15th August is round the corner. It’s that time of the year again when we all become a little bit more patriotic than usual irrespective of our caste, race, ethnicity, gender and background. Passion and nationalism run deep in our veins. So, we get more excited as the day comes near. Flags are sold at every street corner, lane and by lane. Lata Ji’s voice resonates from every roadside shop and the loudspeakers in the local clubs. And children spend extra hours in school rehearsing for the Independence Day Parade and celebrations. It’s like a festival that everybody wants to be a part of. So, why not use this excitement and plan an Independence Day celebration at the office too? After all, an employee spends most of his day and his life working in an office. Why not give him something to cheer or be passionate about? Independence Day celebrations at the office can increase employee engagement, boost employee morale and cause greater alignment with the management. No. We are not suggesting that you force all your employees to turn up at the office at 7 am for flag hoisting on a National holiday. That would be cruel. But as an HR or the owner of the company, you can certainly plan a great celebration on the 14th evening after work.
In this article, we share with you five great ideas to celebrate Independence Day at the office that can create a lasting impression in your employees’ minds and give them something to discuss for at least the next four to five months.
Fun ideas for the Independence Day celebration
1. Fancy Dress Competition
People are extra-attentive to competitions these days. From birth to death, people spend their whole life either competing against others or the circumstances. So much so that scientists claim competition is now a part of our genes. So, why not use this genetic compulsion for the Independence Day celebration at the office as well? Announce a fancy dress competition for the celebration, and pin a published copy on the company dashboard, or you can send mail notifications to every employee as well. Let them dress as they like. Let them get into the shoes of famous national icons or freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the nation. The theme should obviously be Independence Day. You can make the Operations Head or the Department Head the chief judge for the event. Two other senior personnel from HR and any other department can also join the panel of judges. Announce a prize for the winner and the runner-up.
2. A Quiz Competition
Trust us, no other activity generates as much public interest as a well-organized quiz competition. We all love to project ourselves as omniscient, a know-it-all. We all have an opinion about everything in this world even if we don’t know anything about them at all. Nothing satisfies our ego better than projecting ourselves as super-knowledgeable in front of others. Use this little dose of psychology for the Independence Day celebration at your office. Announce an Independence Day-themed quiz competition, and let every employee take pride in their general knowledge. Don’t make the questions too tough to answer though. Your employees are not professional quiz contestants. Encouraging them to mug-up books before the event might not be a good idea after all. Also, apart from the prizes for the winners, keep consolation prizes for employees who are not direct participants yet manage to answer a tough question.
3. Team-building Activities/Games
If you are an HR, you already know about these games or if you are the company owner, chances are that your HR head knows about them too. Team-building games are a fun way to build positive organizational habits among employees. Such activities teach employees the art of collaboration and working together towards achieving bigger organizational goals. Make these games a part of the Independence Day celebration at your office. Divide your employees into small groups. Select a leader for each such group. Give them tasks that they have to complete before the celebration starts at the office. The tasks could be anything like writing and choreographing a dance performance on the theme of Independence, designing a giant wall art or something creative like that. Create a judges’ panel and announce a grand prize for the winner.
4. Food
No sukha laddoos or tea and biscuits, arrange a grand feast for the evening. Keep a budget for this well in advance. You can order a vendor for food packets containing snacks and sweets. Or you can contact a caterer for an in-office gala dinner. There is no better shortcut to winning an employee’s heart than going through his stomach. We Indians love to eat, and nothing like it if the food is free. Oh! Come on. Admit this. A dinner or a snack would give them something to discuss in the next few weeks or even in months, and don’t be surprised if an employee talks about the delicious chicken tikka in the previous year’s party during this year’s celebration. It leaves such a great impact. You can also plan this dinner event somewhere outside. Book a restaurant or a small banquet hall near the office and you can organize the entire event including the food and fun at that venue. And for booking the venue online, just log on to www.sloshout.com. Sloshout is India’s number one party venue booking website that produces a list of the best venues in your chosen location subject to your specific requirements and allows you to book the venue you like sitting in the comfort of your office.
5. Office Decorations
No matter how you plan to celebrate the Independence Day event at your office, don’t forget to decorate the whole office with the Independence Day theme. You don’t need to hire a decorator for the same. Ask each employee in your office to contribute half-n-hour every day from his schedule to decorate the office for the big occasion. Add an extra 30-minutes break to their schedule if that is possible. You can show the way by displaying your craftsmanship as well. Decorating the whole office with tri-colour flags, paper garlands, stickers and other colorful Independence Day-themed articles helps in breaking the day-to-day work-related monotony among the employees. Adding something new and colorful to the premises every day builds up excitement in employees as the big day approaches.
Blog Tags – independence day India 2022, Independence Day Quotes, independence day wishes
