You Take the Cake
You Take the Cake team building program is a delicious and creative event for any team.
Imagine sculpting a cake into an artistic and innovative metaphor for teamwork, success, or any initiative your organization is supporting.
Teams get warmed up with several fun icebreakers to help them max their creative mojo before launching into a friendly competition to see who can design and craft the most spectacular confection that symbolizes your theme.
We start with sheet cakes and cupcakes that are already freshly baked for you. Then it’s up to your team to do the decorating. Rule #1- you’re not allowed to just ice and decorate a flat sheet cake. That’s too easy. In order to qualify for the competition your delicious design must be a 3-dimensional delicacy.
Icings, gels, food coloring, edible spray paint, candy of any kind you can imagine, sprinkles, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, gems, glitter, and more are provided to enhance this team building event. The sheer amount of cake-building supplies will blow your mind.
Put your creativity to the test!
When each masterpiece is complete, it’s time for the Cake Tour. Each team gets to tell the story of their cake, explaining the metaphor and how their creation represents teamwork or the theme of the event. Then it’s up to you to vote on the winner.
Delicious and rewarding, You Take the Cake team building is the perfect program for established teams to enhance camaraderie and improve team dynamics or it’s a great icebreaker for newly formed teams to begin bonding. In either case, this team building event is a delectable delight.
Program Highlights:
- Sculpt a cake into a metaphor for teamwork, success, or the theme of your choice.
- Utilize hundreds of cake-building supplies in this fun team building event.
- Great for improving team dynamics in established teams.
- Great icebreaker for newly formed teams.
Program Stats:
Program Length: 1.5-3 hours
Suggested Team Size: 5 is optimal, 3-6 is fine
Space requirements: 1 60” round table per group
Program Location: Inside
What is the best team size?
We typically recommend teams of 5. However, teams of 3-6 can also work well. 7 or more people per team will not be as engaging for all of the participants.
Is it better to predetermine the members of the teams or randomly assign people to teams?
The answer to this question depends upon your goal for the session. Sometimes, participants are comprised of several teams from one department. In these cases, our clients tend to like to preset the teams so that people can interact with people they don’t work with on a regular basis. Other times, groups are comprised of a single team or department and randomly assigning teams works fine.
Who forms the teams?
We can randomize small groups on the spot, but for groups larger than 20 people, we recommend you form the teams ahead of time. If you are preselecting the teams, we suggest you disseminate this information to the participants either at the program or prior to the event. We do not recommend reading off of a list at the beginning of the program.
What is the typical length of the program, and is this flexible?
A typical program runs 2.5-3 hours. This can be shortened to an hour if we take out the first half of the program and just do the cake build.
Wait, if the cake build can be done in an hour, what’s happening in the other 2 hours?
We run a series of creativity warm up exercises designed around your theme to get people thinking about your theme and developing a metaphor to use in their cake build later. It’s also great for groups who worry that their team isn’t creative enough.
How much set-up time is needed?
2 hours for most groups. We need to set up a really impressive array of decorating supplies.
We’re using our conference room all day. Can you set up during our break?
No. The set up is intricate and extensive.
What if you set up in another room and move it into the main room?
I’m sorry, this really doesn’t work. The materials are too easily messed up in the moving process.
What are the room requirements?
The ideal setup is 1 60” round table with linens and chairs for each team, 3 8’ rectangular tables for program supplies at the front of the room (for up to 8 teams), a sound system (for music) and a microphone (if more than 30 people), and trash cans in each corner of the room.
What about prizes?
We typically award Honor, Glory, and Bragging Rights. We can judge the overall presentation of each team at the end of the program if you like. We can do this by applause or have VIPs select a winner. If you choose to provide a small prize for the best presentation, we suggest keeping it small.
What is the best attire for this event?
Conference room attire is just fine. We provide aprons and rubber gloves.
Is this messy? Will we get dirty?
This depends on the individuals in your group, and we have a wide variety of cleaning supplies on hand just in case. Also, see above.
Can this be done over drinks and appetizers?
Yes.
Can we do a serious debrief to have deep learning and work on long-standing issues in our organization?
That’s a different program.
Can we customize our program?
Yes. We will work with you to design the best theme for your day.
How much clean up time is needed?
This can take an hour or more for larger programs.
Where do the cakes come from?
We typically get them delivered from a local bakery.
What happens to the cakes at the end of the program?
Honestly, most people throw them away. You’re welcome to eat them or take them home, but after that many hands have been in the cake and it’s covered in gems and icing spray paint and poked with enough popsicle sticks to open a lollipop factory, most people don’t want to eat it.
Do we get to eat cake?
Yes. Most people much on the parts that have been cut away, and somehow most of the cupcakes disappear but don’t manage to make it into the final sculpture. Lots of the decorating candy also gets sampled, for quality control, of course. We bring extra just for this reason.
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