Happy Halloween!
Friday, October 30, 2009 at 08:19PM We celebrated Halloween at the home office yesterday—the first Halloween festivities I’ve been able to attend in I don’t know how long. And all I can say is I hope to never miss another one. It was so much fun!
We have all kinds of activities, including a coloring contest for employees’ children, a pumpkin carving contest, a baking contest, and—of course—the traditional costume contests. We shake it up a bit, however, by having individual costume contests as well as department.
I love it when people get into it. And this year there were plenty of people who took things seriously—very seriously! We had several departments who worked together as a team, coming up with incredible ideas. The first-place winner was our product design and illustrators team, who dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland, complete with a full-scale flower garden and tea party!
Second place was our design department, which featured a Zoolander theme; they even put on a complete fashion show for us. (And can I just say there are a few of our photographers who have no shame! You know who you are! I couldn’t pay my husband a million bucks to put on the show you did!)
Third place was our marketing department, who entertained us all with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, complete with a chocolate fountain and an Oompa dance. Wonderful!
And get this. Our finance team even participated, complete with tattoos and full biker attire! Loved seeing these people, who are so often perceived as boring and a little strait-laced, get into the act.
We also had a group of Mac make-up artists (our concept artists) and food icons (our electronic demonstrator support, who dressed up the Jolly Green Giant, Tony the Tiger, the Morton Salt girl, the Pillsbury Dough Boy, the Honey Nut Cheerioo Bee, and the Sun Maid Raisin girl).
And a lot of other employees dressed up individually as well--I can't even begin to name them all. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but I got a good sampling.
We also invite employees to bring their kids for an early trick-or-treat experience. The mostly younger children (dressed in their costumes, of course) wander from cubicle to cubicle, and many of the employees have candy to give them. It’s delightful to see these youngsters so enthralled with everything they see going on around them.
Most of the festivities took place around lunchtime, when we also hosted a soup bar (nothing is better when the weather is cold outside than soup, right?) and provided other tasty treats.
I realize it probably wasn’t our most productive day in terms of work done, but I did see people eventually settle down and I know deadlines were met and things were accomplished. And I’m a firm believer in working hard—and playing hard. We don’t play a lot around here, but when we do, we do it right!
I ran an errand this morning, and went to a store where a sister of one of our employees works. She told me that her sister had taken a lot of pictures yesterday, and she was showing them off last night. “I looked at her pictures, and listened to my sister talk about how much fun she had, and I wished I worked at a place like that!” this girl said.
Now that’s what I like to hear!
Reader Comments (16)
Casey - Do you by chance have pictures of "Shelli the Ghost"? You should post those so we can see her! ;o)
These are fantastic! Kudos to the whole SU Family! What a great time! I am very thankful that I get to represent a great bunch of people. I think you get out of your employees what you put into them, and this PROVES IT! You guys ROCK!
There is a picture of Shelli....look at the pics again, bottom, middle pic :)
I love hearing your stories. These pictures are awesome and what fun must have been had by all. You are a great employer and no one wonder everyone does a great job in DS for one, shpg, etc etc....it's not only a job but a fun place to work and that means everything. Getting up in the morning and going to a job you LOVE!
Thanks for being YOU!
Inky Hugs,
Terry~~