Easy Team Dinner Ideas

As a boss, you probably enjoy organizing team dinners as much as the team enjoys attending. This is how you make the whole thing fun.
Easy Team Dinner Ideas
Office dinners can be the most challenging part of being responsible for an office team. While this sounds silly, there are numerous factors that can come into play and turn what you think should be a great time into a horrible event.

A team dinner is a good time to bring all your employees together. It is a relaxing time outside of work where there is an opportunity to talk to everyone in a more relaxed way than in the office. Team dinners are a good opportunity to strengthen bonds between coworkers. This is something that has been done for a long time. Celebrate dinners in a much more relaxed atmosphere, outside the work environment. There are many reasons why team dinners can be held: periodic celebrations for anniversaries, special dates such as Christmas, sales incentives for employees, etc. It is a special celebration, but to enjoy it there may be several things to take into account.

What are the benefits of team dinners for your business?

Nowadays it is very common to have team dinners since they have lasted so long, which means that they work and benefit the company. Below we can see some of the benefits that these events can bring us:

It is possible to achieve an increase in motivation. Because when there are relationships between workers a much more positive and trusting environment is created. This greatly facilitates the work. 

Also, an increase in productivity will be achieved. In team dinners, it is inevitable to talk about what unites all those present, such as the work. For that reason, it is a perfect moment to emphasize the aspects that can be improved, which promotes the attitudes of the workers and their participation.

It can help us to foster a sense of belonging to the team. Many jobs are individual and each worker has his or her function. However, they have something in common: the company itself, its vision, and its mission. Team dinners create the feeling of being part of something, of a team. This always helps the well-being of the business.

Fellowship can be developed. This is a concept closely related to other corporate events such as team building. It is the way to build a team through activities or events such as business lunches and dinners. This improves communication and thus the effectiveness of each of the employees.

And it improves the company's internal communication. In any company, regardless of what it is dedicated to, communication between all components is essential. In a team dinner, where there is an atmosphere of trust, it is a good moment to put points in common, to draw conclusions with the superiors, or to give ideas or points of view. All this helps to improve the internal communication of a company.

How do you Host a Team Dinner?

Plan everything correctly

To enjoy a pleasant evening, it is a good idea to reserve the dinner venue in advance. You can research possible places for the dinner and choose them depending on the style of service and type of food you want to offer. Anticipate that the chosen venue may be in high demand and this is the first piece of the success of this meeting.

Part of this planning is to choose a nice and well-conditioned place for such a singular event. The price and the place are elements that will mark the image of the company and will help the success or failure of the corporate dinner.

The menu is the most important thing

Don't forget that the objective of this event is to have a good time and have dinner together with the people you work with for up to 8 hours a week. It is difficult to get so many people to agree on gastronomic tastes, so it is best to use the classics or make a survey to try to choose a place that pleases everyone, taking into account the nutritional needs of all.

It is also advisable to ask the attendees if they have any intolerance or allergy, or if they follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, for example.

The important thing is that everyone can enjoy a pleasant evening with a good meal to remember.

Games at a company dinner

During the team dinner, apart from having enjoyed a delicious meal, to achieve an excellent evening, several types of games can be played to dynamize the dinner and break the ice so that the guests feel more confident. The dynamics for corporate dinners do not have to be boring, with a little imagination and creativity these will become the perfect activity to have a different time.

If you want to surprise your guests with dynamics to break the ice and generate a relaxed atmosphere, a theme dinner is an excellent idea. 

It is an initiative that will awaken everyone's interest since it promotes healthy competition, originality, and good taste. The first thing to do is to choose a theme. To encourage enthusiastic participation, a special prize can be offered for the best performance of the night. The important thing about this type of dinner party game is to get out of the routine and make it an entertaining event for the attendees.

Another option of an ideal game to energize a dinner can be the search for the lost treasure. Before starting the dinner, several gifts should be hidden anywhere in the space where the activity will be held. Then, the attendees will look for those hidden gifts, each gift found will be the property of the person who discovered it. In order not to make it endless, it is a good idea to have a maximum search time.

These games are ideal to liven up dinners. They also help to break the tension that is generated during this type of meeting, especially between workers from different departments.

Another option can be the Secret Santa game. It is a simple and very funny dynamic, ideal for this type of meeting. Before dinner, we write the name of each employee in a bowl. Then, each worker takes a piece of paper from the bowl. From that moment on, he/she will become his/her invisible friend. Some people do it in advance and open the possibility of giving it daily or during the week, making a final gift on the day of the party. Others opt to give a single gift on the day of the party. Both options are great and create a favorable work environment. As a third option or aspect of Secret Santa, we must mention those who give out names and gifts on the same day. 

In this case, each participant should have a gift and this should serve both ladies and gentlemen. It could be established that the gifts are easy and with a moderate price such as chocolates, candies or products that everyone likes.

Several activities can be done, in Teamland we can find some options for games according to your objectives to make dinner a pleasant and fun time for the guests and they can create stronger relationships between them. 

 

Immortalize the best moments

Team dinners are the ideal place to capture moments full of fraternity, union, and companionship. Immortalizing those special moments during a company dinner can become a faithful document of the atmosphere experienced during the celebration. Silly faces, dance poses, and group photos are part of those moments that are saved forever and we all love to remember. You can share these moments on your company's official social media accounts. Show the world that they are happy and that they are part of a great work team.

After dinner

After dinner is always enjoyed around the same table where the meal was eaten, but what happens after? It is said that a cocktail bar is a usual place, so choose a discreet place, with room to dance or sit and chat, so that everyone can choose what they want to do during that time. 

This part should also be planned in order to set a course after the restaurant and not waste time going from one place to another. Keep in mind, too, that it can be difficult to find a place for a large group of people.

However, this is not the only option after dinner. The more adventurous can do some team-building activities, such as organized games to strengthen work ties. Building a good atmosphere is positive for everyone in a company.

In summary, a team dinner should be planned in advance to book the best option. It should also take into account several aspects of the people who will attend the event to make it a success and achieve the objectives that the guests spend a great night with great company and excellent food and achieve a better relationship between them. 

Author Details

Written by:
Najeeb Khan
Role:
Head of Training & Events
Expertise:
Leadership Development, Team Training, Belonging, Diversity & Inclusion, & Innovation
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