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If the job of making your firm’s annual event a hit has fallen into your in-basket, here are a few ideas that combine camaraderie with charity.
Sponsor local families
There are many ways to support families in your community. Through organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, you can sponsor families or individual children. You’ll receive the name of a boy or girl, their age, and their holiday wish list. You can purchase as much as you can afford from the list and the club sets limits on the amount you need to spend. You can learn more about the Holiday Hamper Program and how to be an Honourary Elf by downloading the 2019 Holiday Hamper Package. As a firm, you can sponsor a number of families or children. Then, give staff time off to shop for the items on the wish-list. You can drop off the gifts as a team and plan a staff lunch to celebrate your efforts.
Blasts from the past
Assign everyone in the office the name of a team member. Each person is responsible for buying a gift they think their colleague would have liked as a child. For example, the Partner with a private plane might have liked a Lego spaceship as a young girl. The tennis player might get a junior racket or tickets to the Rogers Cup if it’s been a good year. The super-fit intern might get a Hulk action figure. Once all the gifts have been exchanged, you’ll have a huge stack of brand-new presents that you can box up and take to your local firehall as a donation to a community toy drive.
Start a spelling bee for Lawyers
Divide your group into two teams. Each team is responsible for winning the greatest number of gifts for their ‘gifting tree’. This easy-to-play game appeals to the competitive nature of a well-educated crowd. All you need is an entertaining host, a list of words from the glossary of legal jargon and a room full of willing participants. Here’s how to you do it:
- Fill two buckets with individual words. Consider having an easy bucket and a difficult bucket. The host can decide on which bucket to use based on the players.
- One player from each team takes the stage. The first person to misspell a word loses. His or her team gives up a gift to the winner’s tree.
- The winner can either stay to face the next challenger or be replaced by another member of their team.
When the word buckets are empty, the game is over and the team with the most presents under their tree wins bragging rights for a year. The gifts under the tree can be donated to charity so that everyone wins.
However you plan to celebrate the holidays with your team, we wish you a happy, safe and festive time. If a year-end bonus shows up in your stocking, your Lawyers Financial Advisor is always here to help you invest it with confidence.
