Goodbye snow, hello sunshine!
The changing of the seasons always invokes a happy feeling this time of year, making it the perfect time to hold a company event for your staff and their families.
The focus? Incorporating creative activities for children, meeting each other’s families, and forming strong team-building bonds in the process.
Fostering the building of relationships between your staff members and encouraging them to bond outside of the office produces a team that’s happier and more creative. As a result, you get a workplace that’s stronger and more inspired and productive with less stress. Studies show that 57% of employees who state they’re very stressed at work are less productive and more disengaged.
With spring here and summer just around the corner, a great way to reduce stress and encourage healthy bonds is to arrange a “shake off the frost” team-building event where all families are welcome. As the event planner or HR rep in your workplace, creating a fun and interactive corporate event will be on your shoulders, but don’t worry, we’ve got just the tips and tricks you need to make your event a huge success!
Organize Your Event With Spring in Mind
Many HR reps and office event planners feel the need to center their team-building exercises, corporate events, and other parties around a holiday, but who made those rules? Spring is here and summer is near, and that’s reason enough to have an awesome celebratory bash and do some team-building!
Furthermore, having an event for no particular reason shows your team that they’re truly valued and appreciated. You’re hitching a ride on the fact that morale is naturally boosted when the warm weather arrives … why not make it even better with a killer event?
When to Plan Your Event
This event is going to include families and children, so time-wise, it should be child-friendly: Not too late, and not too early. A good idea is to make your event in the afternoon or early evening on a weekend so as many people can come as possible.
Indoors or Outdoors? Where to Plan Your Event
Spring into summer events can of course be held outdoors or indoors. After all, it might be a party celebrating the warm weather but as we all know, Toronto weather can still bring surprises! Therefore, if you do decide on an outdoor event, just make sure you have a backup plan in case of poor weather on the day.
Organizing Entertainment for the Kids
Again, it’s important that kids and children at the event have something to do the keep them entertained and engaged. Children being engaged with each other will naturally bring in their parents as well. And again, meeting each other’s families is a magnificent way to extend the bonds from inside to outside the office — a must for a strong team. We see this specifically with the child-friendly Christmas events we put on — always yearly favorites at the office.
Here are several activities we know are always a hit with kids of all ages:
Instead of simply handing out chocolate and candies to the kids, why not have them make their own?
Our Chocolate Marshmallow Kabobs can be made by children and adults alike. Stack your marshmallows onto the kabob stick and decorate with favorite toppings. We’ll have numerous types of candy, warmed chocolate, and other toppings available. It’s an activity that will involve creativity and inventiveness, and kids are always pleased with the super tasty result!
Stuffed Animal Making With T-Shirts
Get those creative juices flowing again by allowing children to make and take home their own unique stuffed animal! Appropriate for children of all ages, this craft gives each child a choice of one of the 16” animals to stuff as well as a blank Teddy-sized Tshirt to decorate with the supplied fabric markers, gems and decals. It’s a huge hit for kids and parents!
A great attraction that always wins the day is hosting a temporary petting zoo at your event! The zoo consists species like lemurs, kangaroos, the African porcupine, Patagonian cavies and parrots! Reptiles are available upon request.
Not only do children become completely enthralled with watching and petting the animals, but they’re also able to learn something about each one and their care in a hands-on way.
The Benefits of Companies Hosting Children’s Events
By holding family-friendly events, you’re encouraging these specific benefits for your team members, company, and productivity:
- Stories, memories, and laughs from the day will promote connectedness in the company afterward the event
- You’ll be building a corporate culture and an important sense of community in your office
- Your staff and their families will feel appreciated and valued
- Being able to meet each other’s families promotes closeness among employees
- Coming off winter, morale can be low, but an engaging, cheerful event like this can boost morale in just a day
For a Successful Spring Family Event, Connect With Pop Events!
Every year at Pop Events, we put on several outdoor spring inspired parties for companies and businesses in the Toronto area. Our clients and their children love the crafts and interactive activities we provide and we’ve received tons of positive feedback about the togetherness and friendship that events like these promote.
Remember, your event doesn’t have to focus on a particular holiday. The good weather is reason enough to celebrate! And when you’re ready to start planning, Pop Events is here to provide you with everything you’ll need for the activities and activations listed above (plus more!). To start booking your event today, simply head to our website and request a quote!