Contents
In today’s fast-paced and often partly or fully remote business world, in-person team building activities are more important than ever.
While 5 minute ice breakers for conference calls sound like a great and simple option, they don’t produce the kind of long standing results that really impact the team overall.
The best team building activities are those that take enough time to allow group members to get to know each other and bond a little bit.
Sharing, exploring and competing all strengthen the bonds being built, even if the “team building” message isn’t overt.
Whether you chose Denver as a place to bring everyone together or this is your home base, the city presents a ton of opportunities for team building that you and your employees or co-workers will love!
In this article, we’ll provide you with 15 of our favorite team-building venues in Denver, along with a planning guide to help make sure your event is a total success!
How to Plan a Fun and Successful Team Outing
Creating an objective for the event will help ensure that it is not only fun but also a productive use of company time and money. Before getting in to the details, define the overall Who, What, Where, Why, and When. As an example:
- Who: 20 members of the customer service team
- What: An exciting activity
- Where: Denver, Colorado
- Why: As a reward for doing great last quarter
- When: October
Once you’ve answered all the questions, you have the general concept concept of the event and can start figuring out the specifics.
Make the Guest List and Save the Date
In the example above, the invite list is pretty straightforward; it includes everyone in customer service. In some cases though, the actual number of people coming might vary significantly from who’s invited, so it’s worth asking a few questions to plan ahead:
- Is the event required? will everyone on the guest list choose to attend?
- Are significant others or family members invited? For some type of events (holiday parties as an example), you’d usually allow at least a +1, but for other events you might not.
If the team building activity is centered around an event (a sales gathering in Denver as an example), picking the date might be easy. If it isn’t, you might want to poll the people being invited to see what dates will work best. If possible, have two or three dates ready for the venue.
Select a Venue for Your Team Building Day
Usually selecting the general “where” is easy. You’ll usually want to be within driving distance of your home office, meeting venue, or hotel. Selecting the right venue, can be a little tougher.
Our list below has some of our favorite team building activities around Denver to help narrow down the list of options.
A few questions to consider:
- Depending on season, will weather be an issue? Most of our ideas are indoors, but a few are best in warmer months.
- How many people can be accommodated comfortably at the venue? Some will be great for small teams, while others are best for larger teams.
Confirm the Details
Once you have a venue selected, and a date/time confirmed, it’s time to confirm the details to make sure the team building day is as successful as possible:
- Transportation – Is the company providing transportation or will employees need to find their own way to the event? Confirm with the venue how many parking spaces they have. Most venues in Denver won’t have enough parking to accommodate one car per person for large events, so if you have a large group let people know to Uber/Lyft or consider getting a bus.
- Food – If you’ve selected a food-based activity like a food tour, there’s nothing further to plan here. If you selected an activity like axe throwing or Archery Games, you’ll likely need to coordinate with a third party vendor.
- Drinks – Do you want your attendees to have alcohol, and if so, is this provided by the venue? Some venues will sell alcohol, while others might allow BYOB. If the event sells alcohol, consider requesting a drink ticket package to make sure nobody is over imbibing.
- What to bring/where – If it’s an active activity make sure to let your guests know to wear the right clothes.
- Liability waivers – Most venues that offer activities these days will require participants sign a waiver. If you’re able to have these signed ahead of time, that will speed up the check-in process
15 Top Locations for Team Building Activities in Denver, Colorado
Now that you have chosen a time and date, let’s look at some of the best locations in Denver, Colorado for fun team building activities. Here are some of the top places where you can spend an afternoon in Denver building lasting bonds with your team.
1. Play Archery Dodgeball at Archery Games Denver
? Address: 5405 W 56th Ave, Unit D Arvada, CO 80002
? Capacity: 75
? Alcohol: Yes. Beer, wine, and seltzer
? Food: BYO / catered
? Price: Team building packages start at $30/person
For teams that like to compete, there’s nothing better than trying a new sport.
At Archery Games Denver, the team can blow off steam with a sport that takes the classic dodgeball rules and applies them to bows and foam-tipped arrows in an indoor event center.
Each session begins with personalized instruction on the practice range, giving everyone a chance to learn to shoot the bow and arrow.
Once in the arena, hosts will oversee a mix of games, each based on a variation dodgeball. The venue allows food to be brought in and has a bar, giving it all of the elements necessary for a fun team outing.
2. Roll your own sushi with Sushi Me Up
? Address: They come to you!
