By Franzi
For many, Cologne stands for joie de vivre, carnival and – of course – the famous Kölsch. If you add to this the warm nature of the people of Cologne, the Rhenish welcoming culture and the numerous companies based there, it is no wonder that the city is also interesting for many career starters. If you want to integrate new employees and increase team spirit, a company event is always a great option! And now that Christmas is almost around the corner again, a Christmas party is of course an absolute must! In this article you will find tips and ideas to ensure that your company event in Cologne is a complete success!
Make interaction the main condition of the company event in Cologne!
Company events, even in the sociable city of Cologne, are mainly organized to get to know your colleagues from a different, more informal side. When a group gets along well with each other, it also has a positive influence on collaboration and performance. Is your goal for the team to get to know each other better at a joint company party in Cologne and thus strengthen group cohesion? Then be sure to choose events where interaction and communication are the focus.
Ideas for a communicative company event in Cologne
Playful competition that requires group teamwork is a great way to strengthen group cohesion. Our favorite for this are city rallies. Not only does a city rally require cooperation and teamwork, but at the same time new employees can get to know Cologne better and have a more pleasant start in the new city. If your team is particularly large, it makes sense to split it into smaller groups. Organizing a city rally is of course a little more complicated than, for example, planning a pizza meal together, but it's worth it!
If you don't have time to prepare a city rally, guided city tours are also a great team event idea for companies from Cologne. They don't necessarily just have to visit the classic tourist points, as you might think. Instead, you can cover a specific topic, go to special, unknown places and thus provide plenty of topics to talk about even after the tour. Although many people probably already know it and have tried it out: an escape room is also a great way to strengthen team spirit and improve group cohesion.
This team event in Cologne also works indoors
Now that the days are shorter and the temperatures are colder, a day outdoors may no longer be the ideal company event in Cologne. But a team event in Cologne can also easily be a complete success indoors. Here too, however, it is advisable to focus on communication and interaction. A good approach to get communication and conversations going in the team is to try something new together! And by trying here we mean: tasting. How about a chocolate tasting , for example? Wine, espresso, gin, whiskey, all of these are of course great tasting options for a team event. The advantage of chocolate is that it certainly doesn't exclude anyone because it is alcohol-free and does not contain any unhealthy stimulants such as caffeine. And: Chocolate tastings are still relatively unknown, so the likelihood that someone from the team already has “previous experience” is relatively low!
We from Theyo would be happy to come to you in Cologne for a chocolate tasting. Of course, we only have the finest chocolate in our luggage, made from fairly and sustainably traded cocoa! At a Theyo chocolate tasting you don't just try the best that the world of fine chocolate currently has to offer. At the same time, you will also learn many exciting facts about the cultivation of cocoa and the production of chocolate and what really matters when it comes to quality chocolate. If you are interested, please contact us via the Theyo contact form or via our email address hallo[at]theyo.de.
Your Christmas party in Cologne will be remembered for a long time!
As already mentioned: Christmas is not far away and when planning a Christmas party in Cologne, it definitely makes sense to start planning for this special company event as early as possible.
An extraordinary company event creates memories that last
If you want to plan a Christmas party that your employees won't forget in a hurry, creativity is the be-all and end-all. Eating together at your favorite Italian restaurant is a nice activity... But it's not really original for a company party in Cologne on the occasion of Christmas. If you want to have a meal together either way, you can easily make it unforgettable. By organizing an additional event within the event itself! So book another activity to go along with the meal: This could be a magician, a band, a wine tasting or of course a chocolate tasting . If the evening includes a communicative element, the success of your Christmas party is guaranteed!
Digital company event for Christmas in Cologne that works? And whether!
Many companies, including in Cologne, have been forced to significantly improve the options for remote working and home offices in recent years. Many teams today also consist of members who live in completely different places around the world. But that doesn't mean that such teams from Cologne have to miss out on a company event or a nice Christmas party! Quite the opposite, because during Corona the possibilities for digital team events have multiplied. This means that everything that can be done in analogue life is now also possible in digital.
A good example of digital company events (also in Cologne) are our chocolatey, digital team events . Our Theyo chocolate tastings are also possible online and experience shows that they are at least as entertaining as in “real life”. Participants simply receive the chocolate boxes sent to their home beforehand. Our chocolate experts then simply log into the room for the digital company event in Cologne. The chocolate tasting then proceeds as normal. The group size is not limited here and the chat function gives the shy ones in the team a chance to participate without speaking in front of the whole group!
Employee gifts for Christmas as a special extra
If you want to give your team a special treat at Christmas, employee gifts are the way to go! If you don't really know what everyone on the team might really like, we have an idea :-)
And the fact that it has something to do with chocolate certainly won't surprise you! We at Theyo also offer curated chocolate boxes that are great to give as gifts to your own employees. Feel free to click through our range of thematically sorted, fine, fair and sustainably produced chocolate boxes. Do you already know exactly which chocolates you want to give your team? Then we can put together a very personal employee gift for you. And: Companies that mean particularly well to their employees go all out and give away a three-month chocolate subscription ;-) And did you know that there are also tax advantages for employees? We explain how you can claim these in this article: Your employee gifts will remain tax-free in 2022 !
Speaking of taxes: You can claim these tax advantages at your company event in Cologne
What is unfortunately a limiting factor for many companies when planning team events: financing. At the same time, many people don't know that company outings and team events can be claimed for tax purposes: a tax allowance of up to 110 euros can be set per employee for a team day. And such a team day can be claimed for tax purposes twice a year, so the budget per person is even 220 euros per year! Possible expenses that can be deducted from your taxes for your company event in Cologne include, for example, travel costs, meals, fees or the costs of participating in a chocolate tasting :-)
