Christmas Event Activities for your next team away day 

Work Christmas parties are a great way to get away from the office and work-related responsibilities. There are many activities to do together to make your time fun and enjoyable, and we have collected some ideas that could help you make this year’s party more special for you and your team. 

Gingerbread house decorating competition

Most of us love a healthy competition, so why don’t use your Christmas party as an opportunity to make your team work together on something fun? Gingerbread houses can be tedious, especially if you are making them from scratch. Depending on the number of gingerbread houses you need, it may be worth investing in a kit to speed up the process. Working together in teams to decorate the best gingerbread house will inspire creativity, and build communication and teamwork skills. 

Gourmet hot chocolate bar

Who doesn’t love chocolate, marshmallows, whipped cream, and candy canes in a cup? Hot chocolate is a classic Christmas beverage for everyone! Although alcohol may be involved at a party, it’s not for everyone. It’s also good to consider those at the party who don’t drink alcohol. Everyone can enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.

Merry mystery party

The theme of your event is Christmas but why not add a little mystery to it too? Someone from your office who loves to write could write a mystery story tailored to each person. You could also find a murder mystery kit on Amazon. Have your team dress the part and figure out who murdered Papa Elf. This creative idea will be one for the books!

Holiday photo booth

Hire a photographer or take your own photos to capture your Christmas event! Create a Christmas-themed photo booth. Supply props such as Santa hats, elf ears, and signs to encourage everyone to dress their best. Be sure to get an entire team picture to hang in the office Monday morning.

Holidays around the world

Everyone has their own traditions and learning about someone else’s helps you get to know them better. Hopefully, you have a culturally diverse team. Take the time to explore different recipes and holiday celebrations of others. Create a signup sheet for each person to bring their favourite holiday food or activity to share. This will make your event insightful, unique, and inclusive.

Christmas card making

In the world of technology, sending an email or popping a quick text is quick and simple. Sending snail mail is a dying art. Supply your team with all the materials to design and create a Christmas card. Cardmaking is a low-budget activity. It’s an opportunity for each person to express themselves. You can use this opportunity to express gratitude to someone in your team. 

Team Away Day Venues

A team away day requires planning. There are many important things to do. One of the most important things is finding the best place to host an event. So here are some things for you to consider when planning your Christmas party this year. 

Location

First, finding the right location for your team’s away day is key. Depending on your event, you may be looking to host it locally or out of town. If you’re hosting a local event you should scout out a venue within a reasonable distance from attendees’ homes or workplaces. Also, you’ll need to consider the weather to decide if the location is indoors or out.

Parking

Parking is not always ideal which is why it should be considered when planning an event. If there is no parking, you may have to reserve a nearby lot and have a parking fee or include the cost in the ticket price. You should also look at Uber and Lyft discounts offered for events. Sometimes it is convenient for attendees to share rides with one another. Lastly, you could possibly offer valet parking for the event. 

Capacity

When planning an event, you will need to know the capacity of the room. There are fire safety codes that venues must follow. Therefore, a room with a capacity of 500 people can comfortably fit 250 people. 

Services and amenities

There are several things to consider if you are planning to serve food and beverages at your event. First, is there access to a kitchen and can the event be catered? Be sure to go with a venue that serves fabulous food or allows you to bring in outside food vendors for the best attendee experience. Also, find out whether or not you will have access to tables and chairs and whether or not the venue offers a clean-up crew. Some venues provide audio-visual equipment while others require you to bring that yourself. 

Layout

Another key component to planning an event is getting a sense of the venue’s layout. You will need to have a rough idea of what activities you will be doing at the event. This will help you determine what type of space you will need. In order to narrow your venue selection down, get a floor plan of the venue or do at least one walk-through and take notes as you go. Consider the traffic flow of your event and the event activities. For example, determine how you will set up the tables and whether or not you will need a stage for a keynote speaker.

Accessibility

The venue needs to be accessible to everyone, including those with special needs. The amenities must be easy to access. You will need to know who your attendees are and their needs so that you can provide the correct and best accommodations possible. 

Acoustics

There is nothing worse than attending an event where it is too loud to comfortably talk and hear others. This is often caused because of the poor acoustics in the venue. A low ceiling may seem more cozy but it will be very loud if it is packed with a large crowd. Acoustics will not make or break a venue but if you have access to patios outside the venue, this can help.

Flexibility on the event date

Being flexible on the event date can be a great way to negotiate with different venues. They may have specific dates on their calendar that they are trying to book. You are more likely to get a discounted price by providing two to three different dates. 

The Optimist view…

Planning your next team away day should not be an overwhelming task. The holidays make the purpose of the event or party simple. Whether you want to go easy or create a different event is up to you, but ultimately, the purpose is to spend time together, get to know one another away from the office and on a more personal level and celebrate a special occasion. 

At Optimist Performance, we love to go out of the norm, this is why we love planning team away days that are like no others. If you want to make this year’s party even more special for your team but feel like you don’t have the time or energy to organise it, get in touch with us and see how we can help you create an unforgettable event for you and your team.

