way in brightening up the office. You can even take this opportunity to make this an employee engagement activity. Employees can carve pumpkins or help decorate gingerbread houses for the office. Even something as small as making snowflakes can break the monotony of office life that often sets in.

You can assign the decorations on a rotational basis to the different teams, this way your employees also get a chance to flex their creative muscles. For remote workers, if you are looking for virtual employee appreciation ideas then you can tweak this to hold a “decorate your station” competition. They can send in pictures and you can send the winner a gift basket to their house.

2.4 Host a Talent Show

A talent show, where your employees have the opportunity to showcase any talent or hobby that they spend their free time indulging in makes for a great casual setup for people to catch up. However, you might run into trouble as you are bound to have some introverts in the office. So, do not make this a mandatory undertaking, you want it to be fun, not daunting.

Encourage people to participate in whatever capacity they can. From flower arrangement, singing, dancing, clowning, and to even miming or reciting poetry, they can showcase their hidden talents

If you are operating out of a remote setup then you can have it over video call or they can send in the videos and all of you can watch them together.

2.5 Free Dinner Party

It's very hard to say no to good free food. So, if you are looking for staff appreciation party ideas even something as simple as pizza is going to make employees extremely happy. You can make this a regular affair when every time the team hits a certain goal you give them a nice dinner to celebrate. Additionally, you can switch it up between pizza, sandwiches, and practically anything else, thanks to the multiple delivery/take-out apps that are available.

This is easy to do if people are working from the office. But if you are working remotely you can call people to a neutral location for this. But if that is not possible, courier meals to everyone and pick a date for everyone to hop on a quick call and enjoy the meal together.

2.6 Host a Concert

Music concerts are a lot of fun, and everyone usually enjoys live music. So, if you can, you should throw a concert for your employees. You can do this in one of two ways: either you can call in someone from outside or you can ask your own employees to participate and get a professional sound set up for them to flex their vocal cords. This will lend a relaxed atmosphere for people to come together and enjoy themselves. This is one of the best employee appreciation ideas for large companies as it allows for a large number of people to participate.

If you are dealing with a distributed or remote workforce, then you can do a video conferencing session on Zoom where everyone can join and enjoy a virtual concert.

2.7 Potluck Party

Chances are everyone in your office may have a good recipe they love whipping up or if they don’t, they can get something that they really like for everyone in the office to enjoy. A potluck is a classic way to get employees to come together and bond over food.

If you can’t host a potluck party because of geographical restrictions, you can do something else fun- which is to host a cooking class. A virtual potluck session can be a great way to get everyone on board. Courier or deliver the required ingredients or DIY meal kits to the employee residences and get a professional chef to host a cook-along on a video conferencing platform. This way beginners and cooking pros will enjoy the entire experience as well as have something tasty to sample by the end of it.

2.8 Build Something Together

This can be something like cooking in the office for your peers, tackling a puzzle, or even a Lego set. All of these are fun activities you can ask your employees to do together. This is an employee appreciation party idea as well as an employee engagement activity together. This also allows your employees to work on something together which isn’t work.

You don’t even have to be in the same space for this. For employees who are working from home, you can host employee appreciation party games like a murder mystery or a remote scavenger hunt activity. This will allow employees working virtually to bond and know each other a lot better.

2.9 Host Karaoke Night

If there is one employee appreciation party idea that is cool, quirky, and fun at the same time, it has to be karaoke. Karaoke refers to singing on a mic while the lyrics are displayed in front of you along with a backup track playing. A solo outing on the mic can be fun, but it is in groups that you really shine in karaoke. It gives employees a chance to see a side of each other they might not have seen before. To conduct this you can rent out a karaoke bar or even a simple set up a speaker and an attached mic will work. All you need is a projector to display the lyrics of the chosen song and this way you will be able to host the party at your office as well.

If you want to host a karaoke night for your remote employees you can host it on a video conferencing platform like luckyvoice. You can choose from their extensive list of available songs.

