Summer is winding down and fall is just around the corner, which means you have a few weeks left to find space for these fun-filled work happy hour ideas on your company’s calendar.

With work happy hours offering so many benefits — potential for networking, team-building experiences, and stress relief, to name a few — these memorable parties can be an asset to your organization in a multitude of ways.

1. Host a Trivia Night

Stoke your team’s competitive spirit with a trivia night.

  • Create teams: You can do this at random by pulling names out of a hat or divide them up according to department or role
  • Choose a theme: You can go with a neutral, non-work related theme like Everything ’80s or Movie Mania, or link the questions back to your company or industry, quizzing the team on the details of an upcoming product launch or the history of your corporation
  • Use visual aids: Projecting questions on a big screen or putting up a game show-inspired board (they’re pretty easy to DIY, if you have the time) helps keep everyone engaged
  • Share a list of simple, easy-to-follow rules: This is supposed to be fun, and a short list of rules laying out protocol for scoring, time limits, and contesting answers will help eliminate ambiguity and keep everyone happy
  • Include prizes: Winning should mean something, so pick prizes your team will be excited to win, such as points towards employee rewards program perks, time off, or meal credits
  • Serve refreshments: Pair a steady stream of trivia with some delicious beverages, tasty appetizers, and pub style food ordered from a local restaurant via Grubhub

If the trivia night concept is a hit, you can consider expanding on your idea in the future. Go beyond simple questions and introduce a “Guess That Song” round or have contestants identify famous faces and landmarks shared via printouts.

2. Have a Summer-Themed Happy Hour BBQ

Make your work happy hour a tribute to those time-honored backyard bashes with a summer-themed BBQ of your own.

Order catering from a local restaurant that specializes in barbecue. Indulge in a variety of foods to ensure there’s a little something for everyone — think brisket, chicken, pulled pork, veggie burgers, corn on the cob, potato salad and mac and cheese. Stick to disposable plates, cups, and cutlery, and put rolls of paper towels on each table instead of stacking up individual napkins. It all fits the theme and makes for quick post-party cleanup, too.

As for the venue itself, you can hold your get-together indoors or outdoors depending on your space and the weather. A roof deck, patio, terrace, courtyard, or grassy hillside adjacent to your building are all suitable for an outdoor event. Even your parking lot can be transformed if you add folding tables, patterned tablecloths, decorations, and music.

If you’re short on outdoor space or just prefer to enjoy your barbecue indoors, you can dress up a conference room or event space and spread the party out by dedicating each of several rooms to a specific purpose. Have your catered food in one room, games in another, and play music over the PA system to tie things together.

3. Virtual Beach Party

Some 59% of American workers whose jobs can be done remotely are choosing to work from home all or most of the time. While some companies that temporarily explored remote work at the height of the pandemic have slowly brought their workforce back to the office, others are committed to hybrid models. A virtual party caters to your entire team, whether they’re working from a remote location or in the office next to yours.

A beach-themed happy hour can be fun, transportive, and affordable. Send out email invitations giving your team a heads-up about your plan. Include instructions for signing on to whichever video conferencing software you’ll be using, some tips on how participants can get into the party spirit, and a brief agenda so everyone knows what to expect from your online beach party.

Here are a few things you might want to incorporate into your beachy happy hour:

  • Encourage “guests” to wear beach-themed clothes and accessories such as brightly colored floral clothes, plastic leis, and sunglasses (you can model the look on the invite to help set the scene!)
  • See if your software has a beach filter or background you can use to increase the ambience
  • Put together a summer-ready playlist of songs or share a link to an existing playlist on a streaming service
  • Explore game apps that integrate with video-conferencing software so the team can play games and have mini competitions during the party
  • Give every team member an individual meal credit they can use to order food and drinks to enjoy wherever they are – you can put together a short list of Grubhub restaurants with menu items that fit the beach theme (think fish tacos, smoothies, salads, wraps, ice cream etc.)

Pick a Time That Works Best for Your Employees

Lastly, remember that a happy hour doesn’t automatically mean a start time of 5 p.m. You can hold your work happy hour whenever you like and make it last however long feels appropriate. In fact, inviting staff to drop by at 3 p.m. and promising they’ll be out by 5 ensures everyone has a blast and still gets to go home at the normal time.

From happy hours to lunch-and-learns and beyond, you can cater all your company events with the help of Grubhub. Contact us today to learn more about what a Grubhub corporate account can do for you.