Although the Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone, at Baudville, we don’t see any reason to stop being thankful. In fact, we like to think we’re just getting warmed up!

As we reflect on the year, we can’t help but feel deep appreciation for those who make our business thrive: that’s you! We realize that you, our loyal customers, are truly essential to our success. Thank you!

We hope we can give back to you by continuing to provide you with products and resources that help your company be the best it can be. To do just that, we’ve been working over the past months to bring you a great batch of new products that you can use to start off the new year with excitement and enthusiasm. Watch for them in January, and until then…

Cheers to a happy and prosperous holiday season!

 
Happy Holidays from the entire Baudville team!

The Recognition at Work blog will be taking a break over the holidays, but we'll return after the New Year on January 3rd. Looking for more information and ideas? Visit our new Recognition Resource Center!

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Brad Darooge is President and CEO of Baudville and a positive mojo aficionado. He brings the positive mojo to work every day along with his bike. In addition to leading Baudville, Brad is also an amateur triathlete.

With Christmas only one week away, those of us in the office who like to bake – and like to eat baked goods – have sugar plums, candies, and cookies dancing in our heads. If you’re like me, you may spend days in the kitchen making goodies to share with neighbors, friends, family, and party hosts. It’s a lot of time and a lot of work!

This year, one of my teammates arranged a cookie exchange among our department. Ten of us signed up for the very easy swap: bake enough of your favorite cookie to share with nine other coworkers. The result was fabulous! We didn’t all have to spend the entire weekend in the kitchen, but we got a delicious variety of sweet and chocolatey treats to share with friends and family.

When we got together for the exchange, we had fun learning about the different kinds of cookies and admiring the unique holiday packaging (we declared Hobby Lobby the best resource for cute bags). We each talked about the type of cookie we made and explained the significance, if any, of the recipe. I made my family’s sugar cookie recipe and decorated each cookie, while one of our designers made an authentic Bosnian dessert. Next year, we’ll each bring a recipe card for the exchange, too, so we can recreate a new holiday favorite.

This is a really easy and fun team activity. Everyone gets to take home delicious goodies and share a little bit about their holiday traditions, too. In our cookie exchange, we had brand new recipes and family favorites shared. You can use this opportunity to learn more about your teammates as individuals and celebrate the holiday season in a friendly way.

Here are a few of the recipes we swapped in our office cookie exchange:

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

Chocolate Toffee Matzo Candy

Chocolate-Caramel Cookie Bars

Russian Tea Cakes

Rolo Cake Mix Cookies

You can find more of our team's favorite recipes on our Pinterest Board, Office Potluck Ideas. 

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

Last Friday night, Baudvillians gathered together to see who had Lady Luck on their side at Baudville’s Vegas themed Year End Party. Baudville played their cards right, because the party was a blast for all!
    

When we arrived each employee received an envelope filled with playing cards. The cards were used to raffle off dozens of gifts that were lined up on a table. Throughout the night, employee’s names were called and employees won gifts from a 32” T.V. to gift certificates for dinner and a movie.  
    

 Goofing Off in the Photo Booth!

 For dinner we were all assigned tables with flashy center pieces that were named after the famous casinos of Las Vegas.  This was one of my favorite parts of the night because I had the opportunity to meet new people and talk with co-workers that I don’t see daily. Assigning employees’ seats at an event may not be popular, but it is very important. Employees get a chance to mingle with other co-workers from different departments, and this allows them to find out what’s happening in other co-worker’s lives.
    

When we finished eating, the different departments of Baudville were brought up front and recognized for their accomplishments. Each of us received an engraved spinner ornament  to thank us for our achievements and partaking in an awesome year. Baudville’s Helping Hand  then announced three different non-profit organizations we were helping this year, and encouraged us to get ready to volunteer for the upcoming year. Last, Baudville handed out its annual INSPIRE Award. Managers nominate individuals whom they believe exemplify Baudville’s core values  every day. These outstanding employees were honored by a standing ovation and cheers from their co-workers while being presented their award.    

 

INSPIRE Award Winners

 

After dinner, we put our poker faces on and cards were dealt.  Some of us went all-in at the Texas Hold’em Table, while others put chips on red or black, waiting for the roulette ball to decide their fate. We beat the dealer with 21 in Black Jack, and spun the Wheel of Fortune hoping for big money.  While we waited for a seat to open at a table, we perfected our silly faces at the photo booth.

Baudvillians Trying Their Luck on Roulette

 

I didn’t know what to expect for my first Baudville Year End Party. In the six months that I have been here, I have attended a few company events and had a little idea of what to expect. But once again, Baudville blew me away. The Year End Party was a phenomenal experience for me to truly see how amazing the Baudville community is and experience the appreciation everyone holds for each co-worker.  Not all of us were lucky enough to win prizes that night, but I think we all know how lucky we are to work with each other.  

 

Tell me about your Year End Party!

 

 

 

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Kendra is the newest Baudvillian. She is currently an advertising intellectual at Grand Valley State University, and is ecstatic about the change of atmosphere as Baudville’s web marketing intern. Watch out because this young professional just touched down at Baudville.

