On March 8, 2025, offices worldwide will come alive with purple balloons, sticky-note tributes, and surprise guest speakers—not as decoration, but as deliberate acts of recognition. Teamupp, alongside Teambuilding.com, 1800Flowers, and others, has laid out a detailed blueprint for International Women's Day 2025global corporate offices, turning symbolism into substance. This isn’t just another HR checklist. It’s a coordinated effort to move beyond hashtags and into real, measurable appreciation—starting with a $20-per-employee budget for recycled décor and ending with a 4 p.m. trivia showdown about forgotten female pioneers.
From Colors to Concrete Actions
The colors of International Women’s Day aren’t just for banners. Purple, white, and green—chosen since 1911—represent strength, purity, and hope. But this year, organizations are turning those hues into action. Teamupp’s February 2024 guide insists that decoration contests using repurposed materials should begin February 25. Employees aren’t just hanging streamers; they’re building women’s achievement walls with handwritten notes, turning office corridors into living archives of gratitude. The twist? These aren’t curated by HR. They’re crowdsourced. One employee writes about her mother’s quiet resilience. Another honors a female engineer who mentored him. The impact? It’s personal. And that’s the point.
The Timeline: Planning Starts in February, Peaks on March 8
There’s no last-minute scramble here. The schedule is precise. By February 25, planning must be locked in. On February 28, employees begin submitting photos and stories for the achievement walls. March 6 brings the #AccelerateAction care packages—gift baskets designed by teams to honor women in their industry. Winners get their creations distributed to every female colleague by March 7. That evening, Epoch recommends a team-building session: crafting feminist posters and hanging purple balloons. No managers allowed to lead. Just collaboration.
At 9 a.m. UTC on March 8, Teambuilding.com’s signature event kicks off: Bring Your Favorite Woman to Work Day. Daughters, spouses, mentors, colleagues—any woman who’s made a difference—gets invited for office tours, games, and custom goodie bags. Meanwhile, Momcozy’s photo booths, set up from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., let everyone—male and female—pose with props like “I Stand With Women” signs and vintage suffragette sashes. No one is excluded. That’s intentional.
Art, Speakers, and the Power of Quiet Recognition
At 1 p.m. UTC, the room goes quiet. Not for a moment of silence, but for a surprise. Holly Dowling, an award-winning global keynote speaker, drops in unannounced during a team meeting. Ten minutes. No slides. Just her story about burnout, resilience, and why women’s wellness isn’t a perk—it’s a priority. She did this ten times in Q1 2024. Each time, employees said it changed their perspective.
Then comes the art. From 2 to 3:30 p.m., Teamupp’s mini exhibition activates. For $0–$100, companies display work by female artists—some employees, some local creators. The Nines, a fashion brand, pulled this off with a living history cocktail party. Staff dressed as iconic female designers—Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Virgil Abloh’s muse—and played trivia. One participant wore a dress made from recycled fabric, honoring a 1970s textile activist. The cost? A few yards of cloth and a lot of imagination.
Trivia, Testimonials, and the Long Game
At 4 p.m., the room fills with laughter and groans. Teambuilding.com’s Women’s Day Trivia begins. Questions aren’t about Beyoncé or Malala. They’re about Dr. Alice Augusta Ball, who developed the first effective leprosy treatment in 1916. Or Mary Jackson, NASA’s first Black female engineer. The winners get nothing but applause. But the real win? The fact that people didn’t know these names—and now they do.
Meanwhile, Prize Rebel’s Chief Marketing Officer Jerry Han has kept a quiet tradition alive since 2010: employees write one sentence on why they’re grateful for a woman in their life. Last year, one employee wrote: “My grandmother taught me to fix a flat tire. She said, ‘If you can fix a tire, you can fix anything.’” That note was pinned to the wall for months.
What Goes Wrong—and How to Avoid It
Here’s the danger: performative gestures. Decorating the break room with purple ribbons isn’t enough if women still face pay gaps or get talked over in meetings. Inclusive Employers warns that resources must continue beyond March 8. “This isn’t a one-day event,” says their London team. “It’s a reset.”
Another pitfall? Ignoring men. Momcozy’s photo booth isn’t just for women—it’s for everyone. Gender equality isn’t a women’s issue. It’s a human one. And 90seconds’ November 2024 forecast confirms: 2025 will see a surge in user-generated video testimonials. Employees recording their own stories. That’s the future: not top-down speeches, but grassroots voices.
Why This Matters Beyond March 8
These aren’t just fun events. They’re data points. A 2024 internal survey at a tech firm that ran all these activities saw a 27% increase in female employees reporting they felt “truly seen” at work. Another company reported a 19% jump in mentorship requests from men to women after the “Bring Your Favorite Woman” day.
The budget? Minimal. The impact? Massive. You don’t need a million-dollar campaign. You need a sticky note. A poster. A moment of silence for a woman no one remembers. A trivia question that makes someone say, “Wait—I didn’t know that.”
Because equality isn’t built in boardrooms. It’s built in hallways, during coffee breaks, when a man pauses to listen to a woman’s idea—and then passes the mic.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should a company realistically spend on International Women's Day activities?
Most impactful activities cost little to nothing. Teamupp recommends a $20-per-employee budget for décor contests, while art exhibitions can run as low as $0–$100. Playlists, photo booths, and sticky-note walls are free. The real investment is time—not money. Companies that spent over $50 per employee saw no greater impact than those using $5 or less. Focus on participation, not price tags.
Why are men encouraged to participate in these events?
Gender equality requires allies, not just advocates. Momcozy’s photo booths and Teambuilding.com’s ‘Bring Your Favorite Woman’ day explicitly include men to shift culture from ‘women’s issue’ to ‘shared responsibility.’ When men learn about female mentors or contribute to achievement walls, they become part of the narrative—not bystanders. Studies show mixed-gender participation increases long-term inclusion metrics by up to 34%.
What’s the difference between International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month?
International Women’s Day on March 8 is a global day of action and recognition. Women’s History Month, observed throughout March in the U.S. and U.K., is about education and historical awareness. The two overlap intentionally: IWD sparks immediate engagement, while the rest of March allows for deeper learning—like reading books by female authors or hosting panel discussions. Inclusive Employers urges companies to treat March as a continuum, not a single-day event.
Are these events effective, or just performative?
They’re effective when tied to ongoing action. A company that hosts a trivia night but ignores promotion disparities is performative. But if the same company uses IWD to launch a pay transparency review or mentorship program? That’s transformation. The key is follow-through. 90seconds’ data shows companies that shared employee testimonials beyond March saw 40% higher retention among women in 2024.
What’s the significance of the color purple in these events?
Purple has symbolized dignity and justice since the 1911 suffrage movement. It’s not just fashion—it’s history. Epoch and Teamupp insist employees wear purple ribbons or clothing to visibly align with these values. But the real power comes when purple is paired with action: a woman in purple presenting a proposal that gets funded, or a manager in purple acknowledging a female employee’s overlooked contribution. Color without change is decoration. Color with action is defiance.
What’s next for International Women’s Day celebrations in 2025?
The biggest shift? User-generated content. 90seconds predicts video testimonials from employees—real stories, not corporate scripts—will dominate 2025 campaigns. Companies are moving away from polished videos toward raw, phone-recorded clips of women sharing their experiences. This authenticity drives engagement. Also, look for more cross-industry collaborations: tech firms partnering with artists, retailers teaming with nonprofits to fund female-led startups. The future is networked, not isolated.
