The Office Playground Blog

Celebrate Valentine's Day at Work

Love is in the air... especially in your office. Are you feeling it? Lately, we've all been through some trying economic times together. Do you feel love for your co-workers and customers who are weathering this storm with you? Maybe you even get that warm and fuzzy feeling when you cozy up to the conference table with your team on a rainy day. Everywhere you look the experts are advising businesses to invest in their employees and to give them rewards and reminders of how important they are to the success of the company.

So, why not have a Valentine's Day celebration at work? Be open with the love and appreciation you have for your job, your colleagues and your customers. Here are some ways to bring back that loving feeling to the office:

1. Decorate your cubicle, lobby and office with a few Valentine's Day decorations.
2. Tape a big red paper heart on the refrigerator in the break room.
3. Leave a Valentine Heart Stress Ball on everyone's chair.
4. Have a company lunch. If you can't convince your boss or HR to spring for it, hit a restaurant and go Dutch or bring a bag lunch and have a potluck in the conference room. Just be together.
5. Encourage everyone to wear Valentine's Day colors (hint, RED) to work. For those that do, draw names to win prizes.
6. Rent a cupid costume so you can shoot bows and arrows at single folks to create a love connection. (Ok, we're just kidding about this one.)

Check out a few of our Valentine's Day items below:

Heart Stress Toy	Captain Smiley - Hot Pink	Inflatable Heart
4 Wheel Timer - Hearts	Smiley Dude Stress Toy - Red	Love Notes Ball
See our entire line up of Valentine's Day gifts here

Remember, fun Valentine's Day themed office toys last longer than chocolate and won't make your pants too tight.

With much love and appreciation,

Bill Ross
The Office Toy Guy
OfficeToyGuy@OfficePlayground.com

www.OfficePlayground.com
We help you play on company time.

Your Guide to the New Halloween 2.0 at Work

Has anyone else noticed that Halloween is rapidly turning into Christmas in terms of celebrating the "season"? I drove my kids around last night to look at Halloween lights on houses. Remember when people only put out pumpkins and a few decorations? These days, we’re seeing full blown lights on the house and haunted scenes in the yard. Folks set up life-sized skeletons, mummies, monsters and graveyards. We went by one house that displayed a lifelike werewolf on the roof and a Psycho shower scene behind their front window. Talk about getting into the spirit. I can't decide if these people are cool or crazy, but either way, next year I'M IN.

Do you notice the growing amount of shelf space reserved for Halloween paraphernalia in the stores? Sure, there has always been candy and costumes. But today, the shelves are packed with all sorts of Halloween props and shenanigans. The entire month of October is dedicated to the last day of the month. Just like the entire month of December is geared towards Christmas day. Halloween is on a serious tear right now and I say bring it on.

This rapid adoption of Halloween spirit as the major contender to Christmas spirit started me thinking about what it means to people working in an office. Here are my predictions of what Halloween will be like in the coming years for the corporate world. I call these predictions Halloween 2.0 at work:

Halloween 1.0 - Plastic spiders on a chair
Halloween 2.0 - Real spiders in a drawer

Halloween 1.0 - Wear a costume on Halloween day
Halloween 2.0 - Wear costumes all throughout October

Halloween 1.0 - Dress up as a witch
Halloween 2.0 - Practice real witchcraft at your desk

Halloween 1.0 - Cute little happy Halloween cards from co-workers
Halloween 2.0 - Big Halloween bonus checks from management
                         (just kidding, that won't happen)

Halloween 1.0 - Collecting treats from your co-worker’s desk
Halloween 2.0 - Smashing pumpkins over your co-worker’s head

I hope this guide helps you be on the cutting edge of this booming holiday for years to come. What will Halloween 3.0 entail? Real chainsaws? Who's the boss now?!

Happy Halloween!

Spooky Wishes,
Bill Ross
The Office Toy Guy

www.OfficePlayground.com
We help you play on company time.

Image courtesy of Suzie T.

How Scary is Your Office?

It’s the time of year where ghosts, witches and goblins are making plans for their favorite day of the year, Halloween. Have you let them visit your desk yet?

