HR
Annie Shapiro 04.01.22
Celebrating employee birthdays never gets old. Between the confetti, balloons, and cake, office birthday parties offer employees a brief respite from their day-to-day, not to mention an opportunity to appreciate peers.
With early autumn accounting for the majority of birthdays—Namely’s database shows that September 14 is the most popular birthday date—what better time to unwrap how companies are celebrating? We asked professionals across different industries how they celebrated birthdays in the office:
1. Enjoy a Team Lunch
“We celebrate each employee’s birthday with lunch at the office (from the place of their choice) and dessert. We decorate the conference room and give the honoree a birthday card signed by everyone in the office. During lunch, we talk about the honoree’s birthday plans and enjoy each other’s company.”
— Vladimir Gendelman, Company Folders
2. Remember Remote Workers
“Each month, our offices have monthly birthday parties to celebrate those who had a birthday that month. However, we also have a number of home-based workers who we aren’t able to celebrate in the office. We do something extra special for them to ensure they know they are loved and made to feel special on their birthday. Each of our home-based employees is sent a custom mug with a hand-illustrated portrait and card wishing them a happy birthday. While we know it’s not the same as being able to celebrate their special day with others, we hope it makes them feel a little more part of our Inuvo family.”
— Amanda Hughes Propst, Inuvo
3. Recognize Employees at All-Hands
“Our company has a monthly all-hands meeting in our common area. We go over exciting things happening, have a different department present what they’re working on, and [cover] the usual housekeeping stuff. At the end of each meeting, our CEO reads off a list of everyone with a birthday that month and has them come to the front of the room. As a group they’re sung to and everyone enjoys some kind of company-provided treat. With 130+ employees, we’re just big enough to keep it fun and still make sure it’s a little awkward for those being sung to.”
— Heather Mercier, ExpertVoice
4. Be Creative
“I like to surprise my contractors with something creative...The latest present [I gave] was a spa package for one of my writers. She’s a mom that works from home, and I thought she could use some me time. It really meant a lot to her that I made the extra effort to think of something she might like. With so many options online, there's really no excuse. Nowadays, you can send a SendOutCard, a gift basket, flowers, movie passes, even legendary pizza from Chicago or New York (I'm planning on doing that this Christmas)...it's really endless.”
— James Heidebrecht, Policy Architects
5. Give Extra Time-Off
"At our digital marketing agency, birthdays are acknowledged by giving a free day of paid vacation within your birthday month. Although the office doesn't do a group event or celebration, it enables our staff to spend their birthday doing whatever they like most!"
— Christine Kilbride,Majux Marketing
6. Go for the Gifs
“At Aceable, one team member will realize it's another team members birthday and will call it out in a Slack channel. Then, all employees will proceed to share a birthday or celebration themed gif based on the birthday honoree's personal likes and interests (or just the weirdest gif we can find).”
— Amanda Hagley, Aceable
7. Host a Cake Day
“At Trupanion, there are more than 500 employees (not to mention 300 dogs and a few brave cats that come into the office). With so many team members, we celebrate employee birthdays once a month with a highly anticipated Cake Day. Imagine, once a month a lunchroom is filled with 20-30 cakes of all shapes, sizes and varieties – carrot cake, ice cream cake, chocolate cake, cheesecake, fudge cake, Boston cream pie, coconut cake and more. We also make sure to have a few vegan cakes on hand!
We also list all the employees who have birthdays during that particular month in a company-wide email so if people spot them they can give them a birthday high five as they go grab a piece of cake.”
— Michael Nank, Trupanion
8. Personalize a Thoughtful Note
“At Blueboard, we love recognizing top employees, so we make a big deal out of birthdays and anniversaries. Because we're still a growing company (~50 employees), we have the ability make each one personalized. Volunteer Culture Crews across our main offices are tasked with gathering submissions for a shared Kudoboard, dedicated to the birthday guy or gal (an interactive birthday card where anyone can post notes, videos, gifs, or photos), as well as organize a gathering break centered around the employee's favorite food or snack. We'll unveil the Kudoboard as we gather to sing happy birthday, and give the employee time to read through the wall of notes.
— Morgan Chaney, Blueboard
9. Offer a Birthday Breakfast
“Our birthday tradition is largely breakfast-based. The birthday boy or girl gets to choose what they want for breakfast and the whole office benefits. This usually takes the form of bagels or donuts—though I don't think there is a requirement that the food be round and holey. If that wasn't enough, someone usually queues up the heavy metal happy birthday song unique to the name of the special person for the Sonos.”
— Sean Flannigan, coolblueweb
10. Give a Customizable Gift
“Our birthday tradition is two-fold! On our birthday the entire team goes out to lunch at the restaurant of our choice! The second part (my favorite) is a $150 credit towards shoes. Last month for my birthday I got to design some custom Nike's that I'd been eyeing for months.”
