Do you want to really bring big-time joy to your workplace? Then think about food!
Birthday cake. Birthday pie. Birthday cookies. Most of the time you can’t go wrong with a yummy birthday dessert. Even people who have special dietary needs can have desserts with all the gluten and sugar-free options available now.
Or if you have someone who is eating extremely healthy, you can be quite creative with fruit. I’ve seen a watermelon “cake” online made with 100 percent fruit that looks absolutely heavenly!
Whether you buy it, bake it, or make it, a birthday dessert can mean a lot to a coworker and bring everyone together for a few minutes of happiness. My father-in-law, Ron, made it a point to remember everyone’s birthday while on the job and to bring in a cake. One 18-year-old girl who had a difficult family life burst into tears when he brought her one for her special day.
“No one has ever done this for me before,” she cried.
I was touched at the Soil and Water Conservation District when my boss asked what my favorite cake was. I told her I liked German chocolate cake and was blown away the next day when she brought in one for my birthday that was homemade! This was one busy lady, so her taking that time meant a lot to me. My friend Claire is a donut fanatic, so of course we had to have a donut cake for her special day.
Which brings me to my next point. Sometimes it’s just not possible to break away during the day to buy a cake or other dessert. When times got busy at the City of Noblesville and it was difficult to coordinate schedules, we often gathered for a birthday breakfast before the official start of the workday. Sometimes it was healthy, sometimes it was not (French toast casserole anyone?) but enjoying a treat together was a wonderful way to start the birthday person’s day.
If you plan a bit ahead, you can take it to the next level and have potluck lunches for birthdays or holidays. One large department at the City of Noblesville held a potluck each month to honor everyone’s birthday for that month. They held it on a specific day each time, so staff members knew to keep their calendar clear.
To prevent everyone from bringing all desserts or all side dishes, this is another instance where creating a template comes in handy. Create a main dish section, followed by side dishes, desserts, and drinks (non-alcoholic of course!) Print it out when needed and post it in a common area along with a pen so it’s easy for people to sign up to bring a dish. I always post the sign-up sheet at least a week ahead of time so people can plan things for their grocery lists.
My father-in-law always had potluck lunches, and this is one of the reasons people wanted to be on his crew!
I always enjoyed special Christmas potluck lunches when I worked for local government. Sometimes we played easy games like Uno or did Secret Santa reveals. “White elephant gift” lunches were also a blast, especially when you could steal a gift up to three different times.
It might be tough to find an entire hour for a potluck lunch sometimes, so this is another opportunity to go with breakfast instead. If you make this big enough, no one will need to even eat lunch later! And sometimes a breakfast can involve easier dishes than a lunch, which might help time-crunched coworkers.
If you need to keep things simpler, gathering five dollars from people and ordering pizzas is sometimes the way to go and can really boost morale! Taking 15 minutes to laugh over a couple slices of pepperoni can help a team through a challenging project.
And remember to celebrate coworkers’ big achievements as well as birthdays. Running a half or full marathon, having a first child, celebrating the opening night of the play that an employee is starring in – these are all huge accomplishments that deserve a show of support from coworkers.
Amy Shankland is a writer and fundraising professional living in Noblesville with her husband John, two sons, two dogs, and a cat. You can reach her via email at amys@greenavenue.info.