Team Building Los Angeles is a list of the best corporate team building activities and corporate event ideas in LA. It turns out that Los Angeles is a hotbed for fun company outings and team activities; gone are the days of trust falls and boring company retreats that leave your employees dreading the next company off-site. Now, LA is home to dozens of team building companies that have invested in perfecting the best team events and bonding experiences, and with good reason.
Nearly everywhere throughout Southern California, including in Los Angeles, team building activities have proven to be extremely effective in boosting employee engagement and overall job satisfaction. Companies that invest in their workers are more competitive in the market, and are likely to see better employee loyalty, retention, performance, productivity, creativity and communication. Its very win-win-win.
Over the last few months, we’ve spent dozens of hours vetting the corporate team building companies in Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Long Beach, and have put together a list of the best team building activities, team bonding options, company outing ideas, and fun corporate events the Southern California area has to offer. Below you’ll find our recommendations for your next team outing, along with more details for each activity.
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Table of Contents
- The Best Team Building Activities in Los Angeles
- Fun Corporate Team Building Activities in Los Angeles
- Team Building Scavenger Hunts in Los Angeles
- LA Team Building Activities with Food
- Unusual Team Building Activities in Los Angeles
The Best Team Building Activities in Los Angeles
There are many ways you can rank team building activities in Los Angeles, including by how fun the event is, the location relative to your office, the impact on measurable metrics like profit or productivity, and reviews by other companies that have tried the activities. We’ve considered a variety of these factors, and assembled a short list of the best team building activities in Los Angeles (with more activities below).
1. The Great Guac Off™ – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ [Top Rated]
The Great Guac Off™ is what you get when you mix two of the best things our planet has to offer — delicious mashed up avocados and corporate team building activities! The company’s events combine the perfect team building ingredients (a dash of fun games, a sprinkle of avocado puns, a pinch of trivia, and a heaping spoonful of friendly guacamole-making competition) into a team bonding event that will satisfy your group’s appetites as well as their aptitude for team building! This VIP avocado party can be hosted at your office, a conference center, or at one of the official Guac Off sites throughout LA, Long Beach, or Santa Monica. The Great Guac Off is a convenient option for companies with employees who may have dietary restrictions or concerns, and there’s no limit on group size, so it is a great option for team building for large groups.
2. Museum Hack – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ [Runner Up]
Museum Hack leads renegade tours of the best museums in Los Angeles. Museum Hack’s corporate team building activities are specifically optimized to guarantee a team event that is the most fun you’ll ever have in a museum (and maybe the most fun you’ll ever have team building, too)! What sets Museum Hack apart from other team building companies in Los Angeles is that Museum Hack can customize the entire museum experience to your company’s individual preferences. For example: the yogurt company, Dannon, did a history of yogurt tour and Google did “Technology Through Time”. There’s no shortage of cool items housed in the Getty museum and part of Museum Hack’s charm is their storytelling expertise that allows their guides to relate a crazy 10th century relic to your organization’s mission and core values. Looking for something high energy and competitive? Museum Hack offers museum escape rooms and scavenger hunts. You can also include wine or a storytelling workshop to turn your employees into experts in crafting incredible stories to resonate with your business’ clients.
3. Gingerbread Wars – 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 [Holiday Themed]
Gingerbread Wars is a holiday team building activity that can also be a fun addition to your company holiday party. The event is a ton of fun with some strong team building attributes mixed in. Your team members will compete in holiday trivia and other small challenges before facing off in a gingerbread house building competition that doubles as a challenging team outing. Afterward, prizes will be awarded, gingerbread houses can be eaten, and the atmosphere will be festive and merry. Snacks, cookies, professional photographer and BYOB are all available as options for your event. Host the event at your office, the location of your choice, or at one of our locations around Los Angeles. Note: Gingerbread Wars only takes reservations for dates through the holiday season, so it’s a good idea to book your team event early.
Fun Corporate Team Building Activities in Los Angeles
In addition to our list of best team building activities, we’ve included options below that are fun and in some ways novel. You could consider the below activities for your next corporate event or company outing.
4. Team Building Hero
Team Building Hero offers a menu of fun team building activities in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California. Choose from museum tours, scavenger hunts, food making competitions, storytelling workshops, and company holiday parties. Team Building Hero sets itself apart from other companies offering team building because you’ll get a dedicated sales rep for your business who will get to know your company and individual team building needs. Your rep will be able to put together the best recommendations on a personalized level that maximize the benefits of your investment and effort. Bonus: If you book your entire year of team building activities with Team Building Hero, you’ll get VIP pricing and additions for each event.
