Funny work awards: 60 ideas your team will actually enjoy (and how to run them)

Oh, the sheer relief of finally booking the Christmas party. Of physically getting to cross it off your list. It's a sweet, sweet moment. You update everyone with the good news and smile. But wait. Someone's typing... they've suggested "doing some awards". And now it's your job to come up with them. Will it never end?!

But there is some good news: funny work awards are pretty easy way to recognise people, provided you handle it appropriately - i.e. everyone needs to be in on the joke. Below are 60 ideas you can pick and choose from, in groups so you can see whatever will fits your team, plus how to run the whole thing and what to give as prizes.

Quick answer: the best funny employee awards celebrate a habit or quirk the whole team recognises and the winner is proud of: the person who always refills the kettle, rescues the printer or remembers everyone's birthday. Avoid anything about appearance, age, health, drinking or mistakes. Keep it to 8 to 12 awards, let the team nominate, and give each winner a small prize of their own.

Why the awards slot matters more than the party

We found that throwing a party was the most common thing employers did at Christmas, when we surveyed 500 UK employees for our Christmas Gift Report. We also found that it's the gesture that gets the least positive response, if it's the only gesture. Of the people who got a party and nothing else, only 17% actually felt  valued. But for those whose employers offered a party plus something else, that rose to 42%.

Roughly half of the organisations that hold a end-of-year party make that their only "thank you" gesture. A 20-minute awards slot is one of the cheapest ways to add something else on, because it turns a room full of people into a community experience. Team bonding - you can't beat it!

P.S. you can read the rest of the data we've discussed in the report itself

60 funny work award ideas

Pick a mix from different groups rather than all from one, so the awards cover different kinds of people and not just the extroverts, eccentrics, and longest-standing employees.

Office life and everyday heroes

1. The Kettle Legend: never leaves a kettle dry
2. Chief Printing Officer (CPO): the only person who can control the printer
3. Fridge Crime Scene Cleaner: is no-nonsense with questionable milk and forgotten lunches
4. The Snack Proclaimer: always gives a heads-up when there's yummy goods on offer
5. Lost Property Officer: has a spare everything - pen, charger, deodorant...
6. Plant Parent of the Year: single-handedly keeping the office greenery alive
7. The Thermostat Diplomat: brokered peace in the temperature wars
8. Best Desk Decorator: the zaniest gadgets, the sweetest personal touches
9. The Dawn Champ: first into the office, every single morning, somehow looking fresh
10. The Brew Round Champion: remembers how everyone takes their tea

Meetings, email and Slack

1. Inbox Zero Hero: somehow, actually, has zero unread emails
2. The "You're on Mute" Award: for services to video calls
3. Agenda Hero: the only meetings with an agenda and a finish time
4. GIF Laureate: never answers a message with words when a GIF will do
5. The Reply-All Survivor: handled the great reply-all storm with dignity
6. Calendar Tetris Champion: found the one slot that suits 12 people
7. Emoji Reaction of the Year: the reaction that said it all
8. The Five-Minute Meeting Award: said it would be quick, and it was
9. Spreadsheet Sorcerer: made the formula nobody else understands
10. The Notetaker: writes down what everyone else will forget

Team spirit

1. The Welcome Committee: makes every new starter feel at home
2. Birthday Bank: never misses anyone's birthday
3. The Morale Officer: reliably the best mood in the room on a Monday
4. Unofficial Tour Guide: shows every visitor round like it's their own house
5. The Quiet Fixer: sorts problems before anyone knows they exist
6. Best Supporting Colleague: makes everyone else look good
7. The Mentor Award: the person everyone asks "can I just check something?"
8. Social Secretary: organises the drinks, the lunches and the leaving card
9. The Cheerleader: first to celebrate someone else's win
10. Team Glue: the reason this team actually works

Above and beyond (with a wink)

1. The Lifesaver: stepped in when it really mattered
2. Deadline Ninja: delivered with minutes to spare, every time
3. The Problem Solved Award: fixed the thing we'd all stopped mentioning
4. Customer Whisperer: turns the trickiest calls into happy ones
5. The Clean-Up Crew: tidied up after a project nobody else wanted to finish
6. Curveball Catcher: handled the year's biggest surprise without blinking
7. The Unsung Hero: quietly did the work that made everything else possible
8. Idea Machine: never runs out of "what if we tried…"
9. The Long Haul: saw the biggest project of the year through to the end
10. Calm in a Crisis: the person you want next to you when it all goes wrong

Hybrid, remote and on the move

1. Best Background on Camera: the most enviable bookshelf on Teams
2. The Commute Champion: the longest journey, the fewest complaints
3. Pet Cameo of the Year: the dog, cat or parrot who stole the meeting
4. Wi-Fi Warrior: kept going through every frozen screen
5. The Hot Desk Pioneer: has sat at every desk in the building
6. Time Zone Tamer: makes working across countries look easy
7. The Road Warrior: clocked the most miles visiting sites and customers
8. Best Home Office Upgrade: went from kitchen table to command centre
9. The Async Ace: the clearest written updates in the business
10. Remote Social Star: made the online quiz actually fun