? Space: 6-20+ people
? Food: Yes
? Alcohol: BYO (It’s at your venue!)
? Price: $100 per participant
Nobuko and the Archery Games team with what’s left of all the sushi we made
Learning something new together and enjoying those skills is a great way to enhance cooperation and build relationships. Sushi Me Up allows you to do just that, with everyone’s favorite food! They offer sushi making classes led by Nobuku, the owner and trained sushi chef. Over the 1 and a half hour session, you’ll learn to make a variety of both rolls and nigiri, cook the nigiri with a butane lighter, and enjoy some green tea.
As you can imagine, this team building activity is a little more expensive, but with a full sushi dinner and BYO drinks it’s definitely the money if your team likes sushi (what team doesn’t?). Nobuko and her team come to you, making this one of the easier team building activities to coordinate. They’ll arrive an hour early to convert your conference room into a gourmet sushi factory!
You can read our full write-up of the experience here.
3. Throw Axes at Bad Axe Throwing
? Address: 937 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80218
? Space: 25+
? Food: BYO
? Alcohol: Yes. Beer and wine
? Price: Reservations start at $41.99/person
Axe throwing is another fun, unique, physical activity for teams that like to compete. Each session is overseen by a coach, who will provide personal instruction to your teammates to teach them this new skill.
Once your team is consistently landing the axe with a satisfying thud, the coach will then introduce some friendly competition (think the rules of darts).
Bad Axe is the original axe throwing bar in Denver, and now has locations in Commerce City and East Colfax.
4. Drink beers with Denver Microbrew Tour
? Address: Denver
? Space: 500+
? Food: No
? Alcohol: Yes. Beer
? Price: General Admission Ticket $55/per person
Denver, Colorado is well known for being a hub of microbrewing. If you aren’t familiar with local microbreweries or simply want a fun twist on “happy hour”, Denver Microbrew Tour is a great activity.
Not only do you get the chance to enjoy some of the best brews around you but your team will get to learn the art of brewing as well.
5. Taste all the food with Delicious Denver Food Tours
? Address: Denver
? Space: Public tours up to 15 guests/Private tours up to 80 guests
? Food: Yes
? Alcohol: Yes
? Price: Tours start at $69/one adult
Delicious Denver Food Tours is similar to the Microbrew Tour but focuses more on the city’s culinary delights. If your office is full of foodies or you are all coming in from out of town, this might be a good type of event for you. Delicious Denver Food Tours gives you the full culinary experience of Denver.
Options for their tour include the “Downtown Food Tour”, the “Cocktails and Tastes Tour” and the RiNo Arts District Food Tour.”
Each tour provides your team four to five food tastings, optional drink pairings, and a whole lot of fun for everyone. These are guiding walking tours that last for about three hours, so wear comfortable shoes.
6. Break stuff at Smash It Breakroom
? Address: 790 W Evans Ave. Denver, CO 80223
? Space: 30+
? Food: No
? Alcohol: No
? Price: Basic group packages start at $89/up to 3 people
If you work in a super high stress environment, you might want to check this one out. While a breakroom doesn’t exactly address any of the traditional needs off a team building activity, it does allow your crew to blow off some stress together.
At Smash It Breakroom you get the chance to safely break and smash objects until your stress is gone. This can be a cool and unique place for team building for small groups.
7. Make crafts (over drinks) at Upstairs Circus
? Address: 1500 Wynkoop St., Suite 100. Denver, CO 80202 / 5370 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., Suite 106. Greenwood Village, CO 80111
? Space: Flexible
? Food: BYO
? Alcohol: Yes. It has a bar
? Price: Tickets typically cost $42-$48 per person
Upstairs Circus is an activity that certainly allows for drinking, but it is far beyond a happy hour. Your team will have their creativity stoked as they create cool art and design fun projects.
This is good for a team that needs a pick-me-up event or needs to get ready to spring into a new project. With two different locations, you can pick the one that’s most convenient to the company.
8. Make Guac with The Great Guac Off
If there’s one thing everyone in Denver loves, it’s guac. For some friendly, office competition, challenge the team to see who can make the best guac in the office and be crowned the Guac Champion.
If you want to bring in the guac / team building pros, the folks over at teambuilding.com will lead your team through a 90 minute competition, complete with avocado-themed trivia. Make the event BYOB for a fun way to wind down a busy week.
