halloween ideas

I am really struggling with an issue here and would like some input. I am open both to new ideas or another viewpoint to help me out here.

For many years we had employees dress up for halloween. We would have a parade with the ones who did and then employees would vote on their favorite. When we had about 100 employees we had different awards (scariest, funniest, most creative, etc).

Over the years we have sold off or termed several of our lines of business. Since 2001 we have had about 14 employees. This has resulted in our giving away only one prize.

We have one employee who dresses up every year in 1 of 2 costumes. She alternates them. After we downsized I was not surprised when she won 2 years in a row, but after that I don't get it. I don't understand why anyone would vote for the same costume over and over again. It is not like this is a popular employee, or that many other employees do not come up with creative costumes. Why would employees continue to vote for an employee they really don't like who keeps wearing the same costumes over and over again? I don't get it.

When she continued to win I was aggravated enough to snivel to my boss. The next year we went with a pumpkin decorating contest. We had 1 or 2 that were outstanding, and the rest couldn't compete. After seeing so many disappointed faces, we decided not to do that one again.

So here we are. If we do the halloween costume prize this year this person may win for the same costume. I don't understand why. Can someone explain it to me? Or, do you have another idea? What can we do so other employees have a fair chance to win? Can you think of a different thing to do?

Please help me out here. I really would like to understand why anyone would vote for the same costume several years in a row. I would like a good idea even better.

Nae

Comments

  • 11 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • How about having a theme each year? This year could be funny characters, next year, scariy, the next political figures, etc.
  • random thoughts~

    Are the employees named in the contest- or is it "vote for costume 1, 2, or 3?" Ask any marketing person the value of name recognition. ;)

    If you have 14 ees in 3 depts- can the departments win something instead? Such as decorate their cubicles or offices- then vote on those? Perhaps winners could get lunch?

    Halloween Cake decorating, by department? by individuals? hmmm...14 cakes to eat in three days, heh. (drool)

    What if everyone were asked to dress the same- such as all pirates or clowns- (possibly company related?) then vote on one individual *Best* Pirate/Clown/Storybook Character.

    Have anyone who dresses up reach into a grab bag for prizes...share the wealth- so to speak, have a few silly prizes (dollar store stuff), such as toothbrushes, flashlights, etc..., then have your gift card or *coupon* for the grand prize. That way *anyone* who participates is eligible.

    Good Luck!!!




  • These are all great ideas! Thanks to both of you!

    Nae
  • You're more than welcome! Please let us know how it turns out.....
  • Sometimes people vote for the same contestant year after year because they "know who's going to win anyway, so why bother voting differently?"

    Definitely time to change the rules. I love the theme idea, or the office/desk decorating idea.

    If you use bulletin boards, you could have a bulletin board decorating contest also. We are a preschool company, and we get unusually excited about our bulletin boards... :)
  • So this employee is kind of the Tiger Woods of office costume contests?

    Ok, more ideas:

    Pumpkin chuckin' contest - give each department 5 small pumpkins and 1 hour to figure out the best way to throw a pumpkin as far as possible.

    Pumpkin bowling - line up som "pin shaped" squash and get a few roundish pumpkins. Probably should do this in the parking lot.

    A pumpkin themed baking contest.

    I like some of the other ideas too, especially the department decorating contest.
  • We decided we didn't have much notice, so went with the everyone who dresses gets a prize idea. As soon as I knew how many dressed up I went to an inexpensive store and bought the prizes ($1-$3 each). We were having an employee meeting that day anyway, so we awarded gifts based upon names being drawn at the meeting. First name got first choice, etc. We also had the employees vote on best costume and gave a $10 gift card to Target (my entire budget was $20).

    Sometimes we have a good turnout and sometimes not. I don't think my short notice helped either, but we only had 4 employees (out of 14) dress up, including me. If we do it this way again I will find out who is dressing up first so I can buy the prizes ahead of time. I had to run to the store to buy the gifts in my outfit. That is truly something I would prefer NOT to do again.

    The employee I complained about was probably unhappy with how we did things. As I said, she always sticks to 1 of 2 outfits if we are giving a 'best dressed' prize. Last year when we did the pumpkins she wore something else for a change. She had on a long blue dress (reminded me of granny dresses in the 60's...in fact, it might have been one), put blue in her hair and said she was the blue bird of happiness. She wore the same dress and had the same blue hair this year, but she also had something on her head and now said she was the blue fairy. I am sure, however, if she had known that we would award a $10 gift card she would have dressed in one of her reliable 'winning' outfits.

    I know $20 is a very small budget, but none of the employees has ever complained that the prizes are too small. We have had as many as 10 dress, and as few as 2. I think we might go for the department decorations next year if I can figure out how to divide them up. We can award a pizza to whomever wins.

    Thanks for everyone's input on this. It was very helpful.

    Nae
  • Well, at least she wasnt the "Blue Streak"...
  • I'm reviving this thread because I used Paul's suggestions for alternative Halloween activities in an article I wrote for [URL="http://employmentlawpost.com/diversity/"][I]Diversity Insight[/I][/URL] this month, [URL="http://employmentlawpost.com/diversity/2009/10/18/celebrating-halloween-in-a-diverse-workplace/"]"Celebrating Halloween in a Diverse Workplace."[/URL]

    Have you ever had a problem like the ICE department head encountered?

    Do you allow employees to dress up? If so, do you set any parameters or send out any guidelines/warnings like the article suggests?

    A lot of the reading I did when researching the article suggests that in many offices, letting people dress up sets the wrong tone in terms of credibility and seriousness (do employees take a manager less seriously in November if he shows up on Halloween dressed in a ridiculous outfit?


    In general, how do you treat the holiday in your office?

    Celeste
  • We have always allowed employees to dress up on Halloween, and some of our departments also have costume/department decorating/pumpkin carving contests. (We also used to have a big family Halloween party every year, but stopped doing that when we sold the building where we held it and couldn't find another space big enough.) We've never had a problem with inappropriate costumes that I can recall. Usually the departments will choose a theme and we've had some very clever and creative ones over the years. Some of my favorites have been nursery rhymes (I was Miss Muffet), Old West (I've been a sheriff twice now), Army, 1950's, and the year when two of my co-workers and I dressed up as a punk rock band. There's always one department or other that goes all-out and buys really cool costumes, often something with a movie theme like "Wizard of Oz" or "Grease", and then there's usually at least one department that takes the path of least resistance and all come in dressed in their pajamas (never anything racy or sexy, usually flannel accessorized with bunny slippers or hair curlers!).

    We've never had any problem with the whole credibility and seriousness issue; I think it's a good thing when the managers dress up and participate in the fun with their employees. So far nobody has ever decided that they respect the boss any less just because they participated, in fact I think for most people seeing the boss join in the fun has been a positive thing.
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