The first National Pi Day was celebrated on March 14th (3.14), 1988 in San Francisco. The celebration attempted to garner greater attention towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields. The tradition has continued ever since.
With Pi Day right around the corner, everyone gets excited about this annual event, from teachers and students to bakers and grocery stores. There are a few ways for you to get into the spirit of Pi Day and make it memorable!
Host a Pi-Day Bake-Off
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to equate pi with pie. And since it is Pi Day, how about baking up a storm? Consider hosting a Pi-Day bake-off! Announce the event using flags, banners, and flyers. Apart from letting people know the date, time (March 14th at 3:14 PM, of course!), and venue of the event. You can also inform them about prizes and other details.
The prize will attract an enthusiastic number of participants while the rules governing the contest can make it all the more enjoyable. For example, are you limiting the bake-off to pies? If yes, then what kind? Do the participants have to bring their own supplies? Who are the judges? Let them know all the details and create a good amount of buzz to get everyone excited!
Share Pies With Your Customers
Whether you have a Pi Day pie bake-off within your organization or host it as a community event, you will be left with many extra pies at the end of the day. What do you do with the excess? Wouldn’t it be a shame if these were to go to waste!
Luckily, you can have related events such as a pie-eating contest to keep the fun going, even after the main event. After all, the sweet smell of baking will leave everyone craving them the moment they leave the oven.
Flex Those Gray Cells
If you want to celebrate Pi Day beyond pies and baked goods, then how about getting a few Letters & Numbers involved? Yes, we’re talking about nerding it out with back-to-basics mathematical challenges!
Have interesting trivia contests surrounding pi. For instance, you can have a competition for those who can accurately recall the maximum number of digits in pi. Similarly, you can cite practical problems involving pi and how the value helps solve these real-life situations.
Conduct a Fundraiser
You can also use Pi Day as an opportunity to do some good deeds. To kick it off, find a charity that best aligns with your business objectives and build a fundraising campaign. For example, you could pledge a certain share of your sales. Alternatively, you can host the contests discussed above for a nominal entry fee and contribute all the money towards the charity.
To make the fundraiser more interesting, you can play around with the numbers. For instance, 3.14% of your proceeds will go to charity. You could host a marathon of 3.14 miles, or you can raise a total of $3140 (or $314,000 depending on your capacity). As always, don’t forget to let everyone know about the fundraiser through banners, signs & decals!
Dedicate the Day to Science
Interestingly, Pi day also corresponds with the birth of Albert Einstein. You could divert from simply fixating on the pi and involve all things science and math! You can have remakes of popular TV game shows or even have a classic pop-quiz to test your employees’ or guests’ knowledge.
On the other hand, if you wish to keep things casual, you can have a costume party of people dressing up as their favorite scientists, such as Einstein, and postulating crazy theories. Don’t forget to set up a photobooth for all the participants so that they can enjoy the day like a legendary genius!
Have a Pi Scavenger Hunt
While this activity will require a good amount of planning, the payoff is great. Divide the participants into teams and hand over a list of items that you want them to find. Here’s the fun part: participants are supposed to locate, bring, or take a picture of a certain number of items, each of which is the decimal digit for pi! Suppose your list was:
- _ Pens
- _ Stapler
- _ Balloons
- _ Shoe
The winner will successfully collect:
- 3 Pens
- 1 Stapler
- 4 Balloons
- 1 Shoe
The one who finds all the items in the right quantities wins!
Get Writing for Pi
For all creative souls who would rather not stress themselves out with heavy subjects like math and science, you can celebrate Pi Day with something creative. Poetry is always an excellent start!
You can write poems dedicated to the humble pi, or you could mix things up by writing a Pi-Ku. The Pi-Ku (derivative of haiku) follows the 3-1-4 syllabic pattern. For a more lenient activity, you can always have everyone list down the maximum number of words that start with “pi”!
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