How Can I Celebrate Employee Birthdays in November on a Budget? Seeking Your Ideas

Hi all,

I want to know how to celebrate birthdays of employees. There are approximately 20 people whose birthdays are in November. So, how should I go about it with cost-effective measures? Kindly guide me.

Hi,

To celebrate the birthday of the employees, there are two ways:

1. Cost-Incurring Basis:
You can celebrate the birthday as you would celebrate family members. It will cost a lot as you have to invite all your employees, at least for the department as a whole.

2. Costless Method:
Here, you can send a birthday card and circulate a memo by wishing him to all the members. You can also put the memo including his photo on your notice board.

Regards,
Jaleel

Also, what you can do is by giving him particular vouchers as a token and wish them... This could be one of the cost-effective ways.

Hi,

I would like to add some more suggestions:

1. You can offer paid leave on that day.
2. Provide movie tickets on that day (couple tickets).

Regards,
Sritha.R

Hi Suritha,

In my organization we use to celebrate the birthday's of the month on the last working day of the month. All the employees were invited. We started by calling the “Birthday babies” to the center stage mentioning the dates of their birthdays, handed them a card and a flower. The anchor (our employee only) would then tell them the traits of the sun sign of that month. (All the employees relate it to the concerned persons behavior.. its quite a fun ). This was followed by a small.. game….any fun game…and then cake cutting and snacks.The cost is around 2000-3000.

- You can alter it to be more cost effective.. by sending an email may be call it as “BIRTHDAY Diossier” mentioning the employee's birthday and the traits of the sun sign.
- Send across a quiz specially for the birthday Babies – a single gift or a lunch coupon (Csts about Rs.30 -40) can be given to the winner.

Hope this helps you.

Warm Regards
Sackshi Gupta

Hi dear,

We used to celebrate our employees' birthdays by cutting a cake and offering them Rs. 350, which they could use for movie tickets or dinner by submitting the bill. However, due to the large number of employees, I suggest organizing a small get-together with cake or ice cream, some games, and enjoy the celebration. I believe this alternative will not incur significant costs.

Brinda Shah
Assistant Manager - HR & Admin.

Hi!

Maybe you can ask them to cut a common cake on any one day, maybe a Saturday. You can thereafter make it a trend to celebrate the birthday every month in a similar manner.

Regards,
Rupali

Hi,

I have a suggestion. If you are concerned about cost, you could ask other fellow employees to write what they like most about the Birthday Baby on a chit. Collect the chits, prepare a poster, stick it, decorate it, and give it to him/her as a surprise.

Regards

Hi,

In our office, we used to celebrate our employees' birthdays before the evening tea session. We all gather together to celebrate by cutting a cake and lighting up a candle for the birthday person. We sing the song "Happy Birthday" in chorus. Unfortunately, I don't know the full song.

We collect a nominal amount from our staff to contribute to a birthday present. A new employee is invited to present the gift to the birthday person. Tea and cake will be served.

Thank you.

Hi Suritha,

Based on my experience, I would like to suggest some guidelines from an HR perspective:

Whatever practice is involved should be replicable, implying that whatever celebration you do for an employee, you should be able to do for all. Otherwise, if you miss out even one person and put on a great show for the others, that single dissatisfaction will spoil the whole initiative. Secondly, timely greeting is more important than the quality of celebration. Keeping in mind holidays and weekends, you must have a system that ensures the greeting is given on time. Thirdly, if your organization has a pan-India presence, how do you organize in the other cities? Lastly, is your database accurate and checked with the employee?

Keeping the above in mind, e-cards automatically mailed at midnight followed by a birthday gift (standardized and non-perishable items like chocolates, company mementos, etc.) can be purchased and given at a moment's notice. Cakes and all require too much administrative coordination.

Please excuse if my email dampens the celebration, but since I have worked in large organizations with a pan-India presence, I have been bugged by these issues at times.

Cheers,

Buland

Hi,

You can celebrate all the employees' birthdays that fall in the same month at the beginning of the month. You can order a big cake instead of lots of small cakes and give them birthday cards. The top management should also be at the party so that the employees can feel their importance in the organization. This will be a cost-effective manner in which you can celebrate all your employees' birthdays.

Deepa Yadav
09311874536

Hi,

I totally agree with Buland. Whatever you need to do, do it religiously, and update your data every day. Some areas where we need to check are:

- If you are sending a mailer on B'day, check if the person is in the system or has resigned.
- Confirm the DOB with the employee at the beginning itself.
- When celebrating it daily, weekly, or monthly, remember to include all the names of the B'day babies. Missing even one name completely spoils the mood of the employees.
- If you are celebrating the B'day daily, weekly, or monthly, do it religiously every time. Don't skip a day, week, or month.

Regards,

Thanks for all your suggestions. What I have decided with my boss is that we will be celebrating the birthdays of all employees on one day and will get a big cake and some snacks. But apart from this, we will give them cards on their respective birthday dates. Thanks once again for the suggestions.

Select a convenient day in a month for every month and name it as a day for celebrating Birthday for the month. Display the names of birthdays of all employees in that month on the notice board.

Celebration can be as simple as just a greeting card, or providing a sweet in the canteen along with lunch, or presenting a small sweet packet to the employee when he returns home. By doing this, the welfare activity of the company is extended to the family as well, creating more employee morale.

Hi,

Rather, you can celebrate weekly, i.e., all the employees whose birthdays fall in that week have their birthdays celebrated on the weekend. Alternatively, we can manage 2 or 3 employees on any day nearest to their birthdays.

Hi Sakshi,

That's a really good way of celebrating birthdays in the office. I particularly like the sharing part of that star sign with all other colleagues. Keep it up.

Probably, I would start the same here along with the regular course of action for the celebration of birthdays.

Regards,
Niel

Hi all,

I want to know how to celebrate birthdays of employees. There are approximately 20 people whose birthdays are in November. So, how should I go about it with cost-effective measures? Kindly guide me.

The best way to celebrate employee birthdays is to send them a birthday greeting signed by the HR Manager. On the last day of the month, arrange a big cake and invite all the employees born in that month to cut the cake together. This helps in team building.

Regards,
Sandhya

Hi,

What you can do is, on the birthday date, you can give a card duly signed by all employees and a bouquet. Then, on the last working day of the month, you can have a collective cake-cutting for all those employees celebrating their birthdays in November, along with some snacks for others as well. :-P

You can send an e-card to everyone on the day of their birthday and celebrate everyone's birthday with cake at the end of November.

Hi all,

I want to know how to celebrate birthdays of employees. There are approximately 20 people whose birthdays are in November. So, how should I go about it with cost-effective measures? Kindly guide me.

Hi,

Birthday celebrations are a good medium to motivate the employees. It is not necessary to spend lots of money on them. Just one recognition is sufficient. The employees want to feel that they have a place in the office. Just order a cake and celebrate their birthday. Okay. :)