    

While working as a department supervisor, I had a team leader reporting to me who had a peculiar ritual: at the start of each day and again at 3:00 in the afternoon she and her team would stand up and sing together “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” complete with hand claps during the refrains. This was odd to me, for one because we were located in Michigan, and two because, well, I just didn’t get it. I thought it was annoying, disruptive, and total a waste of time. And, in the end, I actually told her she had to stop. This didn’t go over well, and I became even less popular than I already was.

Now that I’ve had many years to mature and reflect on my period of tyranny, I’ve come to see it all more clearly. What she knew that I didn’t at the time was that these breaks in the work day were critical to maintaining high morale, keeping her team energized, and building unity among everyone. And to think I destroyed all of that with one single no. :sigh:

Here at Baudville, I’ve participated in many different diversions during the workday that may seem absurd, or appear to be nothing more than straight-up goofing off; but I can assure you that the value they bring will buy back the time spent ten-fold.

For example, the creative team works in a deadline-driven environment that experiences drastic ebbs and flows in workload. Some days we’re shouting frantic updates over the cube walls and crashing in to one another running to and from the printer; others we are struggling to concentrate under the absence of any pressure.

When the heat is on, taking a brief intermission to play a game of ping pong relaxes the nerves, gets the blood pumping, and refuels an exhausted mind. All of us have found that when we work straight through without any breaks, we’ve completely lost steam by late afternoon – yet, somehow, we need to keep going. In contrast, it’s these short, non-working moments that give us the mental and emotional nourishment to push on.

When the heat is not on, pausing for a 10-minute round of Bananagrams can turn lethargy into levity – just like that! Creative activities like this get our brains churning, inspire conversations, and sometimes create hilarious moments that end up forming powerful bonds.

No matter what type of environment you’re in – faced-paced, slow & steady, or a little of both – your team will benefit from some spontaneous fun. Visit our brand new, totally revamped Recognition Resource Center to get all kinds of ideas. Read articles, download free print & posts, and even watch funny videos.

And, for goodness’ sake, take some advice from a former Scrooge: if you’ve ever looked on a form of workplace merry-making with contempt or disapproval, I encourage you to lighten up and take a fresh perspective – and maybe even join in. You’ll foster an atmosphere where people flourish and look forward to coming to work. Because being light-hearted really is serious business!

What kinds of activities do you do during the workday to energize and rejuvenate yourself and your team? Share your ideas here!

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Allison is a self-proclaimed Copywriting Diva and has the certificate to prove it! She’s been writing for Baudville for three years and has worked in a variety of business settings for more than 18 years. Before becoming a professional writer 11 years ago, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She’s what we call a true believer!     

Enthusiasm about our own individual Pinterests prompted some of us to create a Baudville Pinterest! Our Baudville boards share great office ideas, events, gifts, products we love, and office potluck ideas.

New to Pinterest?

Pinterest is a virtual idea board where you can "pin" ideas, projects you want to do, things you like, or whatever you want. The best part about Pinterest is how you can follow other people's boards and see what they're pinning.  Following other boards lets you discover new ideas, projects, photos, recipes, and fashion styles.  

Don’t have a Pinterest?

Just visit www.pinterest.com  and request an invite. Then start sharing your pins.

Baudville’s Pinterest:

We've set up a couple different boards with ideas and products that we think are fun employee recognition ideas.

Baudville Boards:
    

    Baudville Products we love:
This board is filled with our products that we love! We will be posting our favorite new products .  Get ready, we have a new product launch coming in January, so this board will be growing!
    Fun at Work:
        Mundane is not the Baudville way, and we don’t want it to be yours either! Our fun at work board contains a bunch of ideas to help create pizzazz into your everyday work life. We will be posting anything that catches our eyes, like how to do a cookie exchange to mustache cups. (Really who wouldn’t want these!)

 

    Gifts:
        Employee recognition is number one on our list and gifts are a great way to make people feel extra special! Giving a gift to an employee (no matter how much) will delight any Grinch.  We'll post free gift ideas, low cost gifts, and higher end gifts. We'll let you know what a great retirement gift is, day-to-day gift, Holiday gift, and many more.
    Events:
        Are you having an event for your company? Well, we want to help give you some creative ideas for decorating your events and fun food to prepare for your events. Create a Pinterest board of your own to help remind you of all the awesome event ideas!
    Office Potluck Ideas:
        We love to share and eat delicious food here at Baudville! So we want to share the yummy food ideas we talk about, with you.

 

How to follow Baudville on Pinterest:    

Once you have created a Pinterest account of your own.  You can begin following other Pinterest users, like us! To follow Baudville simply click here, then click the follow button.  It really is that simple!

Every week we will be pinning up new office ideas for you to use.  What are you waiting for? Create a Pinterest today to start pinning with us!

 

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Kendra is the newest Baudvillian. She is currently an advertising intellectual at Grand Valley State University, and is ecstatic about the change of atmosphere as Baudville’s web marketing intern. Watch out because this young professional just touched down at Baudville.