Tag: Office Christmas Party

Office Christmas Party Themes

Whether you’re renting a hall or taking over the lunchroom, with a little creativity you can whip up a Christmas party that’s a little different this year. Consider some of these fresh and fun Office Christmas Party Themes.

Winter Wonderland: Decorations in white and silver, snowflakes everywhere, clouds of cotton on white-clothed tables, frosted drink ware and twinkling lights to sparkle like falling snow all add up to a beautifully elegant party.

Step it up a notch with a Silver and Gold Party. Gold adds a touch of extravagance to a Christmas party and lends a vintage air. Silver bells on tables set with gold-rimmed dinnerware (look for disposable!), silver and gold ribbons and ornaments nestled among the buffet trays, sparkling silver and gold candle holders – all will give your party an opulent, luxurious air.

A Candy Land theme is a fun option. Think ‘How would one of Santa’s elves celebrate?’ and you’ll soon be decorating with gumdrop centerpieces, gingerbread families and giant lollipops (easy to make with styrofoam circles wrapped in tissue paper and cellophane on a dowel ‘lollipop stick’). Consider a ‘Candy Bar’ for dessert (a buffet of favorite scoop-able candies and goodies set out in decorative jars & bowls) or maybe a chocolate fountain!

Christmas Around the World is a fun food-based theme. Serve foods from different nationalities; include standard choices like American, Italian, Chinese or Mexican cuisine, but be sure to look into getting trays of Indian, Turkish, Thai or French foods – be adventurous! Decorate with maps, world flags, signposts, postcards and fake passports and your guests will feel like they’re miles away from the office.

A couple of ‘afternoon celebration’ themes you might consider are an Ice Cream Social (how many flavors and toppings can you come up with?) or a Hot Cocoa Station. Have fun and go beyond the standard cocoa fare of marshmallows and whipped cream and offer peppermint or cinnamon sticks, toffee pieces, butterscotch chips and caramels. If allowed, consider Peppermint Schnapps, Bailey’s Irish Cream and Frangelico for delicious ‘adult’ cocoa options.

With a little thought (and some quick Internet searches) your next Office Christmas Party could be the best one yet!

Christmas Party Ideas That Are Work Appropriate

Everyone loves the company Christmas party. However, office parties aren’t what they used to be thanks to the recession, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fun.

Work_Appropriate_Holiday_Party

So, a great idea would be to have a holiday party during working hours. Serve a nice buffet with a variety of food so everyone is happy; no alcohol should be served. Get the entire company involved in choosing the theme and cuisine; send emails asking for votes, make the emails light hearted so no one is offended if you don’t take their suggestion. Now that you saved money on a location you can splurge on decorations, make the office festive, and get some great door prizes!

Assign a photographer or two to take candids during the party and make sure you post them afterwards. Don’t make it a job, find someone who enjoys taking pictures! Set up some board games around the office on game tables with folding chairs, nothing fancy. Games like Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit are great for teams! Give prizes that have nothing to do with job performance or achievement. For instance:

  • The person that complained about the heat the most
  • The person who had the best suggestion in the suggestion box
  • The person that brings the best smelling lunches

When the holidays are over send another email thanking everyone for attending and asking all of the employees their opinion – good or bad – so that next year you can pull off another successful office Christmas party.

What To Serve At An Office Christmas Party

For the first time, I have been put in charge of this year’s holiday festivities. So the big question is – What to serve at an office Christmas party? I’ve honestly not given it much thought before. I usually just show up and the food is there. Isn’t it funny how we think that this just magically happens?

Serve_Office_Christmas_Party

As I started my planning, I was thinking that I want it to be fun and festive. However, I don’t want it to become overly complicated. With that in mind, I began to research my options. I came up with the following ideas:

  1. Foods that can be kept warm in chafing dishes. Baked ziti, chicken marsala, sausage with peppers, etc.
  2. Tossed salad (I would only offer a few different dressing types)
  3. Rolls (splurge for the individual butter portions, if budget allows)
  4. Easy to eat treats for dessert, such as cookies and brownies.
  5. Bottled water, coffee & tea

You can also go potluck, and ask your fellow employees if they would like to contribute. Post a sign up sheet so people can sign up and enter what they would like to bring. Otherwise you may wind up with multiples of the same thing. This will allow your fellow employees the chance to participate while showing of their favorite holiday specialty!

Some of Our Favorite Company Christmas Party Ideas

Ugly Sweater Parties. Secret Santa. Grab Bags. Non-Denominational Holiday Brunches. After Hours Eggnog-and-Mulled-Wine Shindigs.

