How can you put on a successful remote EOFY party for your team that helps bring everyone together and celebrate their hard work? Don't worry; we've got you covered. In this guide, we'll look at everything you need to know about throwing an EOFY party that your team will be talking about for the rest of the next fiscal year.
The end of the fiscal year can be a pretty tense and stressful time for businesses of all sizes– your team might be dealing with all kinds of stressors like tight deadlines and sprinting to cross milestone finish lines before the financial year is through.
Whether or not you met all of your goals for the year, your team has been dedicating a lot of time, effort, and energy toward helping your business succeed. This is the ideal time to bring everyone together to blow off some steam, relax, and have a good time.
However, throwing an office party that people truly enjoy IRL can feel like enough of a challenge without the added complexity of your team being distributed. How can you put on a successful remote EOFY party for your team that helps bring everyone together and celebrate their hard work?
Don't worry; we've got you covered. In this guide, we'll look at everything you need to know about throwing an EOFY party that your team will be talking about for the rest of the next fiscal year.
An EOFY party is an End of Financial Year (or End of Fiscal Year) bash where you and your company can celebrate all of the hard work you did to meet your financial targets. This is a great opportunity for the whole gang to unwind, relax, and take a well-deserved break.
Office parties, in general, are an awesome way for employees to get to know each other better and have some fun. They also provide some benefits in the workplace, helping to increase morale, strengthen team bonds, help employees know they are appreciated, and provide networking opportunities.
Planning parties is always more work than one might initially imagine, but things can get even more complicated when your team is distributed.
Luckily, with some planning ahead, you can ensure that this year's end-of-financial-year party is one to remember.
There are always lots of little details to work out when planning a party, whether remote or in-person. Even though a virtual party means that you don't have to worry about booking a venue or dealing with other physical aspects of party planning, that doesn't mean you should leave it to the last minute.
When you start planning your party with ample time, you can work out all of the little details that help push a party over the "ok" line into "that was amazing" territory. Beyond that, it allows everyone on your team to mentally prepare for a rousing good time, not to mention making sure their schedule is free and they can attend.
You might be thinking that this is a moot point, given that your team is remote. All they have to do is sit down on their computer and sign on through your video conferencing app– how complicated could it be?
The truth is, though, that there are a lot of different factors at play when you're throwing a remote party. One primary consideration is what time you're going to throw your party and what that means for team members in different time zones.
Depending on just how spread out your team is, it can be difficult to find a time that is ideal for everyone. If you're dealing with a situation where some of your team is waking up at the same time others are going to sleep, you'll want to settle on a time period that will work for most people. Even if some people end up attending mid-day when the bulk of attendants are celebrating after work, this is still better than some team members being left out because the party is happening in the middle of the night, their time.
Beyond that, you'll want to give people ample notice when planning the party and make sure they pencil it in on their calendars. Send out reminders as the date draws nearer and provide any relevant links they'll need to attend. If you have a theme for your party, make sure you shout it from the rooftops so everyone can show up prepared!
If you aren't careful, it's easy for an EOFY party to end up just being a casual team meeting where everyone is discussing business as usual. To make this a real team-building event where people get to know each other better and step out of their work roles for a bit, it's a good idea to incorporate some exciting and out-of-left-field activities that help set a celebratory tone.
The sky's the limit when it comes to games you can play during your party– you might choose to start off with some short icebreakers, or you could host a mini-game triathlon. If your team is always chomping at the bit to show off their knowledge to each other, a live trivia game seems like an obvious choice, while a virtual escape room experience can be a real hoot whether your team has been working together for a decade or barely know one another.
Just because you and your team aren't technically all in the same room together doesn't mean that you can't enjoy some of the more classic aspects of an office party. Keeping things light, fun, and engaging can be more difficult on video platforms than in real life, and one of the best things you can do to combat that issue is to provide some seriously fun entertainment.
One thing that can help set the tone of your party is a virtual DJ. Rather than spending hours on the day before the party pulling your hair out trying to create the ultimate playlist, hiring a DJ can mean that you no longer have to deal with the mental and logistical burden of providing tunes for your party.
