Did you know that a majority of your employees feel that employer-hosted events and parties increase company morale? According to Glassdoor, 59% of employees think these events add to the culture in an office, and creating lasting impressions from significant events can affect morale. Since Halloween is on the horizon, we have a few ideas on how you can start your own office Halloween Traditions.

Halloween Costume Contests

While many employees often choose not to dress up, there are those employees who love costumes and Halloween. A great way to encourage people to dress up is to have your upper management commit to coming in costumes. In a survey by Glassdoor, 29% of employees said they hope their boss will come in dressed up for a holiday.

Dressing up as upper management consistently can help create excitement and anticipation every year for the costume contest and the holiday. Be creative in how you give out prizes with different categories. You can also sweeten the deal by offering great prizes for winners and promoting them throughout the month to entice more employees into participating.

Desk/Door Decorating

Decorations are usually a relatively inexpensive way to add color and atmosphere to your office while building teams to work together. You can even split them into groups they don’t work with often to learn more of co-workers they may not have talked with before. Set out several different decoration pieces for teams to choose from and create their “scary” desks!

You can also decorate a specific area or the doors of their managers to encourage working together and even involve management! It can also be a great contest idea as you can take the winning team out to lunch or do giveaways. You also get some great social media opportunities with photos from everyone participating in and completing their decorations.

Spooky Food Fests

Potlucks, Breakfast, Luncheons, and more! There is always one thing that will get your people up from their desks and excited to get together. Food! For Halloween, setting up an office potluck is a budget-friendly way to get everyone together to enjoy each other’s company. You can have the company take care of some of the significant additions (i.e., main courses) and ask that everyone bring in their favorite sides while making them as “spooky” as possible. There are a bunch of recipes online for simple “Horror” d’oeuvres that can make the time more memorable for everyone.

If you have tried potlucks with little success at your office, perhaps try a catered lunch or breakfast to bring the spooky foods to your people! The end goal is to get your people out of their desks. To build comradery with all of your people to mingle and build better relationships.

Just one of these can be a great building point to creating a great company culture and feel from employees. The key is consistency and participation from everyone at the company. Make it memorable and customize your events to match what resonated with your teams in the past to create ongoing traditions that they look forward to every year!