Games to Play at a Co-worker's Leaving Party

Co-workers often end up leaving to find better jobs or to move to a new town. A going away party can help you show your appreciation for that person's past contributions in the work place. Play some simple going away party games to help enliven the atmosphere of the party. Use these games as a way to show that the whole office will miss the departing co-worker.

Gather up paper items from the work place that feature your departing co-worker in some way. These can include reports that he typed, pictures taken with the co-worker, special awards he won or anything else that was memorable from his stay at your workplace. Place these in a large box and have different co-workers come out and remove them from the box one at a time. They give three hints about what it is to the departing co-worker. The co-worker must try to guess it. If he guesses, he gets a point. If he does not guess, the work place gets a point. Play until you are out of items to share.

Sit everyone in a circle on chairs so that they are facing each other. Give the departing co-worker a piece of paper and pencil. Pick a starting person on the circle to make a bet. These bets should be humorous, such as "I bet Sheila will come back to visit us five minutes after moving to Hawaii." People in the circle raise their hands if they agree with the bet. The departing co-worker writes the bet down as well as the name of the person that made it and the number of people who agree with the bet. Let everyone in the circle make at least one bet. Type up the bet list and print out copies for everyone.

Tell everyone in the workplace a day before the party to type and print a going away letter for the person who is leaving. These letters should contain humorous or friendly hints as to the identity of the writer. They should not be signed. Collect the letters and seal each in an envelope. Place them in a large cardboard box. On the day of the party, bring out the box and say "You got mail!" The departing co-worker opens up the letters and reads them one at a time. He has to figure out who wrote each letter. This game works best if you surprise your co-worker with it.

Sit everybody in a large circle with the departing co-worker in the center. Pick a starting player to tell the group what she will miss most about the co-worker. These can be humorous or emotional statements. Write each of these statements down on a piece of paper. Vote on which is the "Best," the "Funniest," the "Cheesiest," the "Most Heartfelt," the "Weirdest" and others. Winners of each award should get a printed award certificate. Type up this list and print it out for everybody involved in the game.