— Devin Stagg, Pupford
11. Involve Senior Management
“We like to make our employees feel special on their birthdays by sending a personalized birthday card. For each employee, a member of our senior management writes a personalized note—either the CEO, COO or CTO—to indicate how important they are to the team. The rest of the team in the office signs as well.”
— Lindsay Lutz, TenantBase
12. Decorate Desks
"Our team members celebrate birthdays in the office by decorating desks for the occasion. They cover the computer screens with taped on, cut out memes, add a 'happy birthday!' banner, and include fun accessories like flowers and little sweet treats all around their keypads."
— Deborah Sweeney, MyCorporation.com
13. Other Local Treats
“The day before the employee’s birthday, we order cookies from a legendary local cookie chain here in Austin called Tiff’s Treats. It’s something everyone in the office looks forward to and is a fun way to celebrate birthdays with a really awesome local treat to break up the day in the middle of the afternoon.”
— Kris Hughes, ProjectManager.com
14. Group Birthdays by Month
“When we were small, celebrating birthdays was pretty easy, but as we grew we had to figure out a scalable way to recognize everybody. I got an idea from reading the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg—she talks about how at Facebook, as they scaled, the company adopted a monthly birthday party with a sheet cake with a square with everybody’s name on it. We started doing that this year, and it’s turned out to be a great way to recognize everybody on their birthday month—without wearing everybody out with multiple birthday parties every day.”
— Zach Hendrix, GreenPal
15. Make a Charitable Donation
“At GoodHire, each location has its own traditions, but celebration and recognition are important. At the Bay Area office, we have a monthly celebration of birthdays and anniversaries with cake and snacks. We also decorate the team members’ workspace on their birthday (and anniversary) with balloons and such, and they receive a greeting card and a small donation to a charity they support.”
— Marielle Smith, GoodHire
And if those fifteen ideas don’t inspire you, one of our favorite traditions comes from across the pond—Alistair Dodds of Smoking Chili Media in the UK shared that every company he’s worked for flips the equation: “It's always up to the employee whose birthday it is to bring in cakes for the rest of the office! I've always found it rather bemusing, but it’s what employees and the team expect, so I'm happy to go along with it… ‘Happy birthday! Now where's our cake?!!’”
Want to easily track employee birthdays on your own? Namely’s HR software allows teams to easily track and celebrate important milestones like work anniversaries and birthdays. See it in action by watching our product video here.
FAQs
Why is it important to celebrate employee birthdays? ›
A morale-booster
Seeking joy and finding reasons to celebrate, such as a birthday, also has the valuable business benefit of increasing morale. It makes people feel appreciated and brings staff together, both of which help to form deeper relationships between team members and across the organisation.
- Thank you so much for the birthday wishes! ...
- Thank you to all of my coworkers for the birthday wishes. ...
- I love all of the birthday wishes I got from my coworkers. ...
- Thank you for all of the birthday wishes! ...
- Seeing the birthday wishes from my coworkers has made me so happy.
Surprise them.
Celebrate their accomplishment in a way they'd never expect, with a good old-fashioned surprise party! Go all out by decorating the office, killing the lights, and jumping out of a giant cake when they arrive. Or, keep it low-key and give them a round of applause as they walk through the office.
- Offer good compensation packages. ...
- Provide meaningful work. ...
- Prioritize a work-life balance. ...
- Start an employee recognition program. ...
- Celebrate achievements. ...
- Offer professional development and learning opportunities. ...
- Hire internally. ...
- Have performance pay or bonuses.
- Get gifts which are unconventional. ...
- Prepare a scrapbook. ...
- Get a souvenir while you travel. ...
- Cook for him/her. ...
- Get creative. ...
- Decorate the office. ...
- Plan something exclusive.
Celebrating team accomplishments and having workplace celebrations gives employees a chance to bond and get to know each other. Personal connections help people work together better. The break from a day to day work day helps to recharge the staff and keep them focused and better able to focus when they return to work.
Why you should celebrate your employees? ›Employees feel appreciated when they're recognized for their hard work and achievements. Employee recognition plays a large part in employee satisfaction, and employers who celebrate success in the workplace can improve morale, strengthen teamwork and make work a much happier place.
Should employers celebrate employee birthdays? ›Office celebrations can be a great way to acknowledge and celebrate employees if done with respect and professionalism. Even when handling something as simple as a birthday announcement, whenever dealing with personal employee information, never assume and always ask before releasing it to others.
How do you celebrate birthday meaningfully? ›- Allot some “me time' ...
- Step outside your comfort zone. ...
- Eat a food you've never tried. ...
- Donate to causes you support. ...
- Create your very own masterpiece. ...
- Volunteer at your local soup kitchen. ...
- Get a relaxing blind massage. ...
- Volunteer in a shelter.
