To dress or not to dress...Halloween attire?
HS
923 Posts
Looking for a show of hands to see if companies are allowing their employees to come to work in costume for Halloween?
If so, do you have any restrictions on what they can or can't wear? (I.E. - in the past we've had employees use it as an excuse for a dress down day - come in to work in jeans and a football jersey and say, "I'm a fan"; or come to work in a jogging suit and say, "I'm a marathon runner", etc.)
If you don't allow costumes, why not?
While we're at it, what's your best/worst Halloween costume story. (For my worst nightmare, see above example!)
Thanks as always for your input!
If so, do you have any restrictions on what they can or can't wear? (I.E. - in the past we've had employees use it as an excuse for a dress down day - come in to work in jeans and a football jersey and say, "I'm a fan"; or come to work in a jogging suit and say, "I'm a marathon runner", etc.)
If you don't allow costumes, why not?
While we're at it, what's your best/worst Halloween costume story. (For my worst nightmare, see above example!)
Thanks as always for your input!
Comments
Cinderella
At my company, if you DON'T come to work in a costume on our offically designated "Halloween Celebration Day" (usually the Friday before Halloween), it probably means you are already looking for another job. Halloween is our "offical" favorite holiday, and we dress up during the day and head over to our party right after work.
The funniest costume that stuck in my mind was lower level manager who dressed up as a roll of toilet paper (complete costume and all), because he said he was tired of getting sh*t on! We award prizes for best 10 individual costumes and best 3 group costumes. Last year's winner of the best group costume came as "80s Prom". They dressed the part, and to really make it offically they took a limo at lunch out to a local restaurant for a 2 and a half hour lunch, and all of them came back sloshed. Ah, such fond memories....(what's really scary is that there was a Director who one of the prom-ites)!
If you are concerned with employees using it as a "dress down" day, then maybe you could put out something that says anything worn as a cotume that could pass for your normal weekend wear isn't acceptable. Although with the way some people dress now-a-days, their weekend wear looks more like a costume than my actual Halloween costume.
>dressed up as a roll of toilet paper (complete costume and all),
>because he said he was tired of getting sh*t on! We award prizes for
>best 10 individual costumes and best 3 group costumes. Last year's
>winner of the best group costume came as "80s Prom". They dressed the
>part, and to really make it offically they took a limo at lunch out to
>a local restaurant for a 2 and a half hour lunch, and all of them came
>back sloshed. Ah, such fond memories....(what's really scary is that
>there was a Director who one of the prom-ites)!
Whoa...That next work day must have been a joyous occaision for that director's reports!!
>If you are concerned with employees using it as a "dress down" day,
>then maybe you could put out something that says anything worn as a
>cotume that could pass for your normal weekend wear isn't acceptable.
>Although with the way some people dress now-a-days, their weekend wear
>looks more like a costume than my actual Halloween costume.
It's more of an annoyance of people taking advantage of the system. The day is for fun regardless, and it's nice to see people get dressed up. We've had some great costumes over the years...too many good ones to name the best.
For those companies who do dress for the occaision, what's the best costumes you've had at your locations?? If you have a contest, how is it judged and what is the prize?? We've never done a contest, so I'd be interested in knowing how others have handled this in terms of how it's judged, etc.
Best year was when an entire small department came dressed as a different colored m&m! They certainly were the most popular department!
BTW, a couple of years ago, our department came to the Halloween costume contest as different colored M&Ms (as HR_Gal_WI mentions above). We also found a large roll of bubble wrap and made a "candy bowl" to go around all of us standing in a group. We were "Jean's candy bowl" - you know the lady down the hall who always has her candy bowl stocked for everyone? I thought it was rather clever but someone else won the contest that year.
Here's what we do here:
- Costume dress-up on October 31
- Contest where everyone gets together and parades in front of a group of designated judges (the judges usually wear graduation gowns to look official - someone even came with a tall white wig one year)
- We have individuals compete, then departments as a whole
- The individual who wins gets $25 cash; the department that wins gets a free lunch
Some of the people here really get into it and do skits that go along with their costumes. Everyone in our customer service department came as M*A*S*H characters one year with the theme music playing in the background. As they paraded in front of the judges, they were all acting in character, stopping to say something to the judges (Corporate Clinger was a hoot). Another lady came as a school cafeteria lady equipped with hair net, reading glasses, nylons rolling down below her knees, house slippers, an apron on over a polyester dress, and a big pan of goop that she slapped down on the table in front of the judges and proceeded to dish out on plates for the judges. So far, we've had a lot of fun and no one has gone too far over the edge.
Christy Reeder
Website Managing Editor
[url]www.HRhero.com[/url]
What a great idea! Guess that's why you make the big bucks! x:D
Thanks for the info on how you handle the contest idea. I'd thought about doing that a few years back, but it was rejected because they said that if we don't have clear cut "rules" on what we're judging for..yada, yada...
Basically they said it wouldn't be unbiased because the judges would pick the people they like vs the costumes etc. It turned into more of a hassle than a fun contest for the employees so I dropped the subject.
Thanks again to everyone so far for the great ideas and your stories on past Halloween costumes. The funniest thing I can still remember is driving to work on one Halloween and seeing a guy in full clown make-up (face, nose, hair, etc) and full clown costume driving down the highway. It gave me quite a chuckle...it's a wonder he didn't cause any accidents!
A woman wore her husband's suit. She had hundreds of safety pins pinned end to end in lines, making it a "pin-striped" suit.
