Corporate events are great for your company’s culture because they foster goodwill among employees and give people a chance to mingle with people outside their regular work contacts. Corporate events are most successful when the activity is something that employees actually want to do, and the more fun, the better. Here are some good corporate event ideas for summer.
Get together for a theme picnic
A company picnic isn’t a new idea for a corporate event, but they’ve been done for generations, and there are good reasons why. They’re fun, they’re easy to do, and they leave plenty of opportunities to engage in lots of activities instead of having one clearly defined agenda. You can spice it up by choosing a theme, such as Western, ’50s, or even zombies.
For a Western-themed picnic, you could hire a local country band, have costume contests, teach people the two-step, and set up hay bales for seating.
Wouldn’t it be fun to dress up like zombies and play badminton with other families from your company?
Picnics give you the chance to offer organized activities like sack races, or people can choose to chill with something less hectic like Frisbee. The key to a successful picnic is making sure you’re well-stocked with food and drinks and having a mix of activity ideas ready, with the equipment to make them happen.
You can rent a bounce house to make the kids happy all day long. Then just relax and enjoy yourself while getting to know some of your coworkers. Dogs are great ice-breakers, so letting people bring their four-legged buddies can help loosen things up.
Have a BBQ
Like the corporate picnic, a BBQ is a go-to event idea. People love a good excuse to spend the day eating delicious BBQ, and if you want to add an extra component, you can turn it into a cook-off event. Set people up with teammates, and turn it into a team-building exercise that’s centered around fun and great food.
Play some paintball
Paintball is an exciting way to get out and run around on behalf of the company. Stalking coworkers with your teammates is great for bonding, and you don’t have to be good at paintball to have a blast doing it.
Rent a beach house
Rent a luxurious house at the beach or a nearby lake or river. Depending on the size of the group you want to accommodate, you might need to rent a couple of houses and use one of them as the headquarters for your meals, get-togethers, games, and mingling. If you get people together in the kitchen to work on a lavish dinner, you’ll see a lot of great new connections happening. Spend some time on outside activities like lawn games, fishing, kayaking, or beachcombing.
Race go-karts
Want to put together a corporate event that people will talk about for a long time? Try go-karts. Racing little cars around a track is fun, anyone can do it, and you can get people interacting without it feeling forced. Normal interpersonal dynamics go out the window when it comes to some healthy competition racing go-karts, and you never know what unexpected new friendships will take root while hanging out at the track. There are go-kart facilities specifically set up for hosting corporate events, or your group can just take over for a while. They often have video games, food, and sometimes full bars to keep the whole group happy while taking turns racing.
Rent some boats
Boating is great for team-building, and it’s a fun way to spend the day. Find a park or beach area with picnic tables or pavilions where you can set up a home base with plenty of food and drinks. Rent canoes, kayaks, or even paddle boats to spend the day enjoying the water. Find ways to keep the groups mixed up, and come up with fun ideas like races to keep things interesting.
Go to a game
Depending on your budget, you can find a major or minor league game to go to. Minor league games are less expensive and usually have a mellower atmosphere that would work well for a corporate event. Take over a whole section, enjoy some ballpark food, and help build the corporate team while cheering for the home team.
Have an outdoor movie night
An outdoor movie night is fun for families to get out and enjoy a warm summer evening. You can use a park, an outdoor space at the corporate campus, or a large backyard. Show a movie or two that everyone will enjoy, make it a potluck or order a stack of pizzas, have somebody make a giant tub of popcorn, and settle in for a fun evening.
Arrange some mingling time before or in between movies, pass out boxes of movie candy, and have plenty of chairs and blankets on hand. You can add to the fun with movie-related trivia contests for prizes. Give out glow sticks to kids, and make sure the schedule allows for some running-around time beforehand.
Winery event
There are wine-growing regions in many areas of the country, and you can often schedule events at wineries so your group can take over for a day. Enjoy the beautiful vineyard setting, learn about wine, and have some great meals in between wine-tasting sessions. You’ll have meeting spaces available and plenty of space outside to walk around and mingle.
Scavenger hunt
You can make this a citywide activity or limit it to a certain area like a school campus, park, or neighborhood. Organize people into teams and let them go have fun, working together to find all the items on the list to win prizes. You can use an event-planning service to organize your scavenger hunt, or you can make it up yourself. Either way, it’s great for the team. Make sure the whole group gets together before for a good meal, and afterward, you can have a party to announce the winners, give out prizes, and enjoy each others’ company.
Softball game
Softball games are fun for everyone if the atmosphere is right. Make sure it’s all about fun, not athletic prowess. Lots of folks haven’t played a game like softball for decades, so if people still don’t want to play, find ways for them to be engaged in the activity by umpiring, being coaches, or being in charge of refreshments.
You can encourage participation by having a little practice session before the game, splitting up into groups to play some catch or do a little batting practice. The small-group activities can be just as fun as the game, and the small-group dynamic can allow people to get comfortable without the pressure of being on display in front of everyone. Practice sessions help people loosen up physically and mentally.
Volunteering
Volunteering is a great way to get out into the community while having fun and working together. You can find building projects, homeless shelters, or neighborhood cleanups to help out with. Spending time working toward a goal outside of the company is great for team spirit, and it builds goodwill in the community at the same time.
Casino night
Spend the evening gaming with your coworkers. You can rent casino gear, including slot machines, from event supply houses, or you can make it an epic poker night. Try not to let people lose real money, though. It should be about fun and healthy competition rather than finances, so come up with a system that lets people turn chips in for prizes at the end.
Bowling
Take the group to a bowling alley for a crowd-pleasing corporate event that you can do in any kind of weather. Bowling alleys often have other things to do, like video games or pool, to mix things up. Most people have bowled before, so it’s an activity you can get everyone on board with.
Corporate events are helpful for fostering team spirit among employees. The more fun, the better, since employees will network and engage with coworkers more naturally when they’re happy and relaxed. These fun summer event ideas will be a blast for the whole crew.
