Celebrating Halloween is always a highlight with my teams—it’s a time for fun, pretending, and indulging in sweets, bringing out the inner child in everyone. For us, Halloween also marks the official start of the holiday season, leading into periods of heavy time off, code freezes, and end-of-year performance reviews. I love using this day to engage with my team and introduce them to the quirky American tradition of Halloween, if they’re not already familiar.

Here are some of the spookiest ways I’ve celebrated with my teams:

☠️Haunted office: It’s rare to find a haunted house inside an office building, but I’ve had the privilege of creating two. Both were set up in unused sections of our buildings. One featured an elaborate walkthrough with bugs crawling out of defunct server racks and rooms filled only with the sound of breaking glass. In the other, we painted a ‘dead body’ outline on the concrete—a spooky surprise that remains under the carpet to this day!

🎃Costume contest: As the pandemic shifted our work environment, we transitioned from haunted spaces to virtual costume contests for both humans and pets, awarding prizes based on the most (emoji) votes. It’s a fun way to see the creative talents of your team mates.

👻Virtual ghost tours: The internet is a treasure trove of ghost stories, and many places have their own eerie legends. I’ve encouraged my teams to unearth fun, not-too-terrifying ghost stories from their areas to share with each other. This can be a delightful way to spend an hour, either together or on your own time and sharing some history of your region.  

Have you celebrated Halloween with your teams? Do you have suggestions for more remote-friendly activities?