Halloween isn’t just for children dressed as spooky (or sometimes adorable) creatures, going door-to-door asking for candy; you can have just as much fun at work! This year, bring the spirit of Halloween to the office. Here are some ideas for making your workplace "spooktacular"!

• Decorate your desk or cubicle walls with a row full of smiling pumpkins
• Host a number of spooky Halloween contests: Scariest Costume, Jack-o-Lantern Carving, Pumpkin Seed Spitting, and Best Decorated Desk
• Hide fake giant spiders in your co-workers’ desk drawers
• Ask each of your co-workers "Trick or Treat?" Give those who say "treat" a piece of candy; pull a fun office prank on everyone else
• Host a Halloween Fright Wind-Up race
• Bring a large bowl of Halloween candy to share or bake a batch of Halloween cookies

Adding a little Halloween spirit to your workplace can make your day a little more exciting and everyone a little happier. Try out some of our ideas and let us know how it goes!

Image courtesy of Elvia Dametto.

Extreme Workplaces

Eating lunch outside at the Googleplex

The Travel Channel's segment on Extreme Workplaces is mind boggling and dream inspiring. Showcased in the show and the article, "Thinking Outside the Cubicle" written by Erica Walsh, are seven businesses that go all out in providing uniquely designed workplaces and unbelievably fun perks for their employees.

Ping Pong at the Threadless Warehouse

While not all employers can provide such wonderland-type settings and expensive perks, fun doesn't have to be high priced. Small gifts given out at a meeting can make a big impression. Freebees are appreciated and the good will associated with them can help stimulate creativity that just might give birth to the next great idea for your business.

Office Playground's Meeting in a Box is a modestly priced box containing 17 fidget toys. These little toys add an element of fun to any meeting or workday. The briefcase shaped box makes it easy to carry and it will definitely be the center of attention when placed on the conference table and opened to reveal the variety of toys inside. Let the brainstorming begin!

Images of the Googleplex courtesy of Erik Hersman. Image of the Threadless Warehouse courtesy of Joe M500.

The How and Why of Newton's Cradles

The Newtonian Demonstrator, known today as the Newton's Cradle, is a device that demonstrates the laws of conservation of momentum and energy. The concept was demonstrated centuries ago in France and used by Sir Isaac Newton when he developed the laws of physics.

How the Newton's Cradle works
When the first ball strikes the row of balls, the impact produces a shock wave that travels through the metal balls at the speed of sound. The speed of sound through steel is much faster (4699 m/s) than through air (300 m/s). The time for the shock wave to travel the short distance through the balls is too small for human perception. Neither the momentum nor energy is perfect in efficiency. Energy is lost in the suspending wires, friction of the surrounding air, and sound (the clicking of balls). The momentum degrades with each swing until near the end of oscillation the intermediate balls are swaying.

We have had customers ask why the balls don't clack back and forth forever in perpetual motion. It's because of the energy loss with each impact. Since energy cannot be created or destroyed, there can never be a "net gain" of energy and therefore there cannot ever be a true "perpetual motion" device (note to self, make a perpetual motion device, sell it to the highest bidder, retire).

The largest Newton's Cradle is over 20 feet tall. It was designed by Chris Boden and is located at The Geek Group home base in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The monster Newtonian demonstrator is made up of 7 bowling balls weighting 15 pounds each. The bowling balls are attached to metal cables and hung from trusses in the ceiling of a warehouse. The suspension cables are 20 feet long and the bowling balls hang 3 feet from the floor.

Why a Newton's Cradle?
Because they're fascinating to watch, make a cool sound, and provide kinetic entertainment without batteries! As it turns out, this little device has become among the most classic Desk Toys of all time. We sell tons of these (literally) and take them very seriously. If you want your own steel balls transferring energy at 4699 m/s, click here to see our selection.

Fun Is Profitable! -- Just Ask Google

Google sets the standard for a happy work environment.

