At Corporate Events NYC we are obsessed with two things:
- Improving work culture via fun and meaningful team building events.
- Creating a database of the best team building activities and top corporate event ideas in NYC.
Why? Because we absolutely love company culture. We live, breathe, eat, and sleep the stuff that makes companies function well. We go to bed happy when we know we’ve helped a team become better collaborators, more productive and similar enhancements.
So, maybe you are looking for the top corporate event ideas in NYC and you want to mix it up this time. Maybe your company has gone bowling one too many times or perhaps you’re looking to plan something a little more unexpected to wow your coworkers or even your business’ clients.
We can help you plan your event! We’ve spent countless hours researching and vetting the best team building companies in New York City so you don’t have to. Our list below is the most comprehensive available when it comes to narrowing down the top corporate event ideas.
Below you’ll find company outing ideas, company retreats, fun team building activities and more. Our list covers NYC and the surrounding area, including Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and New Jersey.
Table of Contents
Here is a quick list of categories you can use to find the best corporate events for your team.
- The Best Corporate Events in NYC
- Fun Corporate Event Ideas in NYC
- Traditional NYC Corporate Events
- NYC Corporate Events with Food
The Best Corporate Events in NYC
Many factors go into choosing the best corporate events in NYC, including the experience, location, reviews, price and more. Among all of the corporate event ideas in NYC, a few shine brighter as the best team activities in the city. We’ve listed a selection of team event ideas below that span cultural impact, food, holiday themes and more.
1. Museum Hack
Museum Hack is the gold standard in providing top corporate events and team building activities in NYC. Museum Hack leads renegade tours of the best museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and American Museum of Natural History. Museum Hack’s tours promise to be the most fun you’ll ever have in a museum, and their guides deliver in a big way. Tours can be customized to your interests, for example the guides once led an entire tour of the Met focused on yogurt for Dannon. Also, your tour includes photo challenges, fun games, and team activities designed to get your coworkers engaging and interacting with each other and with the art. You can upgrade your experience to include Museum Hack’s storytelling workshop to bring even more valuable lessons in communication, engagement, and collaboration back to the office.
Learn more about Museum Hack.
2. Gingerbread Games
Gingerbread Games might just be the most fun your team will have this holiday season. Gingerbread Games operates for three months each year, from late October through early January. And when this event is available it is in high demand! The host will split your group into smaller teams and then each team will scheme to make the best gingerbread house. However, there are some twists and turns along the way that make this event a meaningful and fun team building activity. For example, the event includes icebreaker questions and holiday trivia. By the way, you get to eat the extra candy, so your team will love the event too.
Info: Gingerbread Games
3. The Great Guac Off
The Great Guac Off, or TGGO for short, is part guacamole making competition and part fun corporate event. That combination of qualities makes TGGO one of NYC’s best team building activities! Optimized for maximum bonding, The Great Guac Off works by encouraging friendly competition, encouraging participation in fun challenges and games, and allowing your coworkers to indulge in eating delicious chips and guacamole. You can host your Guac Off at a location of your choice or a rental location around the city. To customize your event catering is available and BYOB is welcome.
Info: The Great Guac Off
Fun Corporate Event Ideas in NYC
It may sound weird, but not all of the top corporate events are meant to be fun. Some team events are more like meetings or strategic planning or for the purpose of training in important issues like sexual harassment. However, other team building activities and team outings can be a blast, which is why we’ve included a few fun corporate event ideas below.
4. Escape Rooms
Like scavenger hunts, escape rooms have also become a popular choice for team activities in NYC. Escape rooms check a lot of boxes when it comes to team building; they encourage collaboration, communication, team work, problem solving, creative thinking, and innovation. Some escape rooms are designed to be easily solved with good teamwork, and others are intentionally too difficult to solve. The latter type can give you more interesting insight into your team and how they react to certain situations.
Info: Escape Rooms
5. Statue of Liberty Tour
Just because your team lives and works in the NYC area doesn’t mean they have seen all the sites. Many people that call New York home haven’t been to many of the local tourist sites. So, for example, your people probably haven’t seen the Statue of Liberty close-up. You can organize a team outing that gets up close and personal with the freedom lady. After your cruise, you can do a fun picnic that includes snacks and icebreaker questions. Finally, get everyone a little gift bag or gift card to take home after the event.
