Engage new colleagues with a great VRIJMIBO

Vrijmibo (also known as VRIJdag MIddag BOrrel) is an informal meet-up that is usually held on a Friday afternoon with your colleagues and friends. It marks the end of the workweek and the transition into a relaxed environment, with snacks, (usually some alcohol), and games. Vrijmibo is one of the best ways to get to know new colleagues. So, if you have a new colleague at work or a group of new people you’re working with, why not get together informally after work this Friday and get to know them?

How to organize a vrijmibo

Before we get to the specific ideas of what games to play, let’s take a look at a few steps you should follow for a vrijmibo to be a success.

Choose a theme

Sometimes, you might think that it’s exciting to add a theme to your party. This doesn’t have to be something as dramatic as everyone turning up in fancy dress, but it could mean that there is a simple theme tying everything together, such as the snacks, the drinks, the playlist for the music, and the decorations (you could have a different country theme every time for instance – a Mexican vrijmibo one week and an Italian one the next).

It doesn’t always have to be massive

Organizing some drinks with colleagues after work doesn’t always need to be a big affair with loads of intricate plans put together. Sometimes, a simple plan is much better. All you need is some music, some drinks, some snacks, and a cozy place for a few colleagues to sit together. This is even easier if you are hosting a digital gathering and people just need to bring their own drink to the screen as you all meet together virtually.

Choose the right tunes

You don’t need to hire a DJ to make the music work well for you, instead create a playlist yourself. This can match a theme if you have one for the vrijimbo, or you can plan to give everyone a say. If every person attending has chosen a song, every person will feel involved. You can challenge people to fill (or even empty) the dance floor or come up with songs that have numbers in them. There are no limits to what you can do with the music.

Provide the snacks

The snacks are always an important part of any party or gathering! People remember good food and want to come back, but they also remember bad snacks and it can have a negative impact on how people feel about you and your gathering. You’re meeting for some informal drinks, so the snacks have to be on point.

A vrijmibo can be anywhere

A drink in a pub, a meal at a restaurant, a party at a karaoke bar, or even just hanging out at the office. All of these are suitable places for a vrijimbo. It’s a great way to get to know your colleagues but also a great way to get to know your local town or city and the place around where you work. A different environment every time is a great way to stimulate the senses, to encourage conversation, and to kill two (or more) birds with one stone.

Plus, the way the modern world of work operates also means that there is the chance to have hybrid or digital-only vrijmibos, so the possibilities are endless.

Be punctual

If you are organizing a gathering, even an informal one, you want to be punctual, and consistently punctual. If you know that you and your employees are least productive around 4pm on a Friday afternoon, why not make that the consistent time you start your drinks every week. It makes for an earlier start to everyone’s weekend, boosting morale and creating the ideal way to start the weekend together.

Ideas for vrijmibo

Learning the rules to games, sports, and other activities will help you to put forward some different game ideas to get the chat flowing, the drinking games going, and to create a pleasant, fun atmosphere where everyone can become comfortable with each other. Here, we’ve put together a few of the best games and activities that you can do with new colleagues after work on a Friday afternoon.

Pub Quiz

Whether you’re meeting people in person or virtually, a pub quiz is a great way to have some fun and create team bonds through a competitive spirit. There are different ways to approach this, either attending existing pub quizzes in the vicinity of your workplace or creating your own quiz. It’s best to have a broad range of topics and questions, that are likely to appeal to the widest audience and also makes sure that every person will have a place in a pub quiz team and offer their knowledge on specific subjects. As an ice breaker, a pub quiz can also be a fun setting for a ‘get-to-know-you’ session with new colleagues.

Games night

Another thing that you can do either in-person or virtually, is a games night. This is a great way to play different types of games and have a lot of fun. A game like Quick Draw or some Trivia games are fantastic ways to get to know people, to see how they tick, and to build friendship in an informal and fun way. If it is a success the first time, you can rotate who’s in charge of the choice of games every time you meet up, giving different people a chance to play their favourite games and to keep things exciting and interesting.

Wine or beer tasting

A cold, crisp lager and a nice glass of wine are often an important part of a vrijmibo, so why not make it a central part of the party by making it a tasting event. If you are gathering in person, this can be a beer or wine tasting for the group in a pub or wine bar. If you are having a virtual gathering, you can get some samples delivered directly to people’s homes in time for the event.

Create your own escape room

This might sound crazy, but bear with us. You all know how popular escape rooms are, these days. With loads of different escape room themes, like insane asylums, mad scientist labs, pirate ships, and Alcatraz to name just a few of the popular ones. Why not create an escape room in your office? Set a challenge for your team, they’ll work together well and have fun in the process in a creative way.

Give it a try

You spend so much time with your work colleagues that in a perfect world you’d get on well with all of them. We know that this isn’t always possible, but there are ways that you can connect with your colleagues organically, have some fun whilst getting to know them, and create a regular social gathering that everyone enjoys attending. Let us know what you think about the games that we have chosen on our list and if there is anything that you like to play informally with colleagues that we may have missed.