Seven Creative Wellness Event Ideas for Your Business

As more companies recognize the importance of wellness to drive employee productivity, engagement, and satisfaction, more employers have started searching for inventive wellness event ideas.

As your company’s meeting and events guru, you’re tasked with planning corporate wellness events that promote this important aspect of the workplace.

When arranging wellness-focused events, your programs should take into consideration the everyday concerns and stresses of both work and family life. Events and activities that help promote work-life balance and overall well-being are the ones that will resonate with participants and offer the best return on investment for your company.

1. Take it outside

Nothing fosters well-being like a day in the fresh air, free from desks, walls, and fluorescent lights.

Host an outdoor “start your day right” breakfast with coffee, tea, and a variety of foods including yogurt, fresh fruit, and granola.

Plan a short event like a walk or stretching exercise to get the group energized. Then, offer a roster of activities (with different strenuous levels) such as basketball or baseball games, themed scavenger hunts, painting lessons, or tai chi classes.

Organize a catered picnic lunch, then offer quiet time or a meditation class.

 

2. Schedule a breathing workshop

The phrase “take a deep breath” will have new meaning once event participants attend their first breathing workshop. Good breathing techniques can relieve stress, improve outlook and creativity, heighten focus and concentration, and restore energy and balance, all of which contribute to overall health.

Work with a spa or team of health professionals to plan a breathing workshop. Start the program with a session on the physical aspects of breathing and discuss how it happens anatomically and automatically and changes in response to internal and external events.

Offer demonstrations of positions and postures to improve breathing and arrange for your participants to practice techniques using entertaining exercises.

Invite a mental health professional to participate in the program and lead a discussion on home and work stressors. Offer techniques to reduce stress and anxiety levels. Leave plenty of time for questions and give handouts on stress-reduction techniques and employee assistance programs.

 

3. Celebrate a day of fitness

Plan activities around officially designated fitness days, such as National Fitness Day or World Fitness Day. Partner with experts to plan an on-site event that includes a variety of mini fitness classes throughout the day, including low-impact cardio, Pilates, yoga, kickboxing, cycling, and Zumba.

If your company doesn’t currently offer a gym or membership, invite fitness clubs, gyms, or health club representatives to attend. Consider offering special discounts or membership pricing to employees.

Invite local fitness apparel and equipment retailers to attend and have them bring a selection of their products, talk about what to wear, and advise people how to work out with home equipment.

Take this wellness event idea a step further and use it to kick off an employee fitness challenge that will improve the health of event attendees far into the future.

 

4. Make your own smoothie bar

For an out-of-the-box wellness event idea, invite employees to make their own smoothies. It’s a fun activity that’s easy to set up in an office meeting room or company cafeteria.

Set out a selection of milks, milk alternatives, yogurts, fresh fruits, veggies, protein powders, chia seeds, bee pollen, honey, coconut, and blenders. Then allow participants to create their own smoothies.

Display infographic cards with basic proportions. Offer sheets with takeaway recipes and nutritional information for each.

 

5. Set up a health screening fair

If your company offers employer-sponsored health insurance, partner up with your insurance company and plan an all-day wellness fair.

Pick a color and theme for the event. Plan to have lots of games, such as carnival-style roulette wheels. Hand out gift certificates for spa massages or sporting event tickets as prizes. Offer fun giveaways like mini first-aid kits, squeeze balls, sweat bands, printed exercise routines, walking trail maps, and health pamphlets.

Bring medical professionals on site and offer screenings in curtained areas to ensure privacy. Include flu shots and basic health screenings for weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, vision, and other conditions, as available and suggested by your health care partner.

While attendees wait for screenings, keep them engaged with games like a golf putting green, beach ball exercises, a ballroom dancing demo and lesson, or a photo booth with props. Offer nutritional counseling, 10-minute back rubs, CPR certification, and yoga or Pilates classes.

Invite representatives from health-related associations such as the American Heart Association, the Red Cross, and blood banks to give lectures on heart health, blood donation, and volunteering opportunities.

 

6. Set up a cooking class

Invite employees to participate in a hands-on cooking class led by an expert chef and a registered dietician. Serve up some fun first-hand knowledge of healthy foods with nutritional benefits.

Include plenty of superfoods like quinoa, kale, turmeric, chai tea, kombucha, kimchi, cassava, and manuka honey. Give handouts that explain nutritional terms like green revolution, plant-based eating, clean eating, keto, paleo, and Mediterranean diet.

Keep the recipe preparations simple and enjoy a sit-down tasting of the final results.

Highlight local and farmers-market vendors by using their products and produce during the cooking class. Depending on the number of participants, you may want to offer the class a few times during the day.

 

7. Meditation and matcha

If you’re looking for on-trend wellness event ideas, offer employees a chance to experience the joy of meditation and the opportunity to learn about the benefits of matcha, the green-tea powder that has multiple health and wellness benefits.

Arrange for a meditation instructor to give a short talk describing the ancient history and concept of mindfulness behind meditation. Then, offer employees the opportunity to participate in guided meditation practice that enhances concentration, alleviates stress, and improves mood.

Afterward, introduce participants to matcha. Explain the basics of a matcha tea ceremony and the differences between common and ceremonial matcha. Offer foods made with the product, such as matcha latte and matcha cheesecake.

 

Plan spectacular wellness events at sea with Celebrity Cruises

Plan your next corporate event with Celebrity Cruises, whose ships offer unique event venues and exciting activities that will enhance all of your wellness events.

The Lawn Club on many Celebrity ships makes a picture-perfect venue for a guided meditation lesson or a  picnic lunch after active group activities like basketball games, scavenger hunts, and creative experience classes.

Dining alfresco on real grass is sure to be a hit with meeting participants, as is the ability to recline on loungers by the pool, take a refreshing swim, or relax in luxuriously appointed staterooms.

Celebrity’s onboard spas offer numerous health and wellness treatments, services, and classes including audio-guided meditation and breathing. They can be customized for small or large groups. Guests also enjoy fitness classes taught by certified instructors and workouts with state-of-the-art equipment and floor-to-ceiling sea views.

The world-class culinary team, led by a Michelin-starred chef, takes food and wellness events to extraordinary heights, showcasing fresh, locally sourced, sustainable ingredients.

Celebrity’s luxurious cruise ships offer a range of corporate event venues perfect for a wellness-focused experience at sea. Get help planning your next event by calling the group experts at 1-800-722-5934 .