Info: Statue of Liberty Tours
6. Storytelling Workshops
Learning how to tell good stories doesn’t have to be difficult. And knowing how to captivate your audience and reward them with the story’s payoff at just the right moment can make all the difference in your business. People love stories; it’s why we tune into TV shows, head to the movies, and pick up well recommended books. Your business has a story, too. Do you know what your story is? Do you know how to tell that story? The storytelling experts at Museum Hack have been changing the perceptions of museums for years with their signature storytelling techniques that can make even the driest, dullest topics come to life. The team can do the same for your business and it can pay off big time. Think about your sales reps on client calls captivating their leads; think about your marketing team sharing your company’s story. It’s a worthwhile investment to include this workshop in your next team event.
Info: Storytelling Workshops
7. Broadway Show
Broadway-itis is a serious condition that affects anyone who has been to a big show in NYC. If you are looking for corporate event ideas that will be a show stopping, life-changing evening for you and your coworkers then check out Broadway. You can sometimes get decent priced tickets with one of the vendors, but if you want everyone to sit together then you will likely need to pay full price in advance. You could go to Hamilton, the Lion King, or one of many other shows.
Info: Broadway Shows
Traditional NYC Corporate Events
When you think of corporate event ideas and team building activities, you probably think of company picnics, rope courses and bowling. These events may not be on the cutting edge, but they can still be strong choices for bringing your team together. We’ve listed a few of these more traditional corporate events below.
8. Team Building Hero
Some of the top corporate events in NYC are run by Team Building Hero. This company is an agency that offers multiple team building activities you can do offsite or at your office. For example, Team Building Hero has corporate event ideas ranging from food competitions to scavenger hunts to training workshops and more. When you book with Team Building Hero, you have the option of booking multiple events at the same time, which also gives you access to preferred pricing.
Info: TeamBonding
9. Improv
Improv is another one of classic company team building activities, but in our view, it’s not outdated or stale. Improv can have far-reaching benefits for your team; your group will learn new ways to think on their feet and think outside the box, all while displaying sides of their personalities they may not typically show at the office. That experience can help tremendously with bonding, morale, and coming together as a team. In addition to these benefits, improv is known to help sharpen creativity, storytelling, and innovation.
Info: Improv
10. Comedy Class
Comedy can definitely be intimidating, especially for the introverts on your team. However, comedy is a great way to push your group outside their traditional workplace comfort zone. Comedy classes have many similar benefits to improv, but with more of a focus on making people laugh and unwinding as opposed to sharpening quick thinking and performance. Comedy classes are great for a quick boost to your team’s wit and communication skills, and make for great team building in NYC. Also, if you want to help eliminate public speaking fears from your team members, comedy classes can be a very effective way to get it done.
Info: Comedy Classes
11. Dave & Buster’s
Dave & Buster’s offers lots of perks for corporate events: it’s fun, everyone knows what to expect, it’s easy to coordinate food and drinks, and there’s likely a convenient location for your office. While a trip to Dave & Buster’s will likely promote team bonding and check fun corporate events off the list, it won’t necessarily provide the same benefits as some more structured or tailored team building activities. If you want an easy event to plan, then this one will still be a boost to get your group out of the office and enjoying some good old fashioned rounds of Skee Ball.
Info: Dave & Buster’s
12. Juggling
Poll your team and see if you have any master jugglers in the group; if not, then consider booking an afternoon of juggling! Like making pizza or improv, learning a new skill together can really promote bonding, and juggling is no different. Juggling is challenging, fun, and something many people on your team may not good at. These qualities mean your group can bond over trying to figure out juggling together. After your team event, treat your coworkers to lunch or dinner and make a whole afternoon out of the experience.
Info: Juggling
13. Take a sightseeing tour
Your team is local to New York City, but how many of them have taken the time to appreciate NYC like a tourist? Why not spend a full afternoon team building and take a sightseeing tour of New York City. Learn some cool new facts about the place you call home and make sure to stop at the most tourist-y restaurant or deli to grab a bite to eat. You could even complete the day with a stroll through Central Park. Since many of these event ideas will be outside, we recommend planning them in the spring, summer or fall, since winter in NYC can be pretty brutal.
