Funny Employee Awards for CoWorkers on CNN

Thanks to CNN.com for naming "Funny Employee Awards" one of 10 Fun Gifts for Co-Workers in a recent news item.

#9 Funny Employee Awards
Bring your office holiday party to life by presenting your co-workers with funny employee awards. With 101 different categories ranging from a job well done to poking fun at each other, there's sure to be an award for everyone. ($29.99) - Source: cnn.com

The article by Rachel Zupek originally appeared on Careerbuilder.com before CNN picked up the story. She encourages you to forgo predictable gifts like coffee mugs for your boss, a gift card for your co-worker, or fruit baskets for clients. Instead, give something fun like Funny Awards for Coworkers.

Office Holiday Party Planning Checklist

Planning a Christmas party, year-end meeting, or holiday event for your office? Follow these 12 simple guidelines to ensure a safe and enjoyable holiday celebration.

1. Don't go at it alone.
   Planning the office party may be your responsibility, but no one says you have to do by yourself. Form a committee of 2-3 people to share the workload. If you have the budget and authorization, consider hiring an outside event planner.
2. Plan a theme party.
   A simple theme can go a long way towards setting expectations and making the entire planning process more focused. Popular office party themes include Casino night, Hollywood theme, and Office Awards show.
3. Consider an off night.
   Here's an idea - don't have your office party on the first or second Saturday of December like 99% of everyone else in the county. You'll get better deals and more options if you host your party on an off night.
4. Deck the halls.
   Whether you're having the party in-house or off-site, pull out the decorations to make the event festive. You don't have to break the bank, just some small, tasteful touches will do.
5. Break up cliques.
   Avoid an office party where coworkers mingle with the same cliques they hang out with all year. Consider assigned table seating, or use "standing" tables to encourage mingling.
6. Serve food.
   When planning the menu, look for food that is easy to eat and won't end up on someone's clothes or the floor.
7. Have drink options.
   If you're going to serve alcohol, go out of your way to think up equally fun and festive non-alcoholic drinks. Offer mocktails, festive punch, unique soda options... anything to make not drinking just as fun as imbibing. Be sure to have plenty of bottled water on hand and personally serve it to those that are drinking.
8. Hire entertainment.
   I'm sure your manager is a real hoot. But leave the entertainment up the the professionals. Break out the karaoke machine, find a local band, or hire a comedian. If your budget doesn't allow for outside entertainment, consider exchanging gag gifts or hosting some office party games.
9. Get a photographer.
   Your employees usually arrive dressed to the nines, so don't miss this opportunity to capture images of them at their best. Just do it early on in the party, before too many drinks are served. Once the Electric Slide breaks out, put the camera away.
10. Provide hand sanitizer.
    Seriously, it's flu season. Have some Purell available.
11. Corral the booze.
    Stop serving alcohol at least an hour prior to event's end. Offer a food item or dessert at that time. Take care of anyone who may have over-indulged.
12. Have transportation options available.
    Set up some transportation options prior to the event. Have people volunteer to be designated drivers ahead of time. Make sure everyone has access to taxi cab phone numbers, and that cars will be safe overnight. Call the cabs yourself if you have to.

Need more free tips and office party planning checklists? Just join our free newsletter! And please add your own tips in the comments section below.

Funny Christmas Party Themes - Awards Show

Looking for unique and funny Christmas party themes? Planning a year-end meeting or holiday party and want to have the best event ever? Then roll out the red carpet and host your very own awards show! We'll give you step-by-step instructions for throwing a party that people will talk about all year!

Unless you work for an extremely small company, don't try to plan the Christmas party alone. Put together a selection committee of 2-3 people who know most everyone in the office. You need a group to discuss your coworkers likes, dislikes, personalities and preferences.. Something you might consider incredibly fun, they might consider offensive. Read The Office Party Planning Committee

When choosing your award recipients, make sure you have the biggest characters in the office covered. The awards ceremony will only be as good as the winners, and an event filled with boring acceptance speeches won’t be much fun for anyone. Read How to Choose Employee Award Winners

Consider hiring a professional comedian to really liven things up. Just like a real Awards show, have the comedian perform an opening stand-up comedy routine. Then begin the awards show portion of the evening. As your employees come up to claim the Awards, the comedian can prompt them for a little back story and “acceptance speech”. Read How to Hire an Office Party Comedian

Low cost touches to make your awards show special:

1. Set up a red carpet outside the meeting space (check your local remnant store for deals).
2. Station a photographer to pose as paparazzi as guests arrive.
3. Serve "mocktails" to make the evening festive.
4. Have a professional comedian or someone funny serve as the emcee for the event.
5. Hand out funny awards certificates or funny trophies to the winners.

Want to read more about putting on this funny Christmas party theme? Start by downloading this "Funny Employee Awards" eBook, and you’re halfway there.

