Next week, we’re celebrating Spring Break in the marketing department. It’s become an annual tradition to make work fun and exciting for employees who aren’t traveling for spring break. Each day, we have games, food, and fun as a team.

Annual holidays and events are an important part of the culture at Baudville. Our management and SPIRIT Teams  plan outstanding events for Employee Appreciation Day, Customer Service Week, and milestone days in between. Employees look forward to those events, and it infuses a welcome dose of fun and competition into our goal-driven days.

We’ve created our Recognition Event Calendar to help you do the same! Located in our Recognition Resource Center, the Recognition Event Calendar has a holiday or event for every day of the work week. Regardless of the time of year, you can find a fun holiday to celebrate as a team – just for fun!

For instance, coming up in April is National Cherish an Antique Day. Ask employees to bring in their favorite antique and display it at their desk, or have them share a short story about it in a meeting. Then there’s National Siblings Day when you can encourage employees to bring in a childhood picture of them with their siblings. There’s also Scrabble Day. Host a scrabble tournament at lunch or start a team-wide game of Words with Friends.

And that’s just one week!

 Celebrating holidays and events as a team is a fun and easy way to build camaraderie, engage employees, and foster loyalty. Today, you can sign up for Recognition Event Calendar reminders. Each month, we’ll send you an email highlighting some of the upcoming holidays and ideas for celebrations. It’s an easy way to make fun a priority for you and your team. Sign up today by visiting the Recognition Event Calendar.

How do you bring fun to work? Tell us about your favorite crazy and zany celebrations here!

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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.

National Doctor’s Day is celebrated annually on March 30 to show appreciation to doctors. The holiday dates back to 1933 when Eudora Brown Almond, the wife of a doctor, decided to honor physicians like her husband. She sent greeting cards to physicans and placed flowers on the graves of doctors who had passed away. Her display of recognition proved to be very powerful! The U.S. Congress established a National Doctor’s Day almost 60 years later!

Fun Fact: The date for National Doctor’s Day is the anniversary of the first use of general anesthetic in surgery.

If you forgot that today is National Doctor’s Day, don’t worry! There’s still time to send a free ePraise, or write a handwritten thank you note , like Edora Brown Almond. The simple and genuine expression of appreciation in a note can be mean more than any expensive gift!

Not a wordsmith? No problem! Get help writing a National Doctor’s Day thank you note with these tips and ideas from our Recognition Resource Center:

Sample Employee Recognition Messages for Every Recognition Occasion
The Ultimate Reward: A Classic Thank You Note
4 Tips to Make Thank You Memorable

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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.

April is National Volunteer Month, and I encourage organizations to honor their volunteers during National Volunteer Week, April 15-21. I’ve been able to learn a lot about volunteer through my work with local non-profit organizations on their events and my personal volunteer work. After all, one of the best ways to learn about appreciation is to be appreciated!

If you’re looking for volunteer appreciation ideas, I recommend you grab a cup of coffee and watch our 10 minute Recognition TV webisode. I share popular themes for volunteers and volunteer appreciation event ideas you can use this year.

In the video, I also recommend a few free resources that will help your volunteer appreciation event planning go smoothly. You can download all these resources from our Recognition Resource Center or by clicking on the links below.

Volunteer Appreciation Ideas eBook



Employee Event Planning Check List



Award Presentation Guide

Are you a volunteer or do you recognize volunteers? Tell us what you do for National Volunteer Week!

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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.

I recently told you about an inspiring volunteer experience our creative team had at Kids’ Food Basket here in Grand Rapids. Buzz went around the office after we returned, and more teams were asking me how they could get involved, too.

A few weeks passed, and our day out in the wild was about to become a distant memory when we, a recognition company, ended up receiving a little recognition ourselves. Yes, to our surprise, a poster showed up at our front door decorated with thank you letters and photos from the kids who benefited. We proudly displayed our poster in a common area, and, as a result, our little mission (and KFB, more importantly) got even more exposure. Hooray!

We weren’t expecting a big thank you like this; but it sure made us feel great when we got it. Your volunteers are the same. They don’t freely give their time and enthusiasm because they secretly want a nice reward. They do it because they believe in your mission and the initiatives your organization wants to promote in your community.

Truly, these are some of the most important people you can have behind you. Which means it’s probably a good idea to surprise them every so often with your appreciation.

National Volunteer Week is just a few weeks away, April 15-21, 2012. You don’t want to be caught not holding the bag!

Let them know that their contributions make a difference with meaningful gifts from some of our most popular volunteer appreciation themes.

A Helping Hand
With bright, contemporary art and a message that acknowledges all that they do, our Helping Hand theme gifts are just what you need to express your appreciation.

Making a Difference
Featuring a classic story about how one person can make an impact, these theme gifts will inspire your volunteers and remind them that, no matter how small, their contributions really matter.

You Are Truly Appreciated
This theme says it all—simply and sincerely. You Are Truly Appreciated gifts are some of our bestsellers because they appeal to every audience: women, men, young, and old. Because who doesn’t want to feel truly appreciated?!

Volunteers Make a Difference
Coming soon… (seriously, just as soon as we can get all this cool stuff unpacked and on our inventory shelves) this brand new volunteer appreciation theme is designed specifically for volunteers! Check out this preview and then check back with us soon to order the real deal!

Want to see what else we have? Find a more volunteer appreciation themes, plus all kinds of tools and 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!