After the last few years of working from home, virtual gatherings, and canceled parties, everyone needs a good ol’ Christmas party to get into the festive spirit. Holiday parties can (and should!) be so more than quick after-work drinks and impersonal corporate gifting. We’ve put together a list of fun and original company Christmas party ideas employees will love, from scavenger hunts to hiring a private caterer.
Fun holiday party ideas for work
Check out our fun holiday office party ideas to get your employees in the spirit of the holiday season:
Pour some more with a wine tasting
If you want more classy Christmas party ideas, consider organizing a wine tasting evening. To keep it in the Christmas spirit, encourage everyone to make holiday-themed cocktails or, better yet, sign everyone up for a mixology class!
Get everyone dressed up in their finery to enjoy a civilized gathering. Alternatively, if you’d prefer a more sober event, you could try a cooking class together.
The heat is on with an ugly sweater competition
An ugly sweater party is perfect for celebrating the upcoming holidays in style! Gather your colleagues after work, host an ugly sweater competition, serve food and drinks, and hire a photo booth for guaranteed silly season silliness.
If you want to incorporate the holiday tradition, get everyone in their ugly Christmas sweater and hang up a few decorations around the office, like one big happy work family. An ugly Christmas sweater party is a relatively low-effort end-of-year celebration for your team to let their hair down.
Grab the popcorn for movie night
For a family-friendly Christmas shindig, you could host a movie night. Put on everyone’s favorite Christmas movies, serve food and drinks, and offer hot chocolates for a cozy night in together.
Buzzers at the ready for quiz night
There’s nothing quite like a quiz night to bring out everyone’s competitive side! Whether you host a virtual holiday party, organize a game night in the office, or book a table at a bar, quiz nights are an excellent way for colleagues to collaborate (and compete!) To make it extra fun and festive, make sure you include a ‘name that tune’ round and some holiday trivia questions.
Virtual team building doesn’t have to be dull: get your remote workers to organize online teams and offer a prize to the winning virtual team, like restaurant vouchers for their local area.
You could hire a movie theater if you want to go all out, or keep it low-key and screen a holiday movie in the office with a portable projector. Be sure to send a poll around to your team asking for movie ideas a few days before the office Christmas party to ensure everyone feels included.
Treat your foodies to private catering
No office holiday party is complete without excellent food, so why not bring in a professional to do it for you? If you’re looking for corporate holiday party ideas to treat your employees with, look no further than Gathar. You can choose from one of our menus, or your Gathar concierge cam go bespoke and curate a personalized dining experience for you with our amazing chefs.
Why drag everyone to a restaurant when you can bring the restaurant to you? All you need to do is string up a few Christmas lights and wait for our Culinarians to serve up a mouth-watering meal. And don’t worry about the mess – we’ll clean up afterward and leave your office looking like the perfect winter wonderland.
Get clued up on a Scavenger hunt
Scavenger hunts are an excellent holiday game for office Christmas parties and employee engagement. Team bonding is definitely on the holiday agenda if you…
- Organize employees into fair teams mixing different skills and seniority.
- Get everyone in Santa hats running around the office looking for holiday-related items, or broaden your hunt to include the local neighborhood.
- Hire a food truck to turn the game into a delicious get-together afterwards.
You might want to offer a prize to the winning team, even if it is just bragging rights within the office.
Some of our favourite office Christmas party themes
Embracing holiday party themes for your Christmas get-together is an excellent way to make your company’s holiday party even more memorable. Whether you keep it Christmas-themed to get everyone in the holiday spirit or explore one of our other holiday party ideas, it’s up to you!
Murder mystery
A murder mystery party is a fun and exciting Christmas party game and a sensational theme. Send everyone a Christmas card that includes a party invitation with details about their character and role in the murder mystery.
Ask colleagues to dress up as their character; you could even organize a costume competition to encourage everyone to participate in team-building activities. Plan your party menu to keep in theme—with magnifying glass-shaped cookies and ‘Killer Cocktails’ (get it?) Discuss your party theme with your Gathar private chef to design the perfect murder mystery menu.
The Great Gatsby
Take it back to the 1920s with a Great Gatsby party. You can’t go wrong with a gold color theme, jazz music, extravagant decorations, and a champagne happy hour.
Get the office holiday party pumped with a few 1920s themed Christmas games like a Charleston dancing lesson or showing a gangster movie. Partying like it’s the roaring 20s won’t feel like traditional company Christmas parties, that’s for sure!
Christmas in Vegas
If there’s one way to ensure an unforgettable night, it’s with a Christmas in Vegas party theme. Put together a few blackjack tables and serve traditional American foods like mac and cheese, steak, and hot dogs.
Alternatively, you can ask our Gathar chefs to put together a Vegas-themed menu for your party this Christmastime! You could even add another party activity, like putting on a casino-themed quiz.
Disco fever
Who says a corporate holiday party has to be stuffy and dull? Party like it’s 1975 with a disco-themed holiday work party. Get everyone to attend in their best ’70s get up and create a playlist with hits like ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Heart of Glass’ pumping through the speakers all night.
You can get creative with your 1970s Christmas activity ideas, too, by getting everyone tie-dying t-shirts or even hosting a roller disco.
Award show
Why not use your Christmas party to celebrate your employees by hosting a Christmas award-style party?
Encourage everyone to dress up for a night at the Oscars, serve the finest wine and delectable dishes fit for the stars. Decorating the office or venue with style will ensure everyone knows they’re at a Hollywood party, although a few Christmas decorations wouldn’t go amiss (’tis the season, after all)
Don’t keep the awards work-related – let people know you appreciate their sense of humor or friendliness. To top it off, include a Secret Santa gift exchange to get everyone into the gift-giving spirit.
Pajama party
The pajama party is a staple party theme for good reason. For a low-key get-together, ask employees to bring their PJs and organize some wholesome, fun activities, such as gift-wrapping or making gingerbread houses together.
Play some Christmas carols and set up a Christmas tree, and of course hire a personal chef to cook everyone a cozy, warming dinner.
Get your own personal chef with Gathar
With all of these delicious ideas, your company’s holiday party should be the most memorable event of the year. Remember: it’s not a party unless you organize a few holiday party games and offer gifts for employees to get everyone in the Christmas spirit.
Speak to one of our team about how Gathar can cater the perfect Christmas dinner for your office party. We’ll explain how it works and help you design a unique menu your colleagues will be talking about until the next Christmas!