300250 Thu May 12 10:31:24 -0700 2005 14 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1667667 I have recently begun planning events for my office (about 100 persons). I have a small budget but I would like to plan creative office events that include food (if you serve food they will come). Please share some office events that your office conducts. We have an ice cream social on the horizon but that is not the creative nail that I am trying to hit. We have a book fair and jewelry show coming up as well. I have thought about having lemonade but I thought that my fellow chowhounds would have some great ideas . . . Thu May 12 10:31:24 -0700 2005 0 Office Planner 1 1667672 My office has had a few Bake-Offs. Usually late in October. People are asked to bring in homemade desserts, which are then judged by a panel of senior management folks. Categories have been: Cakes, Pies, Cookies, Miscellaneous, Best Presentation and Best Overall. After the judging, the rest of the staff is invited in to see all the entries on display, hear the winners announced, and then dig in. Mgmt. provides coffee, milk, soft drinks, paper goods and plastic utensils, as well as prizes for the winners. Winners' recipes are then published in the next month's company newsletter, in time for the holidays. (Except, of course, for those who insist that their recipe is a family secret. Have never understood that mindset. But that's for another thread, I suppose.) Thu May 12 11:30:15 -0700 2005 1667667 0 Deenso 2 1667679 I worked someplace that did a chili cookoff. It was a lot of fun even if the most pedestrian chili did always win... Thu May 12 12:31:15 -0700 2005 1667672 0 Chris VR 2 1667682 The only time I ever use the "family secret" excuse is when the recipe involves liberal amounts of pre-packaged goods. For example: The Jester's Secret Spaghetti Sauce Recipe 1 pound ground chuck roast 1 package hot Italian sausage, either sliced thinly or de-skinned 1 package button mushrooms, sliced 2 *different* jars Classico or Barilla pasta sauce 2 big cloves garlic, minced Basil Oregano Rosemary Thyme Salt Fresh ground pepper Brown the beef in a big skillet, breaking up any big chunks. Remove to a bowl, and brown the sausage the same way, breaking up into slightly larger chunks than you did for the beef. Remove to the same bowl as the beef. Saute the mushrooms in the leftover grease from the sausage (adding olive oil if necessary), then add the meats back to the pan. Stir in both jars of sauce, add seasonings to taste (I usually do about 2 teaspoons basil, 3/4 teaspoon rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon each of thyme and oregano), simmer at least 10 minutes, and serve over al dente spaghetti. NOTES: A lot of people I've come across don't like mushrooms. Leave them out if you like, but if you sauteed them well enough they usually don't notice the mushrooms are in there. It is essential two use two different kinds of sauce. If you only use one, somebody who has tasted that particular sauce could recognize it as a doctored store-bought sauce. If you can, use one jar of Barilla *and* one jar of Classico; that way nobody will be able to tell what brand you used. Thu May 12 12:52:18 -0700 2005 1667672 0 JK Grence (the Cosmic Jester) 2 1667711 If you have the space, then grilling outside but at or near the office has been used by us more than once. We've done it two ways where it's kind of a late lunch on Friday and we just take the rest of the day off after hanging out for a while, and then just a longer lunch (also on a Friday). You can add potluck sides to this as well. Thu May 12 17:38:22 -0700 2005 1667672 0 Dennis S 1 1667706 We once had a movie event where we showed some motivating films and had popcorn. Very cheap. Peole kind of liked it. Thu May 12 16:16:29 -0700 2005 1667667 0 oldone 1 1667719 My friend's office is having a wine contest. I don't know how they're doing judging or keeping everyone from getting really drunk, since each person has to bring one bottle (the parameters for this contest are simply that it has to be a bottle of red wine). It sure sounds like fun, though! With a nice cheese platter, of course... Maybe select judges for different categories? Or have each person who tastes each wine write down a number from 1-10 (1=worst, 10=best), and the winning wine is the one with the highest total? Thu May 12 18:29:25 -0700 2005 1667667 0 nooodles 1 1667727 ho hum....how boring and disingenuous so far (with the exception of the cosmic jesters remark about spicing it up with different brands to hide the true brand). C'mon folks, spice