5. Zoo Hack
You’ve never seen the zoo like you will during this team event. The animal experts at Zoo Hack will treat you and your team to an incredible afternoon at the zoo that is unlike any zoo visit you’ve ever made before. You’ll hear wild stories about the animals and the zoo; you’ll talk conservation, play games, participate in challenges, and come together as a team in new and unexpected ways. It’s fun, it’s unique, and it’s a great way to spend a few hours out of the office with your coworkers enjoying some team bonding. Are you ready to get a little wild?
6. Host a Meetup and Bond With More Than Just Your Own Team
Of all corporate event ideas, here is a unique one: hosting a meetup! Team building doesn’t have to be confined to just your team; why not host a meetup and invite everyone who makes your business as awesome as it is? Consider inviting customers, suppliers, the local community, and the families of your employees. Show your community and your employees your appreciation with this awesome corporate event. We love connecting people who may not otherwise cross paths; this can help create new friendships, boost creativity, and promote inclusion. The best part of this kind of company event is you can customize the meetup to be as simple (host it at your office with snacks) or as big (think about hosting in a rented space, at a restaurant, or maybe even at a fancy hotel) as you want. The team building possibilities are endless.
7. The Basement: A Live Escape Room Team Building Experience
No list of the best corporate team building activities in Los Angeles would be complete without an escape room experience and that’s what The Basement provides! Escape rooms can be a fun and challenging team building activity for employees. The Basement offers four different escape room options with unique challenges and themes. The company’s corporate team building program provides additional upgrades by enhancing communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and organization. Once all of your team members have made it out of the space alive, the group will come together for a final company outing debrief and analysis on the team’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as a shout out to the MVPs of the day.
8. Feet First Events
Feet First Events has been running fun activities for employees in the Los Angeles area for the past two decades. Feet First Events offers a wide range of corporate event ideas, including making movies or commercials, participating in an Amazing Race style competition in downtown LA or Hollywood, or hosting your own Survivor-style battle on the beach. Whether your group is looking for a team outing that is hosted indoors or outdoors, at your office or at theirs, Feet First Events has a variety of different team building activities that may satisfy your group’s desires.
9. Virtual Room Los Angeles
Virtual Room Los Angeles is all about virtual team bonding activities with real-world results. In these corporate events, you get to blend the best of two worlds: team building escape rooms and the immersive movie experience. During a Virtual Room Los Angeles team building event, your group will be broken down into smaller teams of two, three, or four people. Each player is in their own room, but must communicate and interact with other members of their team in the virtual landscape to solve the problems, challenges, and puzzles presented in the game. The game is a collaborative and immersive team building activity that’s designed to hit all the right benefits of team bonding with the added bonus of being a fun team outing.
10. Another Side of Los Angeles Tours
Ready to see Los Angeles and the best of team building in Southern California like never before? Another Side of Los Angeles offers corporate team building tours designed to promote collaboration and communication, assess team members’ individual strengths and develop a plan to combat their weaknesses. The company’s team building events include a segway tour of Beverly Hills or Santa Monica, scavenger hunts, amazing chases, private wine tours in Malibu, hiking tours, and more. Another Side of Los Angeles has served dozens of corporate clients, including Hyatt, Tyson Foods, Taco Bell, and Home Depot. All of these corporate team building activities can be tailored to your individual business needs and this company can work with large groups.
11. Improv for the People
What they say is true — the team that plays together, stays together, and we think teams that employees that laugh together stay together, too! Improv for the People is a unique company team building event that sneakily boosts communication, creativity, and team bonding in the workplace. These events are designed to get your team to connect with each other in a fun way outside the office and see sides of co-workers’ personalities that may not shine as often in the corporate environment. Your team members will be encouraged to take informed risks, embrace mistakes, and sharpen listening skills. Improv for the People has hosted corporate events for companies that include MGM Grand, Kaiser Permanente, and Genentech.
