How to celebrate staff birthdays

Looking for ways to treat your hardworking staff on their birthdays? As a business owner, keeping tabs on everyone’s birthdays is a daunting task in itself, nevermind thinking of unique ways to celebrate them! You may even delegate to others. If you have a social team, they might be the best at organising as they can share on the brand’s social channels too. 

It’s not just about existing staff; by having well-thought-out, creative celebrations in place, you can build a brilliant reputation for your company, and even tempt future candidates. So, let’s look at the fun ways to celebrate your staff’s birthdays, whether they’re working from home or in the office.

Let them pick a theme

One option is to let staff pick their own themes for work birthday parties, then the whole working day can follow a fun theme, and you can even include this on your list of work perks. Maybe a worker loves the 80s? Well, get those shoulder pads out, the nostalgic playlists, and go neon. It can be themed around something they love, like a favourite film or just totally random if they’re struggling to think. Maybe give a hint to Dirty Dancing with some watermelons, and remind everyone to never put Baby in the corner. Or, do they love Mean Girls? Decorate with ‘that’s so fetch!’ balloons and cupcakes, and all things pink. Maybe they’re going through a mermaid or unicorn phase. It’s all about making them feel valued and special, so a theme they can pick is a great idea and can boost staff morale.

Surprise, surprise!

Or, instead of allowing staff to pick their own themed work birthday parties, your thing could be to surprise everybody! Maybe it’s a day out, a fun experience, or a surprise guest speaker. Whatever you think will be a treat for the birthday employee. You can have fun with this, and act like nothing’s planned and make it out like nobody has a clue it’s their special day, only for them to come into a room full of decorations. Or, you may even want to stretch the surprise out by not having any decorations, but letting your team jump on a coach to a ‘work seminar’ that’s been planned, for you all to turn up to a fun experience day - cue “SURPRISE!”

Bakery boxes and sweet treats

Bakery boxes have grown in popularity as people looked for ways to show their appreciation during a pandemic. If your workers are away from the office, sending out a sweet treat, cake box or bakery box full of cupcakes is a kind way to show your appreciation. It’s also a way to make them personalised and more fun than just heading to the shop for a standard chocolate cake. If they’re into unicorns, mermaids, or a certain football team, then there’s your inspiration, and bakers love a good theme. You may even have an office baker amongst the team.

Desk decorations

There’s nothing better than seeing the look on your employees’ faces when they arrive at a beautifully decorated desk. Use their personality for inspiration. What shows do they like? What’s their favourite chocolate and sweets? Do they love a pun? There’s so much inspiration to take from when decorating your staff’s office desks, and you can even drape them with funky lights, bunting, and balloons. Why not print out a funny joke or lovely, heartfelt message on a company letterhead or memo?

Birthday lunch

You might want to go all out or plan a simple, personalised buffet. If you know they can’t resist a certain restaurant or takeaway, then treat them with a meal out or a delivery. If you go for a birthday buffet, you can create fun signs and jokes to suit, or style it around a theme. Just be mindful of allergies, intolerances and any vegans in the office.

Video messages

Whether you’re letting staff work from home, in the office, or you’re providing for the hybrid worker, a simple yet effective idea is to create a touching video. This one especially works brilliantly for an employee who is working at home or in isolation. Have staff film themselves giving the birthday star a compliment, explaining why they appreciate them, and have them share a fond memory of them. You could even get clients on board if they have a really good relationship with them. With simple-to-use video design tools, you can create a personalised, memorable birthday gift without even getting the company card out.

Give them a superpower for the day

Let the birthday girl or boy have the power for the day by being the decision maker. They get to decide the radio station or playlist, the lunch break, and when and where to have meetings. Maybe they’ve always liked the idea of taking a meeting out onto the park opposite with a picnic, or those office sofas have always looked like a comfortable place for some brainstorming rather than the boardroom. Let them take charge! If your office culture is more corporate, maybe for birthdays, you allow staff to choose whether everyone comes in casual. You may even allow them to try out different roles for the day, whatever task they’ve always fancied having a go at, they can learn some new tricks whilst having some fun.

One of the best gifts for any of your employees is to make sure they have a healthy and safe work environment. To ensure you’re maintaining your duty to provide this, browse through the incredible office range from DBI Furniture Solutions right here - specialists in high-quality, certified workplace furniture and equipment. Or contact us to find out more about what would work for your business.