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!

Happy Black Friday to our American readers! If you got up at all hours of the night to start shopping, more power to you. (I prefer to complete my holiday shopping online.) Anyway, there were a few great Thanksgiving-related posts out there this week so I wanted to give a quick shout-out to them.

1. Jeff Hurt gave thanks for his community — both online and offline. A great blog post to remind us all to reflect on our communities.

2. At the Acronym blog, Carolyn Hook wrote about a few associations she’s thankful for, including The Deanna Durbin Society, the American Automobile Association and the American Fertility Association. I think it’s great to recognize the associations — big and small — that help us every day.

3. Bruce Hammond discussed a few great ways to give thanks for the people in your work and personal life. He reminds us that it’s a good idea to not wait for the holidays to show some gratitude, though.

4. I really enjoyed Jeffrey Cufaude’s post, titled An Attitude of Gratitude. He asks, would any credible, successful HR professional manage paid staff the way volunteers are managed in your organization?

5. Finally, David M. Patt wrote about the necessity of being thankful for something important. He discusses being thankful for the First Amendment, which is something I’m extremely thankful for as well!

We hope everyone enjoys their weekends full of leftovers and holiday sales!

Image source: Kevin Patrick

Happy Memorial Day from all of us at MemberClicks. We’re proud to honor our veterans today, and in honor of the holiday, I wanted to spotlight the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association.

With more than 500 members, AVVBA promotes patriotism and sponsors patriotic activities for the Atlanta business community. Of course, it recognizes those who lost their lives in the Vietnam War, and a big goal is to erect memorial plaques in different Atlanta locations.

We’re proud to serve such a fantastic organization, and we hope that whatever your plans today, you keep in mind the millions of veterans who served for the United States.

Who can believe it’s 2010? Personally, I was excited to say goodbye to 2009 and am ready to see what 2010 has in store for me — and for associations, as well. So in honor of the new year, here are my top five association management blog posts from the past week.

1. Over at Acronym, Brian Birch wrote about innovations from the past decade and how they will help associations going forward into a new one. My favorite part? The link to check out your association’s Web site’s old design (web.archive.org). So hilarious and nostalgic.

2. Jeffrey Cufaude discussed how associations should approach their goals going forward into 2010. He says, What beliefs, mindsets, policies, procedures, or practices help perpetuate the same behaviors or outcomes, the ones you want to change? Good questions here.

3. David M. Patt wrapped up the year by sharing some leadership lessons he discussed throughout 2009. My favorite points are the last ones – spend your time on relevant activities and be sure to communicate properly.

4. Updating or reinventing your chapter program for 2010? Check out Peggy Hoffman’s post at the Idea Center for tons of ideas on goal-setting. Keep in mind that it’s important to set goals that are measurable so you can keep track of your progress.

5. So I thought I posted a link to Elizabeth Engel’s post, So what will YOU do TODAY?, on Twitter. And when I check my Twitter stream, I realized I had forgotten to include a URL. So sorry, Elizabeth! Regardless, everyone should check out this post. We don’t need to wait for the new year to set resolutions or goals. What will you do to help your association today?

Thanks for reading Splash in 2009, everyone! I hope everyone’s new year got off to a fun and safe start, and have a great weekend!

(Image via ahisgett on Flickr)