12. Rockreation Los Angeles
Rockreation Los Angeles is here to support all of your corporate team building goals, whether it’s to relax and enjoy a fun company off-site or have a more intentional day out of the office with set goals for team building. With Corporate Climb Time, you can reserve a two-hour team outing to climb rock walls, relax, and have a great time together. Mix in the company’s light team building package to experience several activities designed to promote team bonding among employees. You can also select the full team building package, which offers 60-90 minutes of rock climbing time and 90 to 120 minutes of team building exercises that can be customized to match your preferences. Rockreation Los Angeles is one of the experienced team building companies in Los Angeles with corporate events that are designed to enhance communication skills, work through workplace challenges, or just bring a new team together.
13. The Leader’s Institute
The Leader’s Institute offers a wide variety of company outing ideas in the Los Angeles area. Depending on what your group’s desired goals are, you can choose from charity team building, seminars, escape rooms, game shows, outdoor team building activities, team building retreats, or treasure hunts. With both indoor and outdoor activities optimized for team building, The Leader’s Institute offers something that fits with just about any company’s team building needs. If your team is looking to get out of the office, bond, and do some good for the local community, The Leader’s Institute could be the team building event for you.
Team Building Scavenger Hunts in Los Angeles
Among the many corporate event ideas, consider choosing team building scavenger hunts for your next team outing in Los Angeles. Scavenger hunts are a fun, easy, competitive, and collaborative way for your team to have a good time while reaping the benefits of participating in a team building activity.
14. Red Herring Treasure Hunts
It’s time to tap into your inner Robinson Crusoe and go on a good old fashioned treasure hunt! Red Herring Treasure Hunts is a team building activity in Los Angeles that will create a custom treasure hunt based on your individual team bonding goals and needs. All of the company’s hunts are unique to your preferences; the corporate events can last for an hour or two, or you can team build for a full week. These company outings can begin or end at the location of your choice, can accommodate team building for large groups, can be as competitive or collaborative as you like, and can factor in varying degrees of difficulty to make easy or difficult team building activities. Thanks to the flexible and custom nature, Red Herring Treasure Hunts is a good option for fun corporate events in Los Angeles!
15. DIY Scavenger Hunt
Instead of working with one of the team building companies in Los Angeles that run scavenger hunts, you can host a DIY scavenger hunt that you facilitate yourself. There are a number of websites that provide LA scavenger hunts that cover areas like Hollywood, LACMA and the Getty. Print out the scavenger hunt and then bring your team to the relevant area. You can have the your team outing end at a restaurant or bar so you can get food and drinks with your employees after to continue the team bonding.
LA Team Building Activities with Food
Food and team building go together like peanut butter and jelly. Consider choosing one of the below options to incorporate a delicious meal and good time over good food into your next team outing.
16. The Great Guac Off™
The Great Guac Off™ is runs corporate team building activities in Los Angeles based on a guacamole making competition! Your team event includes everything needed to make it successful, which means a fun host, smart challenges, cool prizes and of course food. All of the basic ingredients for guac are included, plus dippers. You can upgrade your event with options like BYOB, catering and extra time. The Great Guac Off works extremely well for events from 4 to 300+ people, which means it is a good option if you are doing team building for large groups.
17. Ice Cream Party
One way to have a blast during your next team event is to make it an ice cream party. You can bring out the good stuff with vanilla, chocolate and strawberry options, and then countless great toppings like marshmallows, chocolate shavings, walnuts and peppermint. Let your team members make their individual ice cream bowls and then do a competition to see who made the best one. Award extra points for creativity, novelty, taste and presentation.
18. Six Taste Food Tours
Team Building Los Angeles is back with one of the company outing ideas involving food, and this time, it’s with Six Taste Food Tours. A family owned and operated company, Six Taste promises to show your team the most delicious spots Los Angeles has to offer during a corporate event. You’ll learn more about the area’s history and culture while sampling the best the neighborhood has to offer in cuisine and team building. With options in downtown LA, Santa Monica, Koreatown, the arts district, Hollywood, Glendale, and more, there’s a location and neighborhood to suit any group looking for a good team building activity. Six Taste Food Tours even has a team outing option to explore the Michelin Guide star recipients in the area. Each tour features four to seven samples and can range in price to match your budget, with prices up to $250 per person.
19. Hermosa Beach Mixology Tour
The Hermosa Beach Mixology Tour is a mobile party full of cocktails and appetizers – and what’s not to love about that? With a designated local tour guide, your group will be treated to the best drinks Hermosa Beach has to offer during your office retreat or team outing. You’ll relax and get to know your coworkers while taking in the beautiful spots you can only find in Southern California. Each fun corporate event includes three stops with a cocktail, shared appetizers, a professional tour guide, and up to 15 attendees. You can also request that your Hermosa Beach tour includes special team activities and prizes designed to enhance team bonding!