At least one of those things is made-up, but the others are some of my favorite company Christmas party ideas.

Company Christmas Party Ideas

Well, I say favorite but I might be fibbing just a little bit. I’m not a big believer in mandatory gift-giving in one’s place of business, unless the spending limit is hilariously low and people know to have fun with it (i.e., everybody buys a joke gift from the dollar store). Because, hey, we’ve all been in that awkward situation where there’s an office Secret Santa and it’s “To Be Taken Seriously”, but you don’t know the person you got all that well and everybody walks away disappointed.

I feel it’s best to avoid that situation altogether.

My absolute favorite kind of office party is one where there’s decent food (catered or informal pot luck, it doesn’t matter), but not a lot of formal structure. It’s supposed to be a party; let the people unwind and make their own fun. By all means, encourage silly outfits. But don’t go so far as to make anything Mandatory™.

Really, the best Christmas party idea anyone can give you is to not over-plan your company party. Just toss up some decorations, put out some food, and see what happens.

Christmas Party Invitations for Your Office Holiday Party

Our company has had an annual Holiday Party for the past 23 years. We used to spend a bundle on our company’s Christmas party invitations. The last two years we finally wised up and ordered them from The Gallery Collection and we’ve saved money, gotten a terrific reaction and received tons of compliments.

Celebrate the Joy Corporate Party Invitation

There’s a great selection to choose from and it’s so simple to customize them. Twice now, we’ve chosen the flat card format with a matching design on the back. They’ve been excellent quality which is important to us. Another good feature is that you can order as few as 25 invites. We usually need between 40 and 60 and it’s convenient that there are many quantities available to order.

There are over two dozen designs of Holiday Party Invitations to choose from – from simple to fancy – and there’s plenty of room to add all the particulars about the event. I’ve really enjoyed trying out the different fonts and colors that are available on various designs. (The secret is to start early so you have plenty of time to have fun experimenting!)

Ordering online has been a cinch and the website is user friendly – even if you don’t have much experience in this area. When I did have a question, I just called and talked to a rep who was very knowledgeable and most helpful. The turn-around time was quick and we received our invitations in plenty of time to address and send them out.

Like I said – we’ve had rave reviews. The invitation is the beginning of the party – so make it a good one!

Christmas Party Games For Your Office Holiday Party

Office parties can be a lot of fun. Especially if you add Christmas party games. I have been in charge of creating and initializing our holiday parties for a few years. The food, gifts and set up are easy. The party games take some time.

Office Christmas Party Games

I have put together a few fun events. My first year we did “Guess the Holiday Movie.” It could have been a regular movie or an animated film. I put a few items per movie on a table. I had 8 all together. For the first one I had a red nose, a stuffed Santa, and toy. Answer: Rudolf the Red nose reindeer. That was easy. Then I had a picture of a bridge, a movie theater and a bell. That was a little harder, but not too hard. Everyone wrote their answers and turned them in. I checked them and chose my winners.

The next year we did “Decorate a Co-Worker.” That was one of the best. I had ornaments, tinsel, garland, lights (battery operated of course) and several other trinkets set out on tables. Each group had to pick their human tree, and start decorating. What a sight. We had people with so much décor on them, you couldn’t see them. Everyone got into the fun. Pretty soon we had people decorated in paper clips, paper snowflakes. It was a free for all! The employees gave me a gift card that year as a Thank You. They said they never had so much fun decorating before.

I’ve also done gift wrapping contests. I had a bunch of odd shaped gifts and the object was to wrap them and decorate them the best way they could. Just a tip, buy a lot of tape for this one. Needless to say the men used the most tape. There was tape and wrapping paper everywhere. But all the gifts came out nice. Funny, but nice.

This year will be “Build Your Own Snowman with Sports Balls.” There will be tennis balls, soccer balls, baseballs, and even footballs! We’ll have to see how that turns out.

Appropriate Christmas Party Themes For Your Office

Having a Christmas Party at work can be strenuous. First, you have to come up with an appropriate Christmas party theme for the office. Then, the planning begins. The planning is the easy part. One of the hardest part seems to be a theme. Since I have been in charge of this project, we have had four themes.

Christmas_Party_Themes

The first year we did ‘Christmas Around the World.’ That was fun. We had the words Merry Christmas and Santa Claus in languages from different countries. We had dishes from different countries on the table. And we even had people tell short stories of their Christmas traditions. That year was one of my favorites. The next year, we worked with Toys for Tots. Our theme was ‘Santa’s Christmas List.’ The idea was to buy a gift that you would have wanted as a child and donate it. Everyone who brought in a gift for a child received a ticket to our Christmas Buffet. It was a great year for the kids. My associates were very generous. The third year, our theme was ‘Generosity and Kindness.’ The idea was to be generous and giving for the Month before Christmas. Every time you did something nice or charitable, you received a ticket for our tricky tray. The nicer and more generous you were, the more tickets you got to put into the bucket. Everyone seemed so much nicer that year!

