How much fun can we have in a meeting room?
May 23, 2019 8:36 PM   Subscribe

Several people on the team i manage are about to get promotions. I'd like to celebrate by throwing them a mini "party" in a meeting room during the workday. I'd bring snacks and a cake, and we could play music maybe if it's not too loud. But are there any fun activities we could do?

We are a small group of scientists working in a government department. I'd like to invite the team to a meeting and then surprise them by making it a little party. I don't want to do anything off site and we can't have alcohol. Any ideas? Thank you.
posted by hazyjane to Work & Money (14 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Customized fortune cookies can also be fun, or those popsicles with jokes on them. (heh, I guess these are activities that happen to be food-based.)

Bubble soap? I like bubble soap a lot.

Funny hats and those blow-out noisemakers? Spaceteam (this might be too loud -- it's billed as a game of cooperative shouting)? Charades? Hangman? That game where you try to connect dots in a grid and make squares? Pictionary telephone?
posted by batter_my_heart at 10:05 PM on May 23, 2019 [1 favorite]


Make liquid nitrogen ice cream.
posted by Sophont at 10:07 PM on May 23, 2019 [5 favorites]


Do you have a monitor or screen set up in the meeting room? Maybe a coworker or one of your team has a Retro Pi they could bring in and hook up and you could all play video games/have a tournament. We do this sometimes with Super Mario and it goes over so well!
posted by stellaluna at 10:09 PM on May 23, 2019


play the rock/paper/scissors game: everyone pairs off and does 1 round. if you lose, you become a cheerleader for the person that won, and the two of you find another pair and do another round. the winner now has 2 new cheerleaders, and everything repeats until the whole room is divided into two camps each cheering for their champion to win the climactic final round. works best with groups larger than 20.
posted by cubby at 10:37 PM on May 23, 2019 [7 favorites]


Liquid nitrogen ice cream sounds pretty rad.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:08 PM on May 23, 2019


Old school Pictionary on a big flip chart is great!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 2:45 AM on May 24, 2019 [4 favorites]


Make yourselves crowns and scepters out of balloons.
posted by evilmomlady at 2:47 AM on May 24, 2019


Minute to win it games
posted by Ftsqg at 5:15 AM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]


The cake sounds about right. Bring a coffee maker / espresso machine / tea kettle too.

I'd steer clear of the funny hats, noisemakers, embarrassing "teambuilding" games, etc., because many scientists are introverts -- I'd find all that stuff way more awkward than fun.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:14 AM on May 24, 2019 [7 favorites]


And to be honest, I'd also be more comfortable knowing that it's going to be a party in advance! We have these in our department every now and then when someone retires or a staff member leaves for another position; they are great fun just as a chance to hang out and chat, no games or activities needed. We typically have cake, sometimes cheese-and-fruit plates, and various non-alcoholic drinks.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:19 AM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]


Depending on the crowd, you could make Powerpoint Karaoke decks and make them pitch projects related to random slides that might be tangentially related to the promotion.
posted by advicepig at 6:56 AM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]


Read up on liquid nitrogen safety if you're going to bring it into a conference room (unless there are places that cater this? but maybe even if it's catered).

I like informally going around doing work memories, favorite projects, least favorite tasks, that kind of thing. Fun, pass on some institutional history, show that you remember and value people's work. Don't force merriment on introvert scientists (IAAIS).
posted by momus_window at 8:53 AM on May 24, 2019


I went to a work party where they had a silent disco set up. I loved it. The party thrower had the headphones and then just ran the music off her phones.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:57 PM on May 24, 2019


I have three thoughts:

1. You are an awesome coworker for wanting to do this!

2. As heatherlogan points out, you may be in an introverted workspace which is a bad place to do what you want to do. Or maybe you're not...you know your worskpace better than me.

3. If there are people getting promoted, there are probably people not getting promoted. And those people not getting promoted may resent celebrations about promotions.

Bonus thought: In my experience, promotion-type celebrations are usually held off-site. Usually after hours, or...at least...in the late afternoon so people can feel like they're sliding out early as a benefit of promotion day and those that don't want to be there don't have to be.

Good luck!
posted by jay2dadub at 9:11 PM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]


« Older You'd think it would be easy to download an...   |   Getting Samsung TV and LG Soundbar to play well... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.