- Annual recognition awards ceremony. Remember the Dundies Awards from The Office? ...
- Grab lunch or happy hour together. ...
- Ask coworkers to share their cultural celebrations. ...
- Go on a company retreat. ...
- Have a retrospective every quarter.
How do you thank a group of people for their wishes? ›
Hi everyone! Thank you so much for all the thoughtful words and amazing messages you have given me on my birthday. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends.
How do you thank everyone in a group? ›- Choose an occasion. The occasion is a moment that prompted you to express appreciation to your team. ...
- Address the team by their name. ...
- Thank the team for their work. ...
- Discuss the effects of their contributions. ...
- Reinforce your appreciation.
- #1: Just Say Thank You.
- #2: Ask Employees What Type of Recognition is Meaningful to Them.
- #3 Have Lunch Brought in or Delivered.
- #4 Invest in Their Well-being.
- #5 Schedule Time for Fun.
- Use a corporate gamification system. ...
- Let employees give and receive “props.” ...
- Feed them. ...
- Express your gratitude on social media. ...
- Connect rewards to your company. ...
- Delegate a team award. ...
- Offer fitness opportunities. ...
- Give employees extra time off.
- Educational classes or learning experiences. ...
- Personal vacation budget. ...
- Funded company clubs. ...
- Mini company retreat. ...
- Extra vacation day. ...
- Personalized consultation with an expert. ...
- Better working hours. ...
- Personal gratitude budget.
- Offer Company-Branded Swag. ...
- Give Employees Desk Plants. ...
- Make Charitable Donations. ...
- Provide Organizational Supplies. ...
- Gift a Massage. ...
- Provide Corporate Discounts. ...
- Give Handwritten Notes. ...
- Offer Catered Lunch.
- Maintain A Fair Workplace. ...
- Recognize Your Winners. ...
- Support Volunteer Causes. ...
- Pair Up Mentors And New Hires. ...
- Get Employees Involved From The Start. ...
- Provide Adequate Training. ...
- Offer Flex Hours. ...
- Keep An Open Channel Of Communication.
- 1) Consistently Deliver Praise and Recognition. ...
- 2) Make Work Fulfilling. ...
- 3) Offer Meaningful Perks. ...
- 4) Invest in Your Team's Personal and Professional Growth. ...
- 5) Throw Fun Events that Allow People to Interact and Bond. ...
- 6) Incentivize Wellness (and Make it Fun)
- Recognize Core Values. ...
- Apply Company Values. ...
- Share Employee Impact. ...
- Encourage Participation. ...
- Understand How Business Began. ...
- Recognize What Sets You Apart. ...
- Organize Charity Days. ...
- Promote a Congratulatory Culture.
- amazement,
- astonishment,
- shock,
- startlement,
- stupefaction.
How do you express unexpected surprise? ›
- funnily enough. phrase. ...
- you don't say. phrase. ...
- heavens above. phrase. ...
- Well, I never (did) phrase. ...
- is that a fact? phrase. ...
- you would not believe. phrase. ...
- of all things/people/places. phrase. ...
- now I've seen everything/it all. phrase.
Tip: give your hints a number with, for example, # 1 or # 2. Do you also keep yourself as a sender a secret? Then share things about how you got to know each other. Or let them know that you already know the other person very well, by revealing details about where the invitee lives, works, or sports.
What ideas will you suggest to celebrate success? ›- Just say it. A straightforward, face-to-face "well done" is a simple but effective way to celebrate achievement. ...
- Share success stories. ...
- Pay it forward. ...
- Give a gift. ...
- Get together socially. ...
- Organize a team day out. ...
- Offer extra holiday. ...
- Set up a hall of fame.
- Break Large Goals Down Into Smaller Goals. You don't want to focus on the bigger picture, as tempting as that can be. ...
- Reward Yourself. Think about what you enjoy the most, and do this each time you complete a step. ...
- Don't Pressure Yourself. ...
- Track Your Progress. ...
- Change Your Perspective.
- Greet co-workers with a smile. ...
- Praise the efforts of colleagues. ...
- Surprise with kindness. ...
- Host a happiness event. ...
- Make the world a better place.
Celebrations can boost our well-being. It provides us with an opportunity to display our gratitude and enjoy what we have instead of focussing on the things that we do not have. Celerations gives us time to spend tim with our love ones. For example: we can celebrate our birthday.
What is the purpose to celebrate? ›Celebrating as a group bestows a sense of belonging, something crucial to human fulfillment. From birthdays to funerals, there is no end to the celebrations of who we are, where we came from, what we've done, what we worship and even who or what we've lost.
Why is it important to celebrate people? ›Celebrations are an opportunity to deepen these bonds by bringing people together who see each other only rarely. Special events become reunions, allowing far-flung family members to see each other in the context of celebrating their loved ones.