Whether your team is celebrating an incredible financial year or licking their wounds after a few rough quarters, bringing in a stand-up comedian can help turn everyone's mind a bit away from work and provide them with the opportunity to laugh their heads off.
If you're worried that your virtual EOFY party will feel a bit stiff and awkward, incorporating some tunes, a comedian, or both is a great way to help everyone get into the party mood. Other ideas for entertainment include hiring a small band, a magician, a caricaturist, an enlivening public speaker, or even a barbershop quartet to perform virtually for your team.
Theming your party is a classic way to create some buzz around your event and get everyone excited about it. When there's a theme, your team members are going to be thinking about the party ahead of time, talking about it with their coworkers, and scheming to wear the best costume or have the most outrageous virtual background. Without a theme, it's easy for everyone to put the party out of their mind until a few minutes before they arrive.
If you're drawing a blank when it comes to picking a theme, never fear. There are literally thousands of incredible theme ideas for you to choose from, with ideas as simple and easy as summertime BBQ or as specific as celebrating a specific decade (might we suggest the 80s?) You can throw a Hollywood-themed party, a luau, a casino night, an outer space-themed party, or build the whole night around your team's favorite show or movie.
Your team can participate in the chosen theme in many different ways– first and foremost, you might consider letting them vote on the party's theme to ensure that the event is tailor-made for a good time.
Other ways they can get involved include:
Setting a theme might sound silly, but it's one of the best ways to create a celebratory atmosphere leading up to and during the event.
Can you even rightfully call an event a party if there isn't food? Just because your team isn't physically in the same location, that's no excuse for expecting them to celebrate on an empty stomach.
Luckily for you, Pizza Time specializes in delivering fresh, hot, delicious food to remote teams around the world. Whether you're having a simple breakfast or lunch EOFY celebration before everyone gets back to work or you're having a full-out bash complete with pizza, drinks, and games, we've got you covered.
We all know one of the best ways to take an office party to the next level– a little bit of booze. Your entire team can recreate the experience of heading to the bar after work with a virtual happy hour any time of the year, but perhaps one of the most appropriate times for a few cold ones or cocktails is when you're celebrating the end of the financial year.
Sure, you could arrange things so your virtual party is BYOB, but where's the fun in that? One of the main priorities of any remote party is going to be making sure everyone feels like they are really spending time together, and there are few more effective ways to meet that end than giving everyone the gift of having a drink with one another.
There are so many awesome activities, events, and goodies you can incorporate into your EOFY party that your team members will probably appreciate, but there's a good chance that the one that will really kick things into gear is sending congratulatory drinks to the whole team.
When you're throwing a virtual party, sending a physical gift to each attendee can be a nice touch. There are so many awesome benefits to working from home, but one of the drawbacks is that it can be hard to fully recreate the experience of actually spending time together in the same geographic location. Just because you all aren't getting together in the conference room or a local event venue, it doesn't mean that your entire team can't have mementos or goodies to help add to the celebratory atmosphere.
You might choose to send the same gift to everyone in attendance or personalized gifts to each individual (if your team is small and you've been working together for some time.) Of course, if you're sending everyone their own gift, you'll want to ensure they all fall within the same general price range so there aren't any accusations or whispers of favoritism. Beyond that, make sure you check in with your company's gift-giving policies before you start shopping.
Gifts that everyone will love include company-branded gifts, gift cards, coffee mugs, t-shirts, hats, or goodie bags filled with treats.
An EOFY party is supposed to be a fun celebration, but tell that to the person planning it. Putting together a party is no easy feat, and organizing a virtual bash that fits your team's schedules and truly shows them the good time they deserve can feel overwhelming.
If you're starting to feel like there are too many moving parts for you to deal with on your own, we are here to make this the simplest and most stress-free party you've ever planned.
Looking to add some thrilling, team-building experiences to the itinerary? No problem, we've got you covered.
Want to make sure every single team member has plenty of food and drinks as the party rolls into the night? We can handle that, too!
At PizzaTime, we specialize in making sure that your next remote party, event, meeting, or team-building activity is a raving success. We're here to take some of the stress and complexity away from bringing your team together, so you can get in there and have a good time, too!
Remote meetings are boring. Stimulate your team with a unique experience.
Explore Food & Drink