2.10 Family-Themed Party

Keep aside a day to allow employees to get their families (and pets!) to work with them. A party with family members of your employees allows people to come together and socialize with a group beyond the workplace, which is always appreciated. The families can come in and see where they are spending most of their time and you can also organize other activities for them to do as well. You can set up a photo booth, do a three-legged race, face painting for the children, and do other activities which your employees can enjoy with their families. As far as appreciation theme ideas go, this one allows for the most participation.

If your employees have pets who are well-behaved, you can allow them to bring them in every day as that allows for some amount of flexibility in their schedule

2.11 Show a Movie

Showing a movie is a great employee appreciation party idea. However, there are some considerations you will have to take care of. Pick a movie that the majority will enjoy since it will be tough to cater to everyone. You can do this with the help of a vote. Then there is the issue of location. If it's a small team then a conference room works, but if it's a larger group then an outdoor venue or even a movie theater will work better. You can go a step further if you want and provide people with popcorn and other munchies to enjoy the movie. If you are looking for employee appreciation ideas for large companies, this one is pretty hard to beat.

For remote teams, you can consider hosting a movie session on an online conferencing platform and have them join in at the same time to enjoy the session over a hosting platform.

2.12 Take Them For An Outdoor Picnic

Venturing out of the workspace is a great way to get coworkers to bond and work together. A beach party with mimosas, fresh fruit, and good vibes is something anyone would enjoy. It doesn't have to be the beach every time either, a quick trip to the mountains will also give the workforce a much-needed change of scenery and show them that you appreciate them and their contributions to you.

You can organize this for your remote workers especially so they can meet up and get-together this way. This will also help people who don’t usually talk to one another to meet and know each other better.

2.13 Host a Happy Hour Party

If you are looking to help your employees recharge a little bit, you can host a happy hour party. You can get company-branded cups and ask your employees what liquor they enjoy. This provides a nice casual atmosphere for your employees to relax and unwind. It is also comparatively easy to set up and allows for better conversations among the workforce. You can use this party to make your way to local bars during the happy hour times or you can contact some people to help you set up a bar at someone’s house.

For remote workers you can host a wine and cheese tasting by sending over curated baskets to their residences so you all can then join in and enjoy a sampling session over a video-conferencing platform.

2.14 Provide Gaming Nights

Ping pong tables, arcade games, and basketball hoops are a great way to add some action to your office. These fun perks help let off some steam and have a laugh while getting away from the desk for a while. They also indicate to your employees that you care about their well-being beyond the work that they do in the office. If your office has a game room, then you can enjoy it there. But if you do not have one then you can make your way to a gaming arcade or host a bowling league. This will help your employees bond and allow their competitive spirit to shine through as well.

If you can’t be physically together due to a remote setup, then you can enjoy participating in virtual games online and keep the scoreboard ticking.

3. FAQs

3.1. What are virtual appreciation day ideas?

If you are working in a virtual setup then you can show your appreciation to your employees by sending across work-from-home gift boxes or hosting a virtual game or trivia.

3.2. How do you celebrate Employee Appreciation Day?

On Employee Appreciation Day, companies celebrate their employees by organizing various activities such as team lunches, award ceremonies, recognition programs, personalized thank-you notes, and small gifts to show gratitude for their hard work and dedication

3.3. What is Employee Appreciation Day?

Employee Appreciation Day is a designated day, typically observed on the first Friday in March, to recognize and show gratitude to employees for their hard work and contributions to the organization. It is a day for employers to express appreciation and acknowledge the efforts of their employees through various gestures, such as special events, gifts, or personalized messages.

3.4. What are some appreciation party themes?

Some appreciation party themes could include a tropical luau, a Hollywood red carpet event, a sports-themed celebration, a beach party, a carnival or circus theme, a superhero theme, a decade-themed party (such as the 80s or 90s), a casino night, or a masquerade ball.