National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated each year across the United States from September 15 to October 15. It’s a time to celebrate and recognize the contributions of American Hispanics and their achievements throughout the years. It is also a great opportunity for your team to explore Hispanic history and culture.
If you are looking for ways to celebrate with your entire team, we have put together a few ideas for you and included some kid-friendly activities.
TLDR: Start off this month-long celebration by ensuring your team knows the history and providing many resources and educational events for all. Host a Trivia Night to engage your entire team and see how well employees picked up on the learnings from the educational events. Look into organizations that support and empower the Hispanic community. There are also some ideas that are kid-friendly and family-oriented events such as a Hispanic Literature virtual celebration, Hispanic Movie night, and shopping at Latinx-owned businesses.
Learn the History ⏰
- During the time of celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, it is also important to ensure everyone is educated on this topic. Take the time to learn about the history and teach others on your team.
- This observation began in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week and later was expanded to a month-long celebration in 1988. The start of Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15th, is also significant because it marks the anniversary of independence for various Latin American countries (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras).
- You can educate your team in many ways (both virtually and in person) through documentaries, workshops, panel discussions, lunch and learns, and empathy circles. The Smithsonian Museum is also putting together virtual educational events for the 30-day long celebration.
Virtual Panels to Educate & Empower 🎙
Team Trivia Night 🎲
- Once your team has become more aware of the history, what better way to engage your entire team and see what they learned than with a trivia night!
- Host a trivia night for your entire team or if you have a global team, group members of your team together based on timezone and host various sessions.
- Offsyte offers a live-hosted trivia team competition through Zoom with a Hispanic Heritage Month theme. They take care of all of the operations and logistics so you can sit back and enjoy the event!
Celebration of Latin American and Latinx Literature (Kid-Friendly) 📚
- The Hispanic Reading room is putting together a virtual celebration for kids and young adults literature on October 11th. Authors and illustrators are leading a conversation for young readers to share stories and voices from Latin American and Latinx communities.
- Families and students are invited to this event to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and be a part of the conversation. Here is a list of books for children based on Hispanic authors and topics of culture, growing up Latino, etc.
Help Organizations that Support the Hispanic Community ❤️
- There are many organizations that are supporting the Hispanic community through educating, uplifting, and empowering individuals. For starters, here is a list of organizations to support and a little background on their goals. The list includes:
- HACU with the goal of promoting higher education in the Hispanic community, and
- USHCC with the goal of advancing Hispanic businesses to support growth and development.
- As a team, you can run a fundraiser to help raise money to donate to a local organization or you can find a volunteering opportunity that employees can participate in to give back to their community. Any small effort counts and will contribute to helping this issue and creating an inclusive community.
Virtual Screening of Hispanic Movies (Kid-Friendly Option) 🎬
- Host a virtual screening event for some of the best Hispanic movies to watch during this month-long celebration. Use tools like Teleparty to have a live discussion while all employees watch the movie together in real-time. Or have everyone watch the movie beforehand and get together afterward for a discussion. Here is a list of the best movies to watch to honor and celebrate Heritage and Latinx culture.
- To involve the entire family, here are some kid-friendly movies that also honor Hispanic culture. Host a family movie night and choose one of these movies to watch together. Don’t forget the movie snacks!
Shop from Latinx-Owned Businesses (Kid-Friendly Options) 🛍
- With the holidays fast approaching, it is never too early to start shopping early. Especially during this time of the year, support your local and small businesses that are Hispanic-owned.
- Here is a list to get you started! Featuring 80+ Latinx-owned businesses that you can shop from right away, online or in-person:
- Sigma Beauty - a company best known for its makeup brushes.
- Kiss Selfcare - small-batch skincare products.
- Mixed Millenial - celebrating mixed identity and connecting people through jewelry.
- Lil' Libros - bilingual books for kids.
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