This year, I’m working on something really special. We are actually having a Christmas Mini Carnival. We are inviting the families of the staff so they can enjoy some carnival games, popcorn, cotton candy, ice cream, and of course, a visit from the big man himself, Santa Claus. Then we will have a sit down style dinner. I know family is the most important thing in life, so why not include them in the fun. I’ve already called The Gallery Collection to order my corporate holiday party invitations. Everyone is so excited. My boss can’t wait to dress up as you know who!

Appropriate Christmas Party Themes For Your Office

Having a Christmas party at work can be strenuous. First, you have to come up with a Christmas party theme for the office. Then, the planning begins. The planning is the easy part. One of the hardest part seems to be a theme. Since I have been in charge of this project we have had four themes. The first year we did “Christmas Around the World”. We had the words Merry Christmas and Santa Claus in different languages from many countries. We had dishes from different countries on the table, and we even had people tell short stories of their Christmas traditions. That year was one of my favorites. The next year we worked with Toys for Tots. Our theme was Santa’s Christmas List. The idea was to buy a gift that you would have wanted as a child and donate it. Everyone who brought in a gift for a child received a ticket to our Christmas Buffet. It was a great year for the kids. My associates were very generous, some giving several gifts each. The third year, our theme was “Generosity and Kindness”. The idea was to be generous and giving for the month before Christmas. Every time you did something nice or charitable, you received a ticket for our tricky tray. The nicer and more generous you were, the more tickets you got to put into the bucket. Everyone seemed so much nicer that year!

Holiday Cheer Corporate Party Invitation

This year, I’m working on something really special. We are actually having a Christmas mini carnival. We are inviting the staff’s families so they can enjoy some carnival games, popcorn, cotton candy, ice cream, and of course, a visit from the big man himself, Santa Claus. Then we will have a sit down style dinner. I know family is the most important thing in life, so why not include them in the fun? I’ve already called The Gallery Collection to order my holiday party invitations, and as soon as they arrive I’ll add my own personal touch to each one. Everyone is so excited. My boss can’t wait to dress up as you know who! While everyone is ready to enjoy this years fun, I’m already working on next years theme.

What Should I Bring To An Office Holiday Party?

That time of the year is approaching once again, office holiday parties! A time where as a company we can all celebrate the year of hard work and commence with a great year ahead. I’m sure when the time starts rolling around many also start thinking “What can I contribute?” and “What should I bring to office holiday party?” I know for me it’s always daunting to try to please everyone with a dish. I want to be sure it’s something easy but at the same time appetizing for my co-workers. As we all know some people begin to receive a reputation for their dishes. Mark in our IT Dept. is known for the best guacamole and Debra in the Art Dept. is known for her delicious spinach dip!

Office Holiday Party Food

So what are good things to bring to an office holiday party? I think dips and salads are the best go to foods for office parties. Egg salad, pasta salad & chips with dips are great appetizers. Shrimp with cocktail sauce, cucumber sandwiches & chicken wraps are also quick, easy meals to make. Of course we can’t forget the desserts! There will be brownies, cakes, muffins, and cookies, oh my! This season really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas Party Ideas For Your Office – Card Writing and Envelope Stuffing

I had the best time last year while getting our Christmas cards ready for mailing. We decided to do them all together! It ended up being the most fun office Christmas party ever! We prepared the office conference room with enough chairs so that all 14 of us could sit. We had pens enough for everyone to sign their names and pass them to the next person to the right, one at a time we all signed in just about the same areas so there was enough room for everyone. When that task was complete we then divided up the mailing list of 375 clients, so that everyone had a similar number of cards to address, it turned out to be a page each of about 25 names.

Office Christmas Party

Once that was all done, which is the serious part when we didn’t want any mistakes occurring, we then moved onto the stuffing and licking. After just a few envelopes, your tongue gets dry and sticky, so you need to wet your whistle! The owners are a really great couple and they made sure we all had a red solo cup with fruit filled sangria. Then began the sipping and laughing! By the time we were done with all that work we were enjoying each other’s company, discussing everything and anything except work. Once the work was complete the snacks came out, not to mention the owners had ordered a few pizza’s for all of us. It only took about an hour for the whole process. This was a Christmas party idea we will definitely do again, I suggest you try it!