Does your association have any special holiday traditions?

It’s pretty common for organizations to have holiday parties or luncheons of some sort, but does your small staff do a gift exchange? For example, those of us at MemberClicks participated in a “white elephant” gift exchange last year, in which gifts could be “stolen” up to three times. Some gifts were serious, but most were humorous in some way and we had a lot of laughs.

Our office pup Huck examining the requisite rubber chicken.

If a gift exchange isn’t your association’s style, here are a few other ideas for fostering community during the holidays:

- Volunteer at a soup kitchen. You’ll be giving back to your community together.
- Host a viewing of a traditional holiday movie, such as “Miracle on 34th Street” or “A Christmas Story.”
- Have a bake-off with holiday treats, such as snickerdoodles or gingerbread.
- Play carols in your office (if everyone agrees, that is)
- Host a potluck dinner for all staffers and their families. Ask everyone to bring a dish or two that’s a specialty in their family.
- Ask staffers to decorate their workspace with fun holiday trimmings.

No matter what holiday everyone celebrates, how can you make this time of year festive in your office?

Just wanted to share a few photos from our holiday potluck today. We hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Merry Christmas to one and all (if you celebrate, that is). I hope everyone is enjoying their break and spending time with family and friends. Even though it was technically a holiday week, there was lots of good stuff going around the association community this week.

1. Oh my gosh. When I read this poem, I couldn’t believe how well-crafted it was. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: The Association Version by Joe Flowers is wonderful. I have to turn to rhymezone.com when I’m seeking a rhyming match, so I can’t imagine how long something like this would have taken me. This is so well done, and definitely a must-read if you haven’t already.

2. Shelly Alcorn contributed to Big Ideas month over as Association Subculture with her post about the actual environment of associations. I love each and every one of her posts, and this one was great because she turned a critical eye (in a good way) to how current associations can execute everyone’s big ideas. So glad you wrote this, Shelly!

3. I’m loving the conversation about non-profit vs. for-profit, especially Kevin Holland’s post from earlier this week. It’s true that there are many for-profit associations out there, and every situation and organization is different. Kevin writes, But for those of us who work for associations because we like making a bigger difference for the sectors we serve, I think the non-profit status still makes sense. Very true.

4. Over at SocialFish, Maddie Grant has been posting interviews with social media managers at various associations (and association management companies). The series is great, and there were two new ones this week — one with Kristi Donovan of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration and one Brian Riggs of Association Headquarters. Such valuable information here. (And look out for my own responses on the SocialFish blog sometime!)

5. Lisa Junker at the Acronym blog shared a round-up of holiday-themed posts. Just in time for the holiday, I wanted to pass the link along.

From everyone at MemberClicks, happy holidays to you and yours. For a little bit of holiday cheer, check out our Christmas video (it wouldn’t let me embed). Merry Christmas!