Everyday Occasions: Making Celebrations Special

There are lots of ways to make a celebration special, keep looking for new ideas and avoid repetition.

• Check the Reasons to Celebrate list below

• Appoint a Party Planner – this would be an appealing role for a volunteer! Ask the most creative and fun person you know.

• Pick a theme and follow it through. A theme helps get everyone in the spirit and makes planning easier.

• Add a surprise to the festivities. It could be a surprise party or a special guest or some announcement, activity or food that is unexpected.

Does this sound familiar? Everyone gathers to celebrate a coworker’s birthday. Workers come reluctantly, grab a piece of cake, chat for a few minutes and then get back to work.
Sometimes the celebration itself is drudgery. Even a birthday gathering can be fun. Serve something different (breakfast bagels, her favorite ice cream?) or honor his accomplishments of the past year.

Reasons to Celebrate:

• Celebrate what you value. Want your employees to be punctual? Celebrate when they are. Want to grow the database? Party when you reach a milestone.

• Reaching a goal is a great reason to celebrate. Everyone should know when a team has reached a goal.

• Showing appreciation for a job well done or the completion of a project.

• Introducing a new employee. Make the employee feel special, what a great beginning! Celebrate new board members too.

• Personal accomplishments. It’s not all business, celebrate personal milestones too.

• Celebrate employee/board member anniversaries. When I worked for McGraw-Hill the anniversary of the first day of employment was an annual paid holiday for each employee. Keeping good employees was a priority and they celebrated it!

• Don’t forget your tours and friendraisers, they are celebrations too.

• Break up a dull afternoon with a spontaneous party.

• Create a monthly celebration to honor, reflect, remember or forget.

• Give an annual party in your home or a local park. Again, make it fun, even silly, rather than stiff and uncomfortable.

• Share the responsibility. Get a stuffed animal or symbolic toy. When it appears on your desk, you plan the next gathering.

Give your Everyday Occasion a name, check How to Name Anything. Or head back home for more ideas.