You'll find everything you need to know about organizing a ceremony, along with plenty of helpful tips. And most important, you’ll get 101 awards certificates t that will be appropriate for everyone around the office, no matter the employee or the type of business.

When it's over, everyone will be praising you for the best Christmas party ever.

Office Party Ideas - Fun Meeting Ideas

The office: it’s a place to earn an honest living, a place to use your skills and best of all, a place to spend hours surfing for useless junk on eBay™ and get paid for it.

But within every place of business, there comes a time when it becomes necessary to give those who toil there a “thank you” that’s bigger than just dental coverage.

And that’s where the office party comes in. You've tried lots of ideas for a fun office meeting. Now it's time to revisit one of the classic office party ideas: the Employee Awards Ceremony.

This ceremony is all about having a good time, and at the same time showing some gratitude for those who are down in the cubicle trenches with you every Monday through Friday.

But most of all, it’s about fun.

Sure, you could gather everyone together in some conference room and hand out plaques reading “Best Salesman” or “MVW” (Most Valuable Worker), but where’s the fun in that? Funny awards are where it’s at. They give thanks while simultaneously making sure everyone has a good time. Your employees don’t want to sit through a dry presentation any more than you want to give one. We all suffer enough at our jobs without the supposedly fun times adding to the misery.

So how, you ask, do you put on a lively presentation that will be a guaranteed good time for everyone in the office? Start by downloading this "Funny Employee Awards" eBook, and you’re halfway there.

You'll find everything you need to know about organizing a ceremony, along with plenty of helpful tips. And most important, you’ll get 101 awards certificates that will be appropriate for everyone around the office, no matter the employee or the type of business.

An this isn't just for the Christmas party, Holiday party or whatever you call the year-end party. You can give out funny awards throughout the year at staff meetings, sales meetings, all hands meetings, or partial hands meetings. It's always a good idea to add laughter in the workplace.

So put your phone straight to voicemail, grab a highlighter, hit the snack machine for a bag of Funyuns and get started.

When it's over, everyone will be praising you for the best office party idea ever.

Fake Awards - Free Fake Award Certificates and Trophies

Fake Awards Bring Real Laughs

Ever dream of winning your own Oscar Award, Grammy, Emmy, or Tony Award? Do you already have speech written with a  list of people you want to thank? If so, you should consider hosting your own fake awards show.

The best place to turn your awards show dream into reality is right in front of you: the office. (I mean, you are reading this at work, right?) Every business is looking for ways to cut costs at the office party, and a fake awards show is a fun, low-cost meeting idea.

Host Your Own Fake Awards Show:

1. Set up a fake red carpet outside the office meeting space.
2. Hire a fake photographer to pose as a faux paparazzi as guests arrive.
3. Serve fake cocktails ("mocktails") to save money and reduce liability.
4. Have the office jokester serve as the fake emcee for the event.
5. Hand out fake awards certificates or fake trophies to the winners.

Think of it... you could fulfill your awards show dream with just an old prom dress, a themed office party and a little bit of creativity. So what are you waiting for? Tell the party planning committee that  you have a great office party idea!

And remember the old saying: fake it 'till you make it.

The Office Christmas Party Planning Committee

In this clip from The Office, the head of the Christmas party committee throws out the Stanford representative for having "bad" ideas. Can you relate?

Unless you work for an extremely small company, don't try to plan the Christmas party alone. Put together a selection committee of 2-3 people who know most everyone in the office. You need a group to suss out your coworkers likes, dislikes, personalities and preferences.. Something you might consider incredibly fun, they might consider a bore - or even worse, offensive.

A committee also protects you from shouldering all of the responsiblity should something go wrong. If something falls flat, you have the comfort of knowing you ran it past your committee.

But what do you do when disagreements arise within the group? How do you handle the different strong personalities?

Please share your ideas for handling committee conflicts in the comments section.

Money-Saving Office Party Ideas

Associated Press writer Joyce Rosenberg recently penned an excellent article, "Go ahead with holiday parties, even if money's short." The article extols the virtues of forging ahead with the company party - even in the face of a tough economy.

Rosenberg also lists many excellent money-saving ideas to help cut costs on the holiday party:

• Hold a potluck affair, which can appeal to staffers who love to cook and show off to their co-workers. The boss should still contribute something, perhaps beverages and a cake, and be as generous as possible.
• If the staff is small, the owner might have everyone over to his or her house for brunch, or a cocktail party.
• Have your parties onsite rather than in a restaurant or catering hall or club.
• Skip the alcohol, or serve only wine and beer.
• Hold parties during off-peak times. Thursdays in December are the most popular and therefore the most expensive dates, so some companies are putting their celebrations off until January.
• Barter your company's work for dinner at a local restaurant.

Read the full article here. What cost-cutting ideas would you add to this list? Post your comments below or answer this question on LinkedIn Answers