Christmas party specials

1. The Christmas Jumper Award: the most committed festive knitwear
2. Secret Santa Genius: the gift everyone wanted to receive
3. Karaoke Hero: gave it everything, regardless of the key
4. The Advent Calendar Award: opened a new idea every single day
5. Best Dressed Desk: went all out on the decorations
6. The Elf on the Shelf Award: quietly helped everyone get ready for the holidays
7. Mince Pie Connoisseur: has opinions about every mince pie in the building
8. The Cracker Joke Award: for the worst (best) joke of the year
9. Quiz Master: ran the office quiz and lived to tell the tale
10. The Last One Standing: holding the fort while everyone else is on leave

Keep it kind: the test every award should pass

The difference between a funny award and an awkward one? I mean, you'll feel it in the room. But imagine them feeding it back to their mates or partner later on - would the reception be "ha nice" or "...wow". Before an award goes on the list, check it against these:

• Would the winner pick it for themselves? If not, cut it or ask them first.
• Is it about something they do, not something they are? Habits are fair game. Appearance, age, weight, accents, health, pregnancy and religion are not.
• Does it avoid mistakes and bad days? "Most likely to break the coffee machine" is only funny to the people who didn't break it.
• Does it avoid drinking? "Most hungover" awards leave out non-drinkers and land badly with anyone in recovery.
• Would it work if read out in front of the CEO and their newest starter? If you'd hesitate, so will they.

Nominated by peers is great, but a public vote can turn into a popularity contest. Let a small group pick winners from the nominations so quieter colleagues get a fair shot.

How to run your work awards in five steps

1. Pick 8 to 12 categories. Enough to spread recognition around, few enough to keep the slot under 20 minutes.
2. Open nominations two weeks before. A simple form with one line on why. Those reasons make the best bits of the speeches.
3. Check every winner is up for it. A quick private word avoids the one award that misfires.
4. Read the reason out loud. "For keeping the kettle full through 47 deadline days" lands far better than the title alone.
5. Give everyone something they keep. A certificate, a prize, or both, handed over on the night. Huggg's printed QR cards let you do both at once.

If your team is spread across sites or working remotely, run the awards live on a video call and send the prizes so they land in the same minute the winner is announced. A Huggg gift link sent by email or text does that, wherever the winner is sitting.

What to give as prizes

A prize turns a laugh into something people remember. It doesn't need to be big: £10 to £30 per winner is plenty.

• Something they choose. A small gift they pick themselves avoids the novelty trophy that ends up in a drawer. With Huggg's Gift with Choice, you set the budget and the range, and each winner picks from it.
• A treat that fits the award. A coffee for the Kettle Keeper, cinema tickets for the Quiz Master, flowers for the Plant Parent. Huggg's range covers all three, so one platform handles every prize on the list.
• A printed certificate with a gift inside. Huggg's printed cards carry a QR code, so the award certificate itself can hold the prize. The winner scans it on the night and picks their gift, with no addresses or wrapping needed.
• A gift sent by link. With Huggg, you can send each winner's prize by email or text the moment their name is read out, which works just as well for the people dialling in.

On tax, keep prizes small and occasional. HMRC's trivial benefits exemption covers gifts of £50 or less, but not cash and not anything given as a reward for work or performance, so an award that recognises job performance can fall outside it. Our guide to employee gifts and tax sets out the detail, and the Christmas party allowance vs gifts guide covers how the party itself is treated.

Make the awards part of a bigger thank-you

Funny awards work best as one part of how you thank people at the end of the year, not the whole of it. One simple set-up: a Huggg prize for each winner and a small gift link for everyone else, so nobody leaves empty-handed. If you're also sorting the team's Christmas gifts, our guide for anyone asked to sort the team's Christmas gifts walks through it step by step, and our office Christmas party ideas cover the rest of the night.

Huggg is a UK employee gifting platform used by more than 2,000 companies to send gifts people choose themselves, with no app or login for the recipient. Our festive range opens on 3 November. If you're planning the end-of-year awards now, talk to us about prizes for your winners.

FAQs

What are some funny awards for employees?

Popular funny employee awards celebrate habits the whole team recognises: the Kettle Keeper for always refilling the kettle, the Printer Whisperer, Inbox Zero Hero, the "You're on Mute" Award, Pet Cameo of the Year and the Christmas Jumper Award. The best ones are about something the winner does and is proud of, never about how they look or a mistake they made.

How many awards should you give at a work party?

Between 8 and 12 is usually right. That spreads recognition across different people and teams while keeping the awards slot to around 20 minutes, which is about as long as a party crowd will stay focused.

How do you choose winners for office awards?

Open nominations around two weeks before, asking for one line on why each person deserves it. Then have a small group choose winners from the nominations rather than holding a public vote, which can turn into a popularity contest. Check privately that each winner is happy with their award before the night.

What prizes should you give for funny work awards?

Small prizes of around £10 to £30 work well: a treat that fits the award, a gift the winner chooses for themselves, or a printed certificate with a Huggg gift QR code inside. The point is that each winner leaves with something of their own, not just a laugh.

How do you make sure funny awards don't offend anyone?

Only give awards for things people do, not who they are. Avoid appearance, age, weight, health, religion, drinking and mistakes. Ask each winner privately before announcing, and use the test of whether the award would be fine to read out in front of both the CEO and the newest starter.

Last reviewed: October 2026