December

Cookie Cutter Week

Give each employee a unique cookie cutter. Choose the cookie cutter based on that employee’s strengths and traits.  For instance, an employee that really cares about others could get a heart-shaped cookie cutter.  An employee who is personable could get a gingerbread man cookie cutter.  Attach a note to each cookie cutter that explains why you chose that cookie cutter for that employee.  This is an excellent way to show appreciation for your employees as individuals, rather than as a group.

Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies

Host an Employee Nobel Prize Award Ceremony.  Ask employees, or a panel of judges, to vote for the employee who deserves the Nobel Prize for:

  • Physics – Awarded to the best mover and shaker in the company.
  • Chemistry – Awarded to the employee customers and / or employees love the most.
  • Medicine – Awarded to the best in operations.
  • Literature – Awarded to the employee that writes the best emails, reports, proposals, or grants.
  • Economics – Awarded to the employee who came up with the best money-saving idea.
  • Peace – Awarded to the employee who excels at making peace when customers and / or employees are riled.

At the real Nobel Prize Awards Ceremonies, presentation speeches extol the Laureates.  A banquet follows.  So, be sure to present a short speech about each of your winners.  Then, treat your employees to a buffet.  The real ceremonies take place in Sweden and Norway.  So, consider serving dishes such as Swedish meatballs and Norwegian salmon.

First Crossword Puzzle Anniversary – December 21st

Give all employees a crossword puzzle sheet as they arrive for work. Only include the crossword puzzle grid, not the numbered hints.  Throughout the day, send out hints to employees over the intercom, or via email.  After all of the hints have been provided, award a prize to the first employee that fills in the entire crossword puzzle correctly.  Or, draw a winner from all completed, correct entries.

Christmas – December 25th

Have a Winter Wonderland Theme Party:

  • Ask everyone to dress in white, blue or silver.
  • Decorate the room with snowflakes, silver tinsel, snowball candles, dry ice, ice sculptures, etc.
  • Serve drinks in frosted glasses.

Conduct an “ice”breaker to kick off this party.  Have each employee choose a jewel from an ice chest as they enter the party.  Most of the jewels are cubic zirconium.  However, a few are diamonds.  Employees take their jewel to a jeweler located at the back of the room.  The jeweler checks the jewel with a loupe to see if the employee has chosen a cubic zirconium or a diamond.  If the employee chose a diamond, they keep it.  Negotiate with a local jeweler to handle this icebreaker for you.  Or, contact Wildly Different if you wish to have a company handle all of this for you.

Boxing Day – December 26th

Invite everyone to play a variation of Deal or No Deal. Wrap a variety of boxes – one box for every employee.  Before wrapping the box, place a random number inside it.  Also stuff envelopes with one number for every employee you have.  For instance, if you have ten employees you would stuff ten envelopes, one with number 1, and another with number 2 and so on up to 10.

The object of the game is to be the employee with the box that has the highest number inside.  The only trick is, employees don’t know what the highest number is!  At the start of the event, have each employee choose one wrapped box and an envelope.  Ask employees to open their box, but not to reveal the number inside it.  Ask employees to open their envelope.  The employee holding number 1 from the envelope gets to choose whether they will keep their box, or exchange boxes with another employee.  Employees who swap are allowed to look at the number inside their new box, but encourage them to keep their poker faces.  Play continues until everyone has been given the opportunity to keep, or exchange, boxes.  At the end, ask everyone to reveal the number inside their box.  The employee holding the highest number wins a prize.

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