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As a people-based business, we’ve looked at different approaches and the science behind setting goals. In previous articles, we’ve looked at how to change your habits to achieve your goals – establishing new habits and breaking the unhelpful ones.  We’ve also covered setting SMARTER goals and some of the questions you might ask yourself to reflect on where you are now and, looking to the future, where we can improve.

This month, we turn our attention East to the Japanese concept of ikigai and consider how we can use our own individual sense of purpose to influence and set our goals. Ikigai is a word with no direct translation to English; it roughly equates to “that which makes life worth living”, “reason for being”, or perhaps what gets you out of bed in the morning. 

Purpose is profoundly personal

Ikigai is concerned with a focus on a particular sphere of life, activity or social role which offers a real source of identity or meaning. It can be defined as something that truly makes life worth living for a particular individual. This could be aspects of social identity such as work or family or found within a sport or hobby.

Your Ikigai does not necessarily refer to your working life, nor does it need to be something grand or monumental. While one person’s Ikigai might be building a multi-million-pound business, another’s could be volunteering on a particular project or looking after their pet.

Your individual definition of success will be just as unique as you are.

Your goals will be interconnected

In previous articles, we’ve talked about siloed working within companies where departments fail to communicate with each other. Similarly, to ensure your goals are achievable, don’t fall into the trap of not considering your life as a whole when you start to define them. Writing in Forbes, the CEO of BodeTree Chris Myers, talks about Ikigai’s intersection of the spiritual with the physical, which connects all aspects of life. 

He explains: “There’s a difference between the things that are important in your life and your life’s work. Ikigai is about finding joy, fulfilment and balance in the daily routine of life.”

Myers warns against compartmentalising important aspects of our lives, such as our jobs, families, passions and desires.

Striking a balance between goals across different life areas is key.

Write your narrative to success

Writing your goals down and articulating what success in achieving them will look like is advocated in a paper on how Ikigai can optimise human performance and happiness by Prof Dr Michaela Schippers of the Erasmus Research Institute of Management.

Schippers cites the book ‘Redirect: The surprising new science of psychological change’ by Timothy Wilson. He recommends describing the goals you set in “concrete rather than abstract terms” and describes how you can create a new life story by rewriting it, which can help you break free from self-defeating patterns of thinking. 

According to Wilson, writing a ”more optimistic story …will energise you to take action”.

Make your goals positive – and public

In her paper on Ikigai, Schippers describes a study where students were asked to reflect on their goals, which could be academic or non-academic, within their first term of university. They were then asked to commit to one overall goal, which was published, along with their photo, on the university’s website. 

The students were asked to frame these intentions as “I will” commitments. These included statements such as, “I will work as hard as possible to achieve my goals” and “I will sustain the world for future generations,” which were published alongside their name and photo.

Schippers’ study showed an increase of 22 per cent in academic performance compared to previous cohorts who had not taken part in the “I will” intervention and decreased drop-out rates.

Focus on random acts of kindness, along with your goals

Within Optimist Performance, we always talk about the importance of cultivating an ‘attitude to gratitude,’ not just during the season of goodwill, but all year round. According to Schippers’ paper on Ikigai, having an altruistic purpose in life may be particularly helpful for optimising happiness. 

Random acts of kindness were found to be particularly helpful to their benefactor. The study also found helping others, especially in socially engaged ways, was more beneficial to a person’s well-being than providing treats for themselves.

The Optimist View…

At Optimist Performance, we believe that we all can find our Ikigai and achieve that balance and success. However, you don’t need to do it alone, our Optimist Coaches can help you with it, they can support you in fulfilling your potential, clarify your goals and plan your route to success in 2023. 

Learn more about our Optimist coaching here or get in touch with us for a free touchpoint first call with one of our coaches.

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The end of the year is definitely a marking point, both professionally and personally. With project deadlines, Christmas social events, Christmas shopping, goal setting and all the other things that the holiday brings with it, it’s no wonder it feels more stressful than magical. 

This is why we wanted to dedicate some time to thinking about how we can reduce the stress from the holiday season and make this time of the year as enjoyable as possible both at work and at home. 

5 tips to avoid holiday burnout:

Set realistic expectations

It’s the end of the year, not the end of the world. It’s totally normal to want to push ourselves a bit harder ahead of taking a break. However, we need to know how much we can healthily push ourselves. While a bit of pressure and stress can be beneficial, it’s essential to set realistic expectations about how much we can get over the line in just a few weeks. 

Take some time to plan and prioritise and also keep in mind that just as you are busier than usual, so is everyone else. 

Check our article about the Eustress or positive stress here. 

Looking ahead is great, but don’t forget to look back too

The end of the year is the time when we all start thinking about the new year and our new year’s resolutions, and that’s absolutely amazing, but sometimes it’s easier to forget about looking back at all we have accomplished and how far we have come. Take time to review and reflect and most importantly, take time to be grateful for all you have. 

Check out these questions to do some reflection on the past year and prepare for the future. 

Also, you can read this article to learn more about being grateful can reshape our brains. 