In 2007 and 2008, Fortune Magazine named Google the Number 1 employer in their annual 100 Best Companies to Work for. With a market cap of 120.97B and 12,000 employees in offices throughout the world, Google’s casual dress code and “work hard, play hard” philosophy is a prime example of when people are happy they perform better. It is a company that goes out of its way to ensure staff happiness and contentment. Their staff turnover is low, while job satisfaction is high. Google's playful approach to serious business is echoed in the many variations of their logo they create to honor interesting people and events around the world.

Great ideas start with just one person sowing a seed. You can make your workspace a more enjoyable place by adding colorful items, tactile toys and whimsical office supplies. Create variety by rotating items from your drawer to the desktop. You’ll be happier and your co-workers will be inspired. Watch your idea grow and spread throughout your company.

Office Playground is a provider of a wide variety of affordable products that add fun to any office. We’ve shipped toys and games to Google offices and we can ship them to you. Staff happiness encourages success.

Stress-Busting Watery Habitats

To look at my desk, you’d think I was a fish enthusiast because of the Magic Fishbowl, DeskQuarium and Jellyfish Aquarium. It’s not the fish that I enjoy; it’s their watery habitat and individual stress-busting movement that appeal to me. The two fish in the Magic Fishbowl swim constantly with joyous abandon. Sometimes they stir the blue and green beads on the bottom of the bowl and other times they dart to the surface. Their endless energy is comically inspiring. The behavior of the four fish in the DeskQuarium is just the opposite. They rest calmly as they wait until I place a pencil or retrieve a pen from their holder. They are motion activated and they spring to life at my touch and dart about in an excited frenzy for about 45 seconds before drifting back into a relaxed snooze. Their burst of activity never ceases to surprise me. In contrast to the fish, the three dancing jellyfish in the Jellyfish Aquarium are delightfully soothing to watch. The invisible current in the aquarium causes the jellyfish to sway and twirl while their tentacles wiggle and wave in a dance of grace and beauty. Their movements seem magical and a little magic is a welcome addition to any day.

April Fools' Jokes in the Office

April Fools' Day is less than a month away and some of us at Office Playground wondered if pranks are appropriate for the workplace. Our research says yes—within reason. Practical jokes add fun and excitement to long, stressful days at work. When there's more work to do and less people to do it, stress relief is essential for keeping sanity. However, be aware of the potential consequences of playing jokes in a professional setting. The target of the prank, and your boss, should have a sense of humor; you wouldn't want to lose your job just for some laughs.

Pamela J. Holland, the COO of BRODY Professional Development, gave Entrepreneur these additional tips for pulling pranks at work:

• Make sure it doesn't embarrass someone or cause disruption in the workplace.
• Think through all possible consequences of the joke.
• Don't use April Fools' Day as an opportunity to "get back" at someone you don't like.
• What's OK to do at home with family or friends may not be appropriate for the workplace.
• If your boss is the subject of your prank, be extremely careful. You need to know this person extremely well, understand their sense of humor and never do anything that would diminish your boss's authority.

Several well-known organizations, including Entrepreneur, Forbes, Monster and MSNBC all have web pages or articles dedicated to office prank ideas and tips.

We found dozens of practical joke ideas out there. Here are some of the most extreme office pranks:

(image credit: baraskit.se)	(image credit: cubejinx)
(image credit: Dan)	(image credit: Daryl Fox)
(image credit: Unknown)	(image credit: Matt Reinbold)

To take practical jokes down a notch, try out some of our ideas. Create an infestation of Wind-Up Mice, Squishimal Spiders or Mutant Flies in your neighbor’s cubicle. A few Stretchy Snakes around the office could do the job as well. Some of us here at the Playground have put several Bozo Bop Bags in front of a co-worker’s cubicle after she left the office for the day; she came back to a wall of giant clowns guarding her desk. For a simple and traditional practical joke, you can’t go wrong with the Self Inflating Whoopee Cushion or the Remote Controlled Whoopee Cushion.

If you’re looking to reduce stress and have some laughs, office pranks can be a fun idea, but only if they are done right. With some careful planning, and perhaps a secret nod of approval from your boss, manager or co-worker you’ll be having fun in the office on April Fools’ Day. Just be sure to use common sense!