14. Rent a yacht
Your team will feel like VIPs if you choose this high-end activity to replace traditional team building events. You can rent a Hornblower Yacht to cruise your team around the sights of NYC for a full or half day. The yacht can accommodate groups of up to 100 people and can also provide food and drink catering options. You’ll see landmarks like the Empire State Building or Statue of Liberty, and can request traditional team building activities while on the boat.
Info: Hornblower
15. Host a magic show
Treat your team to an afternoon of amazement and awe with a professional magician that performs at corporate events. First, you can enjoy a magic show and try to figure out just how the magician performs his tricks. Then, your team can learn a few tricks of their own to take back to impress the entire office or their families and friends at home! A good magician can impress even the most hard-to-please among us, which means that magic is a cool option for a relaxed, fun corporate event that won’t be too tricky to pull off.
Info: Magician
16. Bowling
Okay, so we know we threw in a jab at bowling as being a little out-dated for team building activities in our intro, but bowling might not be a bad idea for every team. Bowling has several elements that comprise a decent company outing: friendly competition, getting a change of pace outside the office, and you can include food and drinks if that’s your company’s style. All in all, bowling is an easy, relaxing way to get out of the office and spend some time not working with your coworkers. For those reasons, bowling is worth considering for corporate events in New York City.
Info: Bowling
NYC Corporate Events With Food
Nearly everyone loves to eat, which is why you should consider corporate event ideas which include food. For example, you can do an event based on cookies, guacamole, pizza, salad, ice-cream or other fan favorites.
17. Cookie Showdown
Cookie Showdown is one of those DIY team building activities you can do at the office. First, you challenge your coworkers to prepare their go-to cookie recipe, which could be a recipe passed down from grandma. On the day of the event, everyone brings a batch of cookies and shares these snacks with the team. Everyone that attends rates the cookies on a scale of 1 to 5, and then you tally the points to declare the Cookie Showdown champion. Milk is optional but recommended, and you can get almond milk to be inclusive.
18. Make pizza
New York City is famous for its pizza; why not embrace the city you call home and learn how to make its most recognizable delicacy? Learning a new skill together can be a great way to come together as a team, and learning how to make pizza will be delicious too. Your team will get to sit down and eat their creation once they’re done!
Info: Pizza Schools NYC
19. Sidewalk Food Tours
This team event is all about seeing New York City with your stomach. Sidewalk Food Tours offers several different culinary experiences in NYC, including The Lower East Side Food Tour, The West Village Food Tour, Pizza, Beer, & History Food Tour, Downtown NYC Food Truck Tour, Midtown NYC Food Truck Tour, Mad Men Cocktail Tour Experience. Sidewalk Food Tours’ corporate team building activities begin at $79 per person and can go much higher.
Info: Sidewalk Food Tours
20. Murder Mystery Dinners
Murder mysteries are a classic group event and one of our top picks for fun group activities for adults to do together, whether they’re coworkers or not. You can approach scheduling a murder mystery for your team outing in a couple of different ways. First, you could spectate. You and your group can visit a scheduled murder mystery, book a table, and come together and laugh, eat, and enjoy the show. This first option is not necessarily an interactive choice, but it’s still a fun team activity to do together. Plus, there’s food! Second, you and your team could participate in the event. With this option, you switch up the roles and make your team the stars of the show. You can hire performers to come assign roles in the murder mystery to your team members, ensuring everyone participates and works together to solve the crime and identify the killer. This option is a much more hands-on, interactive one with an updated twist on the classic murder mystery.
Info: Murder Mystery Dinners
The End
When you’re trying to choose the best corporate events for your team, the number of choices for team building activities in NYC can be overwhelming. We hope this list has helped you narrow down some of the available options out there and figure out what might work best for your organization!
At Corporate Events NYC, we are firm believers in the power of team building and want you to choose from only the best team activities in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island, Staten Island, and Hoboken. If you’re still not sure what company might be right for you and your team then feel free to drop us a line. We’d love to talk more!