Use the holiday to build or strengthen your connections

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, the holiday season is a great opportunity to build or strengthen our connections with colleagues, friends and family. While it may be cold and rainy, there are lots of ways to connect during the holiday season  – wrap up and get out, do something different, ice skating, Christmas markets, or a show. Make sure you take some time to be with your colleagues, friends and family, and more importantly, make sure you are present. 

Choose wisely

Even though it’s the perfect time to connect with people, it’s important to be conscious of how much we can deal with. As mentioned above, you need to be really present, so don’t feel pressure to attend every single social activity. Christmas can be a beautiful time to enjoy friends, colleagues and family, but it can also be an exhausting holiday if we don’t manage our time wisely. 

This is also an important thing to consider when organising Christmas parties at work. Make sure the events are optional and easily accessible in case people want to go just for a while. You should also think about being inclusive when organising Christmas parties, not everyone will celebrate Christmas, and definitely, not everyone will celebrate in the same way.

Don’t forget to take care of yourself

With so much going on, it’s easy to use our personal time for other commitments. However, as they say on planes, “make sure you put on your own mask before you help someone else”. 

It’s when we are busier than we need relaxing time the most. Taking breaks during the day, keeping your exercise routine and don’t overindulge during the holidays seem like small things, but they can go a long way to ensure that your body, mind and energy are ready for the holiday season and beyond. 

The Optimist View….

We can definitely relate to the feeling of wanting to do everything, all the time, for everyone. But no matter how optimistic we are, we know that we are only human and we can’t do it all. 

This is why it’s so crucial for us to take time to reflect, plan and realistically manage what we want to achieve and how and with whom we are investing our time during the festive season. 

It might seem like stating the obvious, but setting out simple intentions for the holiday season and seeing these through means you’re more likely to enjoy the benefits of some downtime and feel recharged and rejuvenated for the return to work.

We hope you all have a fantastic holiday!!

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In the post last week, we talked about the feelings and emotions of our teams. This week we want you to focus on yourself. Take some time to do a bit of introspection and think about what you are grateful for this year. 

Being grateful is a habit you should develop and exercise every day. It is simple, it doesn’t take long, and it has enormous benefits.  

By focusing on all the good things in your life, you will create an overwhelming sense of positivity that directly influences your feelings, emotions, and behaviours. You will see immediate results and benefits from these actions, not only in your life but also in the lives of those around you. 

This is the power of a positive mindset!

Positive Mindset: What does it mean?

A Positive Mindset or Positive Thinking doesn’t mean you need to feel happy all the time. It means that you adopt a positive attitude about yourself and the world around you. You decide to focus on the good and try to find the positive in every situation. 

‘Reality’ and being ‘realistic’ is all about perspective, and we are in full control of that perspective and the horizons that we set ourselves.

It is our choice, how we approach and react to this, and what we deem as our own ‘reality’ is critical in determining the levels that we are prepared to reach.

A negative outlook on this often sees people adopt a victim mindset and struggle to move forward. Whilst a more positive approach will see us focusing on the bright side of life and us pushing our boundaries beyond any levels that we originally anticipated. 

Ultimately, It is up to you how you want to go through life. 

Some tips on how to change into a positive mindset

Changing your mindset is not a one day job, it is something you need to work on every day.

Here are some tips on how to start:

Cultivate good habits. Creating good habits will make you feel better about yourself. Examples of this could be exercising every day or trying to eat a healthier and more balanced diet. 

Take time for yourself. It is essential to arrange some time a day to focus on yourself, use this time for an activity you enjoy. We understand how difficult this is. Our advice is to schedule these free times on your agenda, to make sure you stick to them. 

Be present. Don’t spend too much time focusing on the past or the future, the only moment you can change is the present. 

Surround yourself with the right people. Feelings and emotions are contagious, so try to be around positive and happy people. You can also find a mentor, motivational speaker, or coach to guide you through this journey.  

Focus on the positive. You don’t have to avoid negative thoughts or situations, but try to maintain a positive attitude towards them the majority of the time. 

Be grateful every day. Before you go to sleep, take two minutes to think about all the things you are grateful for. 

Focus on the good things, even if they are small. Even the smallest things can have a big impact on your emotions. 

Practice selfless acts. It doesn’t have to be a big deed but doing good for others will make you feel better, and you can create a snowball effect from there. 

At Optimist Performance we feel gratitude for…

This year has been unusual and we have been living with uncertainty, but as optimists, we like to look at the positive of every situation. 

These are some positive outcomes from this year:

Spending time with our partners and children. We either have been working from home or not working at all. By staying at home, we got to spend a lot more time with our partners and children, and we became closer together. 

Create new habits. The extra free time allowed us to create some good habits during lockdowns. We started exercising every day, eating healthier, and reading more. 

Personal Development. We had time to focus on our personal goals. We learned new skills and challenged ourselves to do new things and start new projects. 

What about you? What do you feel gratitude for this year? We would love to hear about it in our comment section below. 

From Optimist Performance, we want to wish you a Merry Christmas. 

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