A woman wore a real bridal gown and made up her face to be the bride of Frankenstein (needless to say, it was from a marriage that didn't last).
A member of upper management came one year in jeans and high school team jacket carrying a football, with her husband's jock strap on the OUTSIDE of the jeans. She said she was a Jock. Since she was a very conservative person (the term 'lady' always seemed applicable) it made the costume funnier.
Had 4 lab workers come in dressed as the Marx brothers. They took the names of doctors from our clinic and changed them slightly on their name tags. For instance, one name was Newth and it became Eye of Newt.
We ask employees to vote for the best. It usually turns into a bit of a popularity contest, but the employees have a lot of fun with it. We give a small gift certificate ($25) or movie tickets so there are no hard feelings if you lose.
My words of wisdom are be prepared for anything (and it is difficult to dictate what they dress as or not dress as.)
At one company I worked for we had a guy come in dressed as a beautiful girl. Took a long time for us to figure out who it was. This was his sort of "coming out" party.
I really liked what we did several years ago. The company I worked for invited a day care center to bring their children over for a sort of party (about 40 arrived). We had them divided in groups and had "escorts" for each group. They were taken around the office to each department to trick or treat. (Each dept was made aware of this ahead of time and we had a "map or order" so we didn't cross up each other.) Then we had cookies and juice and a pinata for them afterwards. It was lots of fun and they were so cute. It was special for me. I had dressed as a Japanese Geisha girl. All the children called me the name of one of the Disney characters (that I didn't even know ... no children.) One of the little girls about 3 or 4 was oriental and latched on to me and didn't let go of me the entire time they were there. Another guy, who had a little girl about these children's age, dressed as the grim reaper, and was very real looking. When the children walked in the door, one little girl let out a scream, started crying and was really scared. He undressed in front of her and he ended up carrying her around the entire trick or treat time.
One thing I have learned lately is that there are people who don't do trick or treat. (I am not sure why) and they feel very strongly about this. (I have tried to talk with them to learn why not, since it isn't religous reasons. I have not been able to get a concrete answer from them. Just keep this in mind so you won't insult/offend anyone.
Have fun.
Wart, Atlanta, GA
We have a contest each year with prizes of 1 day off for 1st place and 1/2 day off for both 2nd & 3rd places. The judges are those employees who chose not to come in costume. We've also had pumpkin carving & painting contests. We have a pot-luck lunch and then prizes are awarded.
We like Halloween costumes so much that the picture of the staff on our organization's website is one taken on Halloween -- with the staff in costume.
Have fun!
>our organization's website is one taken on Halloween -- with the staff
>in costume.
>
So, what's the website....that would sure be interesting to see!
Some dress up at my current company, but the highlight is our pumpkin decorating contest. You can either paint them or carve them. My pumpkin is always a winner (it is Pumpkin Pie!) No prize for that though.
Thanks all for your input and stories.
For those of you who run contests, how do you handle the judging so that it's unbiased?
At my company, we have "viewing" time scheduled down in the cafeteria. It usually runs from 10:30 to 2 pm, and employees are encouraged to go down in costume and check out everyone else's costume. They receive voting forms. They put down who they think have the top 10 individual costumes and the top 3 group costumes. Even if they don't know an employee's name, they can put down the costume details, and Corp. Comm can figure it out.
Corp Comm calculates the votes, and the top 10 vote receiving employees are announced via e-mail. At the Halloween party right after work, starts at 4:30, the exec board, CEO, CFO, VP of HR, Sr. VP of Eng., and CTO, call the top 10 costumes and top 3 groups into the floor for a costume "viewing".
The execs then go back and decide amongst themselves who should get 10th place, 9th place,....1st place, etc. They then announce the order, and all winners receive some sort of prize. In years past there have been VERY generous gifts, new TV, DVD player, VCR, automatic car starter, surround sound system, etc.
The winning group costume gets a $500 gift certificate to Best Buy that it has to split among its members. It's not always the fairest, but at least the employees have input into who gets selected, instead of just the execs.
I now work at a cardiology practice where we have much more sense (laugh, laugh!). We decided not to wear "costumes", but we can dress in nice type sweaters and decorate with pumpkins, etc.
Thanks for all the great stories and advice on judging in contests.
When I got to my office...a man came in dressed as a cow, udders and all! What a sight to behold.
Can't wait to go around and see what the rest of the day will hold! (I've decided to take digital photos of the cosutmed people and post them on our board)
So what great costumes have you guys seen today???
We had someone make a large sized employee badge with a cut out for their head to be put into. Very creative and funny! Other than that, most of your garden variety costumes so far, witches, skeletons, medival themes, cowboy themes oh, and a few cows too! (What's with the cow costumes??) Unfortunately, not many people dressed up, but those who did...really got into the spirit of it all!
Lightning & Struck by Lightning - Supervisor dressed all in black with a hand-made cardboard lightning bolt worn over her clothes. Her one direct report came dressed as if she'd be struck by lightning - hair frizzed to high heaven, singed clothes, etc.
The Grapevine - All of one dept dressed in black trash bags and other regalia and performed "Heard it through the Grapevine."
Elvis - He's in the building ... but I haven't yet witnessed what most people are calling a striking resemblance.
Black-Eyed Pea - Black circle around her eye with a big green "P" on her t-shirt. (I must be slow - it took me a little while to figure out that one.)
Christy Reeder
Website Managing Editor
[url]www.HRhero.com[/url]