by Wendy Dessler

With the average middle-aged employee in America working more than 40 hours a week, they are often overworked and stressed. However, if you want to go the extra mile for your employees, why not throw them a fun dance party?

This will not only give back to employees and show you appreciate them but could also help employees to connect with one another and become more acquainted. However, how do you go about planning the perfect party?

Have a Goal

The first thing to do is to have a goal for the event. No matter what you do in business, you should always have a goal or desired outcome in mind. The goal doesn’t need to be something concrete and can simply be something like “to help employees connect with one another” or “to show our employees that we appreciate them”.

Without a goal, your event might not have a direction and while it is great to do something for your employees, the event should have some sort of greater purpose as well. For example, if the party is just a reward, your main goal is for all involved to have fun, but if you want to build teams, your goal should be to encourage mingling and cooperation.

Make Sure to Choose the Right Music

If you are throwing a dance party for your employees, one of the most important things to consider is what music to have. Of course, you will need music, but what genre and songs should you use? Well, the answer is to use a variety. If the entire night features the same style of music, the party simply won’t have any logical flow to it.

For example, if every song is super fast-paced, your guests will likely get tired of dancing but if every song is slow, they might get bored. Also, depending on the average age in the office and music preferences of your workers, you should try to tailor the playlists to their likes. Also, with music being tied to mood, the music you play during the night could potentially impact how your employees feel about the party.

Be Sure to Plan out Food and Beverage

No party is a party without some food and beverages! Unfortunately, one of the toughest parts about planning a party of any kind is deciding what sorts of food and beverages to provide, as everyone has different tastes. Also, some parties will call for more formal dining, while for others it might be completely acceptable to serve pizza and wings.

A good idea would be to host the party at a venue that can serve food, but if not, there are likely dozens of different catering options in your local area that will be more than happy to help. In order to give you the best chance at food and drink being a success, you could potentially ask employees what they like or give them a few options and see what they choose.

Get Some Fun Costumes

While you could just have a dance party where everyone shows up in the same old clothing, what fun is that? Instead, make your dance party have some kind of theme or event. This could also make it easier to decide how to decorate the venue and decide what food and drink to serve.

When it comes to costumes, there are a few different ways you can go about it. You could make everyone go out and find their own costumes, or you could find a company (such as AlexandraCostumes.com) to provide some fun costumes for the event. Either way, adding some fun costumes and disguises to the mix is a good way to take your employee dance party to the next level!

Provide Additional Entertainment as Well

While a dance party will primarily focus on people dancing and mingling, the last thing you want is for people to get bored. And with most people getting tired after some dancing, you need to provide some sorts of additional entertainment for the employees.

This could be anything from a raffle, to live music, to games or anything in between. If you have a goal of strengthening the relationships within your team via this party, this is an awesome excuse to have some team-building exercises present at your event. Now, the entertainment doesn’t need to be super robust or expensive, but you should definitely have more than just food music and dancing.

In conclusion, hopefully, the tips and tricks outlined in this article are able to help you throw the perfect employee dance party. When done right, a party for your employees can have incredible benefits to their productivity, their mood and their loyalty and pride in your company.

Photo: Jens Johnsson (Unsplash)