Any office party, while intended to be fun and entertaining, can sometimes be tough to kick off – especially if you’re inviting employees and work colleagues who don’t know each other well. So, as part of your corporate event planning efforts, look for ways to inspire party guests to interact with each other in an organic and fun way. To set fun and exciting vibes from the outset of your event, it’s important to consider some great icebreaker activities. Today, we’re sharing some of our expertise in this area and highlighting innovative icebreaker games for inspiration!
1. Pop Quiz Party Kickoff
Pop quiz games are easy-to-facilitate office party icebreakers. Start by dividing a large group into smaller groups, creating small teams. Prepare trivia questions ahead of time, spanning various categories. Incorporate some current events or even questions from different decades to help showcase the knowledge across different participants. Including some great prizes makes it even more fun. Pop quiz challenges will get office party guests engaged and might even inspire a little healthy team building.
2. Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament
New Yorkers are competitive, and what better to bring the heat than a rock, paper, scissors tournament? There are so many variations of this timeless classic to consider, too. From team tournament challenges to individual, head-to-head competitions, guests will all get in on the fun. It’s an easy game to play, not requiring additional props or comprehensive game prep. And most everyone already knows how to play, making it a widely acceptable icebreaker game.
3. Human Bingo
Bingo is another well-known game that almost everyone understands how to play. Consider changing things up a bit with this classic and turn it into an office party icebreaker everyone will be talking about! Start by creating a giant bingo card with squares that feature unique experiences or personal characteristics. Encourage attendees to speed-mingle and network with each other for a designated timeframe – say 30 minutes. Then, once time is called, everyone will approach a giant bingo card and write in the names of their colleagues who fit the corresponding traits. The first coworker whose name forms a winning bingo line wins. This game invites attendee engagement and frames the interactions in a fun way.
4. Scavenger Hunts
Consider coordinating with your New York event venue ahead of time and create hints and clues throughout the party area for an icebreaker scavenger hunt. When guests arrive, group or pair them off with coworkers from other departments. And present each team with a checklist of items to find. Whether you make it an hour-long, intense endeavor or make it an easy-to-find list of items that only take about 30 minutes to complete, scavenger hunts are always fun ways to get people moving and engaging at the office party.
5. Group Birth Map
A group birth map is a fun way to integrate a diverse office mix as one cohesive unit. When making a group map, the office party attendees describe where they each grew up, were born, or where they call home, but without saying the place’s name.
Through these questions, a map is drawn on a large writing surface. For those of us who were born and raised in New York, this might result in a more regional-looking map, but fun nevertheless. Large groups can be made into smaller groups to conserve time, and all sorts of artistic twists can be put into the artwork itself (remember the textbook maps from the ‘80s and ‘90s.)
6. Company Fashion Show
New York Fashion Week is difficult to compare to a New York office party. However, bring a little bling into the scene by having an office fashion show. Divide a larger group into smaller groups, or for a more intimate office, use everyone. Then, use creative materials (office supplies, party supplies, and other supplies as provided) to create an iconic look, a statement piece, etc., within a certain time limit.
Each group will submit their looks as presented by their designated “model” coworkers down the office runway. Add in some favorite pump-up montage music and see how much fun can happen in a short amount of time.
Hire a New York Event Planner for Your Office Party
This kind of corporate event isn’t “just” a New York office party. Planning and rehearsing how to lead a group through icebreakers, debriefing, and other aspects of a party can be just as much work as organizing the event itself. This leaves little clearance to actually participate to your fullest in your own event with your own amazing coworkers.
Eliminate the hassles of party planning, and work with us at EMRG Media! Bring in professional New York event planners to organize and execute your next office party or corporate event. An emphasis on incorporating plenty of icebreakers and team-building opportunities is just one of the many guest experiences we can introduce to your event. And you deserve to enjoy it without an excessive amount of fuss to add to your office party planning plate. Contact us today and help us bring your event vision to life.