20. Keith & Margo’s Murder Mystery Dinner
Keith & Margo’s Murder Mystery Dinner takes Los Angeles team building activities to a new level. Sit down for a delicious meal and a night of intrigue and mystery as your team members work together to solve a whodunit. If you want to kick your company outing up a notch, sign up for Keith & Margo’s in-depth team building event: the CSI Team Building activity! During this corporate event, teams will be tasked with solving a double murder over the course of three hours. The team building event comes complete with clues, suspects, and realistic police work. Your team members will work together outside the office to solve the murder and put the bad guy behind bars before time runs out.
21. Avital Tours
Avital Tours combines two passions (food and storytelling) into a productive team outing in Southern California. Avital Tours will create a hands-on, fun team building activity for your group of as few as eight guests. You can choose from two different team building activities: a private dining experience with a four-course meal where each course is served at a different restaurant chosen for its unique storytelling abilities and food or you can add the hands-on upgrade to this team building experience, which allows your team to put together a key element of one of their courses, either with a mixology lesson, by making their own dessert, or maybe even searing sushi with a blowtorch. Different restaurant options include Venice Beach, Jonathan Gold, tacos, cocktails, downtown LA, and Koreatown. It’s a team outing for your employees and their stomachs!
22. Pancake Showdown
Pancakes are a killer breakfast food that almost everyone enjoys (except gluten free and low carb folks). Start your work-day or company retreat off with a power meal: pancakes for all. Your team will have fun learning about what each other use as toppings, which of course can include syrup, whip-cream, berries and other ingredients. Extra points if you can run this team event at your office, but you may also consider one of the many pancake restaurants around the city.
Unusual Team Building Activities in Los Angeles
What do you do next when your team has already done some of the more traditional corporate events in LA? You choose one of these unusual team building activities in Los Angeles! From air-ball to curling to sailing, there’s something on this list that your team hasn’t tried yet.
23. Hotel Palomar
This option is definitely a more traditional idea for company team building, but it can still be made into a fun corporate event. The Hotel Palomar in Beverly Hills offer private bookings of its sleek game room that comes complete with shuffleboard, darts, skeeball, board games, and a pool table. Rent out the bar or screening area, too, and make an entire company outing out of it. Your team will love coming together to bond in a cool, relaxed space where they can enjoy playing competitive games, enjoying a drink, and getting to know each other outside the office. This is a great option for your company holiday party! Kick your team building up a notch and hire an awesome facilitator to ensure your group gets the most out of your company outing.
24. AirballingLA
AirballingLA is all about having a great time and being active during your team outing, and that couldn’t be more clear from the menu of available activities. AirballingLA offers team building activities that range from throwing a Nerfgun party to participating in a bubble soccer competition to archery tag to enjoying a tour of downtown Los Angeles on scooters. There is even an option to enjoy a Fortnite party! With a little something for every team that enjoys an unusual but adventurous team building activity, AirballingLA is sure to bring laughs, exercise, and team bonding to your next company outing.
25. Rage Ground
Have you ever wished you could go full-on Office Space on your company’s printer or copy machine? If so, then we have got good news for you. That’s exactly what team building at Rage Ground is all about. Rage rooms are among the newest fun group activities for adults! Based in Los Angeles, Rage Ground offers spaces for groups to come in and, well, destroy stuff. Take out your frustrations, your stress, and your pent-up rage by smashing whatever is in your room with pipes, bats, and mallets. All the equipment you need is provided, including safety gear. If your team has had a particularly challenging go lately, an afternoon company outing with Rage Ground could be just the thing to get your group feeling refreshed, energized, and refocused.
26. Bluewater Sailing
Do you have an adventurous team on your hands looking for a company outing to match? Or maybe your group is looking for fun team building activities to get the blood pumping and adrenaline rushing while bonding during a heart-pounding escapade out of Marina del Ray. With Bluewater Sailing, your team will experience something fun and unique together. Your staff will be tested on leadership and teamwork in unexpected ways in a new and unusual environment. By throwing your employees into a situation they aren’t accustomed to during a company outing, they will exercise the creative problem solving skills they often need to tap into at the office. Bluewater Sailing’s team building activities require your team members to work together to overcome challenges in a setting they can only find out on the open sea. An experienced guide will remain with your team through every step of the journey.