9. Warrior Challenge Arena
? Address: 3400 Industrial Ln., Unit #12A Broomfield, CO 80020
? Space: 150 adults/200 youth. Availability for larger groups
? Food: BYO
? Alcohol: No
? Price: Request a quote
For the athletically minded office mates, you may enjoy the Warrior Challenge Arena. Here your team will compete in athletic challenges that will get your heart pumping and your competitive juices flowing.
The nice thing is that each activity is customized for your group, but do keep in mind that everyone will need to be in reasonably good physical shape to enjoy this team building activity.
10. Oxotic Supercar Driving Experience
If you want to surprise your team with an extraordinary experience on wheels, Oxotic Supercar Driving Experience is definitely the best way to achieve it.
Oxotic specializes in European exotic cars, so you and your team will have the opportunity to drive from a Lamborghini Huracan EVO to a McLaren 600LT while touring the Rocky Mountains, stopping at any photography points of interest along your epic journey!
You will have instructors and photographers leading the tour in a lead vehicle while the entire group of Supercars follows behind.
Therefore, if you are planning a corporate event or a birthday party, Oxotic will undoubtedly provide you with a fabulous event that will exceed your expectations.
11. Peak Rhythms
For a more laid back and creative team building experience, consider Peak Rhythms . Peak Rhythms provides a customized workshop where your group or team can come together and work on a music project.
The business brings the needed drums for everyone to take part in a fun musical experience. This activity can last from 15 minutes to three hours and is available for teams small and large.
12. Escape Works Denver
? Address: 1529 Champa ST. Denver, CO 80202
? Space: 13+
? Food: No
? Alcohol: No
? Price: $32 per person
The Archery Games team (and friends) after escaping two separate rooms at Conundrum! (with a few hints each)
Escape Works Denver is a good team building activity for small groups. The escape rooms allow for between two and 12 people and take an hour to complete. Escape rooms are super popular and that is because they are a lot of fun.
Besides just a good time, it will help your team learn to work together and incorporates communication and problem solving skills.
13. Wish for Wheels
? Address: 4600 S. Ulster St. Suite 1050. Denver, CO 80237
? Space: No limit
? Food: No
? Alcohol: No
? Price: $200 will gift a new bike and helmet to a 7-8-year-old child
Sometimes the best way to build your team is to remind everyone of their common morals and values. One of the best ways to do that is to connect by giving back to the community around you.
Check out Wish for Wheels where your team will have the opportunity to work on a project that provides bicycles to children that attend public schools in Denver.
14. Topgolf
? Address: 10601 E Easter Ave, Centennial, CO 80112
? Space: 1000
? Food: Its restaurant offers a variety of sweet and savory options
? Alcohol: Yes. It has a bar with many alternatives
? Price: Bay for up to 6 people start at $37/HR. It’s Half Price Tuesday!
Enjoying a leisurely activity while hanging out with food and drink sounds like an ideal after-work plan. Whether it is raining or sunny at Topgolf Denver – Centennial you can spend a good time with your staff in the climate-controlled hitting bays.
Here you find a bar and restaurant with HDTVs everywhere, an arcade, toptracer games, you can visit their rooftop terrace with fire pits or choose private event spaces, so you can have a little bit of everything in this place.
15. Denver Casino & Poker Rentals
This is not a traditional team building activity, but it is a fun way to get everyone together outside of the workspace and build friendships.
Denver Casino & Poker Rentals provide all of the equipment that you need for fabulous poker or casino night so the whole office can pretend they are in Vegas for a few hours of fun.
16. Bonacquisti Wine Company
? Address: 4640 Pecos St, Unit I, Denver CO 80211
? Space: Up to 50 people for a seated event / 100 guests for a standing reception
? Food: Offer delicious food in their events
? Alcohol: Yes. Wine
? Price: Introductory wine class $59 per person
Of course, everyone loves happy hour and if you are from Denver, you know there is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to breweries, but wine is special.
Nothing beats the fun meets elegance experience of a good wine tasting. Check out the Bonacquisti Wine Company with your work crew.
Final Thoughts
If you want to level up your production and morale, the best thing you can do for your team is work on team building. No one wants to go to dull meetings or long conferences.
Plan team building activities that everyone will love and in the end you will get the best results.
Let teamwork drive you past your competition. If you are interested in competitive and social activities that will help your team develop their skills and competitive drive, call us at Archery Games Denver to set up your next team-building experience.