All of us have an inner child. It’s practically guaranteed that he or she loves Halloween. Appealing to them in the workplace may sound counterintuitive at first, but in truth it can be a great way to motivate your team.

Whether you’re a digital marketing agency or paper company creating a teamwork-centric office culture, improving company morale can reduce employee turnover and lead to increased productivity. It’s the last two months of the year, so no time like the present.

Looking for some fun ways to celebrate Halloween at work? Think of these office place Halloween activities less like workday distractions and more like motivational team building techniques.

Encourage Costumes

Work appropriate Halloween costumes give you a look at the man behind (or in this case, inside) the mask. Meaning, seeing an employee’s interests expressed through costume gives you valuable insight into who they are outside the cubicle. It’s a natural conversation starter that can lead to deeper ties among team members and senior staff alike.

It can also lessen the divide between upper management and the rest of the team. Costumes are a great equalizer. In seeing executives and directors dressed up and mingling they may become more relatable. Really isn’t any small departure from “intimidating” a good thing?

Invite the Fam

In some cases, employees spend more hours of the day at the office than they do with their families. An office Halloween party is a great opportunity to include your employee’s loved ones. It gives them a chance to see where and how mom and dad spend their days. It also allows entire families to bond and strengthen relationships internally.

Whether you invite the kids to trick or treat around the office or have a special Halloween cookie decorating party just for the little ones, extending the invitation to family is always a great idea.

Schedule a Volunteer day

Research shows that millennials are especially keen on, and motivated by, purpose. In fact, a millennial impact report published by Forbes says as many as, “81% of Millennial employees wanted to participate in company-wide volunteer days.”

The same study showed some correlation between employee retention and participation in purpose-oriented causes.

Being as close as it is to the holidays, the Halloween season is the ideal time of year to give back to communities in need. Try inviting special needs children to trick or treat in your office, visiting with the elderly for a day, or leading a collection effort.

Whichever you choose, don’t hesitate to put the extra energy to good use on Halloween. It’s also an easy way to improve your reputation management goals!

Celebrate with a Contest

There are no shortage of games or friendly Halloween contests you can host in the workplace. Bonus points if you can divide the entire team by department or into smaller groups. It’ll help facilitate the team building.

Some popular office Halloween activities include:

• Departmental cubicle decorating contest
• Guessing game of how many candy corns are in a container
• Department-wide pumpkin carving contest
• Best costume contest awards like (best homemade, scariest, funniest, most realistic)

Ultimately, work Halloween festivities are great office energizers. Done right, they can bring your team closer together and give everyone a chance to have a scary good time before killing your sales goals in Q4.