We’ve done quite a bit of talking about food, which is probably making you just as hungry as it is me. Sometimes people’s diets are so challenging that food isn’t even an option. Or maybe you want to add some more fun to those yummy celebrations.
Can you sing? This is probably one of the more “out there” ideas in this series, but sometimes I’ll make up a song for someone. Most of the time it’s to the tune of a popular song.
For example, I went all “Weird Al” on my coworker Jayme and turned the popular Aerosmith song “Janie’s Got a Gun” into “Jayme’s Got a Bun.” She often styled her long blonde hair into a striking, professional looking bun. Jayme loved it!
You can sing to someone individually, or if you’re brave and/or crazy like me, you can sing to them when everyone is gathered. I’m talking about going beyond the typical “Happy Birthday to You” song, People. This is where you can be bold!
Just make certain the person won’t be embarrassed by all the attention. And don’t worry if your singing isn’t perfect. Come on, look at the popularity of all those karaoke places!
I also like to sing a special song to someone on their voicemail. This is particularly great when they are away on a business trip and not around for their actual birthday. Or when I’m not in the office for some reason. Or when I just want to sing to someone and not have everyone in the world hear it.
The advantage to a voicemail song is they can keep it if they like and play it back when they need to be cheered up in the future.
Remember my silly email poems? You could also recite a fun poem to someone during a gathering over food, one on one, or on voicemail. The weirder the better. And don’t fret about perfection here. Your sixth-grade English teacher isn’t going to come around and slap you for rhymes that don’t quite work or the incorrect iambic pentameter.
You don’t even have to make up a poem. Just hop online. The Poetry Foundation has over 40,000 poems you can choose from. PoemHunter.com has poetry from all over the world. And NetPoets.com enables you to search for poems by keyword. Their poetry map helps you find different types of poems, and the Poetry Buffet category has humorous, holiday, and special occasion poems.
Maybe singing and poetry are well beyond your comfort zone. How about decorating someone’s workspace for a special occasion? This can take as little as five minutes or as long as 45. For this category, I rely once again on the dollar store. You can get streamers, balloons, and other fun doodads at a reasonable cost. I like to stock up once a year, so I always have decorations on hand.
This is another area where you must proceed with caution. Most people will love coming in to work to see their special day recognized with decorations. If you know the person well and are certain they’ll love all kinds of crazy decorations, go for it. If not, it’s best to be on the safe side and go with some simple balloons and streamers.
No matter what, make certain your decorations don’t hamper their work efforts. You don’t want the birthday person spending a half hour undoing your efforts just so they could get to their desk when they’re approaching a big deadline.
Sometimes you don’t have to spend a dime to perfectly decorate someone’s office, cubicle, or locker. I put small rocks from rock wall from home on a different boss’s desk. Ginger was a self-proclaimed “rock hound” – an amateur geologist.
When I realized I would be out of the office on Boss’s Day due to a vacation, I stayed a few minutes late one Friday. Since Boss’s Day was the following Monday, I placed various rocks around her desk along with a table tent sign that simply said, “You ROCK as our boss!” I smiled when I got her voicemail of appreciation on my cell phone while strolling through Epcot with my family that Monday!
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.