it up a bit please. The OP said '' ...but I would like to plan creative office events that include food... '' so give some suggestions like for example a Jam session (in the 60/70's the dance parties held during the early part of the afternoon for some reason was called that), or switching your office clothes for beachwear with a BBQ or a lebanese / egyptian belly dancer called for say a half hour spot as a surprise between lunch (I did that last year at a school reunion dinner -It was a great hit ) or a special prize where the winner gets to switch desks with one of the senior management (would'nt that be fun ) ? Fri May 13 02:05:32 -0700 2005 1667667 0 Amin (London Foodie ''OrientRice@aol.com'') 2 1667740 Now the ideas are flowin'. . .I want to be senior management person who gets to wear the lebanese belly dancing outfit for the afternoon while eating Baba ganoush. Thank you for trying. I am going to go back to planning my boring ice cream social. Fri May 13 10:17:54 -0700 2005 1667727 0 Office Planner 1 1667779 Sorry, but I agree with Amin. All of this is lame. I think the major issue is, HAVE THE COMPANY PAY FOR IT. I've had limited fun at an office that never paid for anything--Christmas, thanking employees, etc. always reverted to a "fun" pot luck. Guess, what..making the food (while I love cooking) is a total drag for the office. Make, freeze, lug from the parking lot, big back up for the microwave, and also the folks that "donate" by bringing 2 liters of pop. So sad. So, I say anything you can do on the company's dime will be welcomed, however modest. Cheese tasting--a cookie buffet, bagels never hurt...just keep the employees as customers, not as the cooks. They're probably getting screwed enough on the money to add insult to injury. My mantra still holds--" Make it free for the employee" Fri May 13 20:50:22 -0700 2005 1667667 0 berkleybabe 1 1667781 It is only lame if you have the notion that it will be lame. I hated potlucks and at work functions until a few years ago, one job changed it all for me. My old 'sniff-sniff' job used to have wonderful breakfast potlucks. It always started our day off right. Some people would bring in electric skillets and make omelets or pancakes. Do you have a parking lot adjacent to where you work? If you do, they are good for having barbeques. especially if you can get management to kick in some $$. Fri May 13 22:00:26 -0700 2005 1667667 0 Tracy L. 1 1667839 I manage an office of 50 people and here's my best advice: have the bosses serve the employees. My employees love seeing me and their supervisors roll up our sleeves and feed them. We've done rootbeer floats, sundaes, "mock-tails" -- and they've loved them all. We have almost zero budget for this, so the supervisors and I often dig into our own pockets for these treats. And I think they're worth every penny. In April we did particularly well on a measure we'd missed for a few months. On Thursday, I stopped and bought a variety of Haagen Dazs bars. The supervisors and I walked around to each person's desk and offered them their choice. It took almost no time away from productivity and cost be less than $50. We'll be doing a hot-dog lunch shortly. Mon May 16 00:10:28 -0700 2005 1667667 0 Dorothy 1 1667928 Our office has had two panini making parties. Employees need to bring in several George Foreman grills, the office pays for the fancy breads, meats, eggplant, cheese, and other condiments, (and drinks and salad on the side), and various employees appoint themselves chefs (and switch throughout lunch) grilling/pressing the sandwiches using the GF grill. Basically you tell your chef your panini order, and then socialize during lunch with your co-workers while munching on good eats. Tue May 17 18:00:35 -0700 2005 1667667 0 katya 1 1667930 I don't know if you are looking to make this only social, but here is a non-social, non-food-related idea (uh, yeah, probably wrong site to post). Anyway, hire a masseuse to come to the office and give 15 minute chair massages. Their hourly rate is usually pretty good, espcially if you go through a school (people almost graduating need internship hours, too, so sometimes they do it for almost free)... have people sign up and relax! good for morale but not for mingling. oh well. Tue May 17 18:50:46 -0700 2005 1667667 0 kimberly 2 1668081 Not everyone will like to be touched by a stranger or get a massage in their clothes. Everybody eats and talks. However, allowing a massuese into the office is a good idea. They are only $10 for 15 minutes in some offices. Sat May 21 11:16:45 -0700 2005 1667930 0 kc girl