It’s that time of year again! You feel it. Your employees feel it. If you’re lucky, it’s a time when things slow down a little at the office. For others, things get even more hectic.

No matter what your office is like during the holidays, one thing is for sure– it’s time to celebrate another year of hard work.

How do you do that? The office Christmas party of course! If you’re looking for a few ideas to get your shindig underway, look no further.

Deck out the Office
Don’t feel like you have to wait until the party for this one! Get everyone in a festive mood by decorating the office for the holidays. Lacking ideas? You could:

  • Set up a Christmas tree in reception.
  • Line the hall with stockings – you could even personalize them by having your employees’ names on them! If you really want to go crazy and you have space, why not build a fake fireplace to hang them on?
  • Hang paper snowflakes from the ceiling.
  • Line the tops of cubicles with garland.

Do you own the building? Don’t be afraid to bring the fun outside with some commercial outdoor Christmas displays like animated displays or an awesome building front.

Set the Scene
Where are you having the party? Here are a few options:

At the office. There’s nothing wrong with keeping it at the office. You can do something low key like a potluck lunch where everyone signs up to bring a dish, or you can wait until the end of the work day so significant others can join the fun. Alcohol and silly games are optional!

At a restaurant or hotel. If you have it in the budget to splurge a little, why not rent out a room at an upscale restaurant? Treat everyone to a meal they may not normally spend on themselves. Or pick a theme and deck out a banquet hall. Can you say open bar? If you do choose to make alcohol available, it’s a good idea to schedule the event on a Friday or Saturday night; and consider setting up cab service for those who love to indulge.

At your house. If you don’t mind your employees and their plus ones coming to your house, why not host? Cater the food, put on some Christmas music and set up some fun games like Wii dance, a white elephant gift exchange or some cool door prizes.
What’s a Party Without Games?
If you’re having games at your party, here are a few ideas to get you started:

Ornament Guessing Game: For this one, you’ll need a fully decorated tree. Guests have to guess how many ornaments are on the tree. For the winner, you could give out a gift card to a popular restaurant or coffee shop.

Who Am I? Write out the names of Christmas characters on sticky notes. Everyone has to put one on their forehead without looking at the name written on it and then guess who they are by having others ask them yes or no questions related to their character.

Santa Limbo: Want a laugh? This one’s just like normal limbo, except players have to wear a ‘santa belly’ by stuffing a pillow under their shirt. Normal rules apply of course!

White Elephant Gifts: Who doesn’t love this game? A few weeks before the party, have everyone draw names. Each employee has to buy a funny gift for the person they chose. Once at the party, seat everyone in a circle and let them open their gifts. To make it even more interesting, you can write a fun story to read out loud. Make sure to include ‘left’ and ‘right’ a number of times. Each time you say those words, the gifts have to be passed in that direction. Once the story stops, each person can keep whatever gift they end up with.

What are you waiting for? Now that you have a few great ideas, get to planning that party! Want more options? Click here for even more party game ideas.

Do you have some great memories from a past office party or ideas for your next one? Let us know in the comments!