“As we enter October, many of us are looking forward to the end of the month – Halloween! While the real celebration starts in the evening, there’s nothing to stop the Halloween spirit starting in the office. Celebrating Halloween and other events in the workplace is vital – having fun, dressing up, and playing games can have many benefits, such as boosted morale and developing team-working and collaborative skills across the workforce. It’s an opportunity for different teams to interact and to develop creative skills while having fun.
It can be difficult to know how far to take things in the office. Having fun is important, but we must not forget that it is the workplace. We’ve put together some Halloween at work ideas, from work-appropriate halloween costumes to activity inspiration, and spooky office decoration ideas.
Halloween Costumes
Encouraging people to come in with costumes can be a great way to encourage creativity and fun as we celebrate Halloween. There are many things employers can do to ensure nobody takes it too far.
Categories
Different teams at work could set different categories of costumes. These can be as creative or as dull as possible, from superheroes to inanimate objects, to create quite the challenge for more creative employees.
Competition
Costumes can be made into a competition, either between individuals or inter-departmentally, with different categories of awards to be given out for the best, worst, scariest, or most eco-friendly costumes.
Work Appropriate Halloween Costumes
Need inspiration for some costumes that are festive but still work appropriate? Look no further. We’ve listed some of the top themes for Halloween costumes in the workplace.
Men in Black: a monochrome suit and some dark sunglasses are great for this look
Celebrities: These can be anyone, particularly if there are any strong lookalikes in the office. Celebrity costumes can be great for more strict dress codes.
TV Shows: Costumes can be confined to favourite TV show characters, or even costumes incorporating the TV Show as a concept.
Superheroes/Villains: There are many superheroes and villains to choose from.
Puns: This idea is seen more commonly in the USA, with costumes cleverly incorporating puns and playing on words.
Office Decorations
Decorations around the office can be a great way to get people in the spooky spirit. By setting fun challenges and competitions, teamwork and creativity can be put to the test. Whether you buy supplies from craft shops or make them yourself, they’re a great addition to an October office. Teams can even go trick or treating around the office.
Spider’s Den
Whether with shop-bought cobwebs or with stretched cotton wool, you can cover surfaces and cubicles with these traces of web and small plastic or paper spiders. This is a subtle and simple idea for Halloween at work, not to mention the minimal mess.
Crime Scene
Created with some ‘do not cross’ yellow tape and a body outline on the floor, a crime scene can be created with minimal effort. Complete with bloody handprints on paper or some fake blood traces, this can create quite the spooky atmosphere.
Silhouettes
For smaller additions to the workplace, you can create bats, ghosts or skeletons out of construction paper to stick on doors and windows. This can then be seen from inside and outside the office.
If you’re looking to revamp your office space for good, Office Chairs UK can help. Browse our wide range of chairs, desks, and more today.
Halloween Games
If your office is looking to break up the day with some Halloween-themed games, look no further. With some fun challenges or games with prizes, morale can see a huge boost, and so can productivity. Friendly competition could actually help to build stronger relationships in the office. Games can be played between individuals or in teams – team games can be organised to bring people together that don’t normally communicate.
Pumpkin Designing
Though your office may not welcome the mess that accompanies pumpkin carving, pumpkin designing can be a great alternative. Plain pumpkins could be sent home with employees to enlist the help of their partners and children, including the whole family. Prizes can be awarded for the scariest pumpkin, cutest pumpkin, or funniest pumpkin.
Mummy Wrapping Competition
This will disrupt the working day a little more than pumpkin designing. Teams can be given a certain amount of minutes to completely cover a teammate with paper reams or toilet paper. The mummified individuals will then be judged and prizes awarded for the best mummy.
If you’re looking for more ideas on how to boost employee happiness, check out our blog.
“
By: Richard Edwards
Published: 7th October 2021
