#1: Now that it’s December most people have begun their countdown to the holidays. To get ready for all of the gift wrapping you’ll be doing in a few weeks wrap any one member of your team from head to toe in toilet paper (or multiple team members if they want to get in on the fun) leaving as few gaps as possible except around their nose/mouth so they can breathe easily. Then take a fun team picture with your newly wrapped co-worker and submit it to HQ. At some point in the process have each team member tell that person why they are a “gift” to either Solutions Group or to you personally.

#2: Solutions Group is committed to providing detail-oriented accounting services. This challenge will test your ability to notice some of those kinds of details, even while you’re surrounded by lots of distractions. Take a team picture with any parked vehicle that has a license plate which contains numerical digits that add up to 10, no more, no less. So if the plate were "CF2H 5K3" it would be acceptable because those numbers add up to 10 and there aren't any additional numbers.

#3: Anywhere around the area find a business with a Skee-Ball machine. Once there, take a video of anyone on your team rolling one ball into either of the top corner holes in your lane (usually labeled 10,000 points depending on the machine). Although not required, we encourage you to rotate who on your team is rolling the balls after every few tries so that everyone has a chance to win it for the team. Make sure everyone is rolling them from the standard location at the end of the lane.

#4: In recent years, St. Petersburg has landed on must-visit lists from the New York Times, TripAdvisor, Forbes Travel and AmericanStyle arts and travel magazine. Fueling the city’s vibrancy is a robust art community, the craft beer scene, and a variety of independently owned restaurants and shops. To honor all of the small businesses that make this city unique, take a video of at least half the members in your group completing the "Bite The Bag" challenge. So if you have 5 people on your team then at least 3 people would need to complete the challenge. Stand on one leg, bend down and grab a brown paper bag (or a bag similar in height) with your teeth and lift it up as you stand back up on one foot. You must remain on one foot the entire time and can not use your arms, hold onto anything, or bump into anything else. To ensure your team does it right the first time, watch a video of someone successfully completing this challenge by clicking HERE.

#5: If you participated in the team building event last year you may still have a bad garlic taste in your mouth. Well, don’t worry, this challenge will help eliminate that. Anywhere around the area find and purchase a package of flat fillet anchovies or rolled anchovies, not the paste kind. Then take a video of your team members, at the same time, all consuming a separate bite-sized piece of this unique food. Make sure to film for at least 30 seconds after you all put it in your mouth, to document your reaction. Disclaimer, this will likely not be pleasant, which is exactly the point. Because a team that suffers together, grows together.

#6: How well you work together and strategize together as a team throughout this event will likely end up being the difference between winning, or having to listen to some other team brag about winning over the next year. But it’s hard to come up with a strategy when your objective is constantly moving. Anywhere along the way take a fun team selfie with any of the city’s trolleys clearly visible in the background. Timing your picture correctly will be critical in order to capture your whole team and one of the actual city trolleys (not just an image of one or a toy) before it moves out of view. So plan accordingly, because one way to get ahead in life, and in this adventure, is to be at the right place at the right time.

#7: Get to any location where you can make a photocopy. Then use the machine to make a hilarious image of each team member’s face pressed onto (or hovering over) the glass surface. If possible, have two or more people packed in together to one copy, as long as everyone's faces can be captured and the staff on site allows it. When finished, take a fun picture of everyone together, holding/displaying their memorable photocopies.

#8: The St. Pete/Clearwater area is one of the few places in southwest Florida where “beach-nesting” birds nest, so you may see terns, plovers, skimmers, sandpipers and a variety of other shorebirds. Anywhere along the way, take a picture of your team with just ONE real-life bird of any species. If there is a group of them all together then you'll need to work together as a team to corral just one away from the flock so you can take your picture with it.

#9: Working for Solutions Group requires an incredible attention to detail and a fine tuned awareness of time so that your clients don’t get penalized. To test your skills have any TWO team members successfully complete the “5 Second Challenge”. On their mobile devices successfully use the stopwatch function to get the timer to stop at exactly 5 seconds. Once they’ve got it, have someone take a picture of both teammates together as they proudly display their devices with 5.00 seconds clearly visible on each. This should be done using the stopwatch function and not the countdown/timer clock. Everyone can be attempting the challenge but only TWO team members need to complete it successfully.

#10: To raise awareness, and support the extraordinary men and women firefighters who protect this city, take a video of your team completing "Stop, Drop, and Roll" while any regulation/operable fire extinguisher is visible in the background. Be sure to yell each step of the fire safety technique as you all do it together and make sure the fire extinguisher is clearly visible at some point in your video.

#11: Get to any clothing or apparel store and find two different items with enough in stock that every team member can be wearing the same two items in their own sizes. Then take a fun team picture with everyone wearing those items. For example it may be a wacky shirt, and a pair of shorts. Or maybe some cozy slippers and a large sun hat. As long as everyone is wearing the same exact two items but in their own sizes.

#12: The news here in Florida is sometimes so bizarre that it became it’s own internet meme back in 2013 (did you see what that Florida man drew using the radar map and his private plane back in 2015). To honor this state’s legacy for publishing unforgettable stories, get your team to the newspaper seen HERE, located somewhere around the city. Once there, take a memorable team picture with you all surrounding the paper and reacting wildly like you just read the craziest Florida Man story ever!

#13: Clara Barton established the American Red Cross and later this month marks 201 years since her birth. To honor Clara’s efforts on the battlefield as a nurse and the legacy she created with this impactful organization, find any Red Cross emblem around the area. Once you’ve found one, designate one of your teammates as an “injured soldier”. Then take a picture demonstrating the “correct way to carry an injured soldier”, as referenced in the picture found HERE by soldiers from the 1800’s. If you have a lot of people on your team you can divide up and carry multiple “victims” if you want, or if you have a small team you can recruit strangers to help out if needed. Make sure the Red Cross emblem is visible somewhere in your picture and then gently lower your victim back down after you’re finished, just like Clara would have done.

#14: Just look around the city and you’ll notice it has already been turned into a festive holiday landscape with elaborate displays, lights galore, and even visits from Santa himself! To get your team in the spirit with just a few weeks to go, have each racer use shaving cream or whipped cream to give themselves some Santa-like facial features. Spray the cream over each racer's eye brows, and of course give everyone a fluffy mustache and beard. Once everyone has a proper, but messy, holiday disguise, take a fun team picture together. We’re told this will definitely help get you on this year’s Nice List!

#15: A huge part of being a succesful accounting firm is listening to the people you provide services for and understanding the stories that make them who they are. Take a video of your team and any stranger that has a tattoo while they explain what that tattoo means to them or why they got it. The tattoo must be visible at some point during the video.

#16: Over the years, we’ve found that the teams that bond the most are the ones that do something meaningful or impactful together. So here is your chance. To honor those, and their families, who are impacted by Breast Cancer, take a proud team picture showing off your hands once every member of your team has gotten their fingernails painted bright pink (the international color for breast cancer awareness) using real nail polish. For every team that completes this challenge successfully our company (Team Building Anywhere) will be donating $25 to help fight the disease!