27. Camp No Counselors
Team building retreats and company retreats in Los Angeles just got more awesome with Camp No Counselors. Camp No Counselors is all about living like you’re a kid again and connecting with each other on a level you simply can’t find in the office. At Camp No Counselors, you are free from workplace distractions, technology, and the everyday pings of life. Think of this option as summer camp for your employees! (Note from Team Building Los Angeles: sometimes adults enjoy acting like kids!) Typical team building activities available at camp include archery, rock climbing, hiking, ropes courses, zip line, and crafty, creative projects. Your team will come home from camp refreshed, renewed, and refocused, ready to tackle your business’ next great endeavor.
28. Hollywood Curling
What better way to come together and bond as a team than by learning a new skill together? Curling is not one of the traditional team building activities or corporate event ideas, but it boasts all the same benefits. Spend an afternoon getting the hang of the sport that takes the Winter Olympics by storm every four years — curling! Curling is a great sport for team building; it involves strategy, teamwork, communication, and problem solving. Without a strong team, your odds of ever being successful at curling are practically non-existent. Your team will learn the basics of the sport and start playing with rocks in less than two hours and the memories will last far beyond that! Just don’t forget to dress in layers!
29. Fulcrum Adventures
It’s time to dive in and take a risk with Fulcrum Adventures, one of the options for office retreats and team building activities in Los Angeles. The company’s motto, “Do. Risk. Grow.” is a quick summary of their team building and leadership development offerings. Fulcrum Adventures is all about adventure and personal/professional growth. Having been in business for more than two decades, Fulcrum Adventures offers fun, high-impact team building with team bonding options that can be customized to best meet your company’s own unique needs. With a menu ranging from a high ropes challenge course to Corporate Survivor to team building retreats, there’s something to satisfy just about any company’s appetite.
30. Company Inning
Here is a wild idea for your next team event. While you are exploring the various company outing ideas in Los Angeles, you may also consider doing a company inning. The idea is that you can invest the funds that you otherwise would in leaving the office with having a great time at your place of work instead. Options include ordering in food, doing a game night, hiring entertainment like a comedian or magician to come hang out with your staff, and more.
31. Trash Challenge
When one of our team members was in grade four, the principal made an announcement: one of the kids at the school had been picking up trash during recess. At the time, the other kids made fun of him, but it turns out that student was a forward thinking hero. Cleaning up trash together is not a glamorous team building activity, but it is a meaningful one. You can tidy up your community, help the environment, and build connections between your team members all at once. Take a picture of your efforts before and after and post online
Final Thoughts on Team Building in Los Angeles
We at Team Building Los Angeles or you could say “Team Building Southern California” believe that your corporate team building activities should be as unique and awesome as your business is. That belief is why we passionately review all of the options available in the LA area and throughout Southern California to ensure we’re only compiling a list of the best team activities the city has to offer.
These are the team building events that will have far-reaching benefits for your business that last well beyond the end of your team’s event. Done right, the impacts of team building will range from better communication to pumped-up creativity to renewed focus to more loyal and engaged employees. And those things will all help increase your bottom line. Can your company afford not to see what an afternoon outside the office can do your for business?
Still have doubts? If your company is based in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood or surrounding areas, send us a message! We’d love to talk with you about your specific company needs.
Frequently Asked Questions About Team Building in Los Angeles
We get a lot of questions and have a lot of answers about team building in LA. Below, we’ve included a few of these questions so you can understand a little more about it all.
Is there a best company team building activity in Los Angeles?
Yes and no. There is definitely a best team building activity for your team, but different groups have different preferences. We like Museum Hack, The Great Guac Off, and Gingerbread Wars, and you may like others.
What is the difference between company team building, team bonding, corporate events and company outings?
In some ways, these terms are synonyms. Team building is very similar to team bonding, with a difference in the emphasis on fun versus productivity. A corporate event can be anything ranging from a team building activity to a company retreat to a holiday party, and a company outing is just a way to get your people out of the office.
What are the reasons for hiring team building companies in Los Angeles?
You can do team building on your own, including games and activities at the office which are more or less free. One of the advantages of hiring a team building company is that they are experts in facilitation and you can really maximize your time.