While it’s a common practice for companies around the world to organize celebrations for their employees’ birthdays, achievements, and anniversaries, it’s a less frequent occurrence for the staff to do the same for their bosses.
A holiday known as National Boss Day is celebrated on October 16th in countries such as America, England, Canada, Australia, Romania, and South Africa. The custom dates back to 1958 and has the goal to help build stronger relationships between bosses and employees. This is the time of the year when the staff has an opportunity to show how much they appreciate everything that their supervisors have done for them.
If you and your co-workers are having trouble coming up with good ideas for the upcoming National Boss Day, we have created a list of our favorite solutions to help you out. You can:
- Give your boss a gift
- Create a paper or digital team card
- Organize an award ceremony
- Record a thank-you video
- Provide inspiration
- Decorate the office
- Celebrate after work
Give Your Boss a Gift
One of the best ways to show your boss that you appreciate them is to give them a personalized gift. Make sure that all your co-workers have the chance to donate and provide suggestions on what the gift should be. You can organize a poll and see what most of your colleagues think your boss would like.
You should consider what you know about your boss, such as their interests and preferences. If your boss is a coffee drinker, a custom-made mug with an apt picture or message would be an excellent choice. If they’re into art, you can consider getting them a painting or a small statue.
If you want to go for a safer option, you can bake them a cake. Get all the employees that know a thing or two about baking together and come up with a unique cake that your boss will appreciate. Write a personalized message using melted chocolate, and you’re good to go.
Create a Paper or Digital Team Card
Another fantastic way to show your boss that you appreciate them is to get the team together and create a team card. It should suit the boss’ personality and contain a personalized message. It can list some of the boss’ traits and contributions or tell an inside joke that will surely make them laugh. Whichever approach you choose, make sure that all the team members sign the card.
You can choose to make the card in digital form. This way, you can enable your colleagues to express themselves in a variety of creative ways, such as emojis, stickers, and funny GIFs.
Organize an Award Ceremony
Award ceremonies can be fun events for the whole workplace. Take a little break from work and gather everyone around to have a light-hearted ceremony where you award your supervisors with fictitious badges and trophies. Get together with your co-workers and come up with the appropriate awards for each manager.
You should make up a different title for each supervisor. Depending on their personality, you can be humorous or show your appreciation of their role. The badges that your managers get can say something like:
- Coolest Boss
- Funniest Supervisor
- Most Suave Manager
Record a Thank-You Video
Aside from a personalized team card, you can record a video where every team member gets to say a thing or two about why they appreciate your boss’ efforts. Grab an opportunity when it’s just you and your colleagues in the office, get a phone or a camera, and start shooting. Make sure to do this at least a week before, so that you can record a proper video with everyone participating.
You can send the video via email or upload it to YouTube. Show the video to your boss on October 16th and give them something that they’ll remember fondly in the years to come.
Provide Inspiration
It’s the job of a boss to inspire their workforce to be better at what they do. On National Boss Day, you can switch roles and be the one to provide inspiration to your boss. If you want to get creative, you can collect rocks, put them in a bowl, pass them around the workplace, and let every employee write a motivational message. Give the bowl to your boss to keep it in their office and take out an inspirational rock whenever they feel down.
Decorate the Office
What is a celebration without proper decorations? Talk to an administrator about letting you into the office before the National Boss Day celebrations begin. Use the time you have to decorate the workplace with balloons, streamers, candy jars, and all kinds of signs.
Celebrate After Work
After you’re done with the day’s workload, the entire staff can go out and have a great time. You can go for a more traditional option and have dinner and a couple of drinks with your bosses and co-workers. This can be a great opportunity for everyone to talk and get to know each other better.
You can also organize a fun team-building activity that your boss likes. See if you can figure out their preferences by talking to your co-workers. If you can’t, you’ll have to ask your boss directly. The activity can be something like:
- Escape room
- Bowling
- Pool
- Rope course
- Laser tag
- Office trivia
At the end of the day, it’s important that everyone has fun and that you and your team get to show your boss how much you appreciate everything that they’ve done for you during the time you’ve spent working for them.
If you want to read more articles about the workplace, you can check out:
- 5 for Friday: Workplace Happiness Edition
- 4 Ways To Beat Spring Fever in the Workplace
- When You Should and Should Not Be the Funny Guy at the Office
- 8 Small Changes That Can Help You Love Your Work
- 39% of Employees Admit to Faking Sick Days To Enjoy Summer
- 7 Ways To Show You’re Ready for a Promotion