Off-site meetings are useful to small teams too - it gets them away from the daily firefighting and able to focus on big infrastructure problems, kick-offs of n

Off-site meetings are useful to small teams too - it gets them away from the daily firefighting and able to focus on big infrastructure problems, kick-offs of new projects and so on, just like in the examples given. They don't have to cost money - find one member of the team that has wifi and doesn't live in a pigsty and go hang out in their living room/kitchen table/back yard. I agree with the OP that the overnight is critical - people can just couchsurf or go home at night and come back the next day. And who needs stupid made-up icebreakers when you all have to pitch it to make dinner?