How much should I give my coworkers for their birthday? ›We recommend gifts that cost no less than $50 and do not exceed $100. A gift under $50 may not relay your appreciation. However, gifts over $100 each could guilt an employee rather than show appreciation and may seem too flashy. Recognizing personal milestones is a great way to help a team feel connected.
What is the best quotes for birthday? ›- “Hope all your birthday wishes come true!”
- “It's your special day — get out there and celebrate!”
- “Wishing you the biggest slice of happy today.”
- “I hope your celebration gives you many happy memories!”
- “Our age is merely the number of years the world has been enjoying us!”
How do businesses celebrate birthdays? ›
- Hold a competition - internal or external! ...
- Set up a birthday gift redemption site - vouchers/coupons with codes sent via email to clients and staff to choose from a selection of branded birthday gifts. ...
- Send personalised, limited-edition thank you gifts to clients.
...
Do nothing if that's what you want.
- Plan to cook a favorite meal.
- Stay in and watch those rental movies you haven't had the time for.
- Go for a swim or a walk, and take the opportunity to relax and take in the fresh air.
- Sleep in. Have a big breakfast and relax.
Send sweet/funny text messages throughout the day. Cook their favorite meal and dessert for dinner. Do something small, but unexpected, such as cleaning the bathroom, their office, or car. Plan a surprise get-together with friends.
What do you celebrate in an office? ›- Office Party Bingo. Bingo is one of the simplest office party games. ...
- Cocktail Party. Cocktail parties and office happy hours are one of the best work party ideas. ...
- Office Games. ...
- Bad Day Party. ...
- Murder Mystery Party. ...
- Earth Day Celebration. ...
- Office Awards. ...
- Black-tie Breakfast Party.
Say "Thank You" at work.
Official greetings or a bonus can be given later, but don't wait to thank an employee for their hard work. Recognizing your employees publicly for their amazing job is the nicest gift you can give them. Tell them in detail about all the valuable contributions they provide to your firm.
10 Inexpensive Ways to Celebrate Employee’s Birthday
30 Unforgettable Ways to Celebrate Your Employee's Birthday
Office celebrations can be a great way to acknowledge and celebrate employees if done with respect and professionalism. Even when handling something as simple as a birthday announcement, whenever dealing with personal employee information, never assume and always ask before releasing it to others.
How do you wish someone a happy birthday in office? ›Quick & Simple Employee Birthday Wishes
“Wishing you the best on your birthday and everything good in the year ahead.” “Hope your day is filled with happiness.” “Wishing you a happy birthday and a wonderful year.” “Our whole team is wishing you the happiest of birthdays.”
- Hold a competition - internal or external! ...
- Set up a birthday gift redemption site - vouchers/coupons with codes sent via email to clients and staff to choose from a selection of branded birthday gifts. ...
- Send personalised, limited-edition thank you gifts to clients.
Having a celebration gives your employees recognition for their accomplishments which shows employees that you are paying attention to what they are doing and that you value them as an employee.
How much should I give my coworkers for their birthday? ›
We recommend gifts that cost no less than $50 and do not exceed $100. A gift under $50 may not relay your appreciation. However, gifts over $100 each could guilt an employee rather than show appreciation and may seem too flashy. Recognizing personal milestones is a great way to help a team feel connected.
Why you should celebrate your employees? ›Employees feel appreciated when they're recognized for their hard work and achievements. Employee recognition plays a large part in employee satisfaction, and employers who celebrate success in the workplace can improve morale, strengthen teamwork and make work a much happier place.
What is the best short message for birthday? ›- “Hope all your birthday wishes come true!”
- “It's your special day — get out there and celebrate!”
- “Wishing you the biggest slice of happy today.”
- “I hope your celebration gives you many happy memories!”
- “Our age is merely the number of years the world has been enjoying us!”
Many happy returns of the day! All the best on your special day! Many happy returns! I wish you a wonderful birthday!
What is the best message for birthday? ›- Hope all your birthday wishes come true.
- You bring light and love into my life. ...
- Forget the past; look forward to the future, for the best things are yet to come.
- Life is a journey. ...
- Happy birthday! ...
- You have to get older, but you don't have to grow up.
- Happy moments.
- Customized Company Swag. ...
- Create A Service Award Program. ...
- Give Them A Shout Out On Social Media (LinkedIn) ...
- Check Something Off Their Bucket List. ...
- Create A Commemorative Video For Them. ...
- Offer To Pay For An Online Course To Learn A New Skill. ...
- Help Them Chase A Hobby They Love.
...
Simple and Fun Ways to Make Someone's Birthday Special
- Hidden Message. ...
- Make a Mixed Tape. ...
- Party in a Box. ...
- Pay it Forward. ...
- Happy Feet. ...
- The Written Word. ...
- TELL THEM! ...
- Letter Parade.