Company Christmas Party!

What better time of year to get together with family and friends? We offer several different Holiday parties to choose from -

Christmas Open House
Christmas Office Party
Christmas Party
Other Christmas Party Ideas
Christmas Party Games

Food and Beverage Quantities to Serve

The best plan to organize a Company Christmas Party is to organize and get help! Even if it is a small company, it is better to have help than to try to manage all the details yourself. There are several things to consider when starting your planning:

Where will the party be held? Try your best to not have your party in the office. Rent a party room, go to a restaurant, even to a co-workers or boss' house is better than being in the office during your holiday party.

When will the party be held? Remember that this time of year has people booking up their calendars, so plan early and notify everyone of the date as soon as possible!

What is your Budget? Even the smallest of company parties will have to know their budget and know how to fit all into this - food, entertainment, favors, decorations, etc.

Company Christmas Party Food Ideas:

Beverages
If you plan on setting up a basic bar, plan to have the following on hand for every 10 adult guests:
1 case of beer
2 liters of seltzer
3 liters of soft drinks (diet and regular)
2 quarts of fruit juice
Plenty of chilled bottled mineral water (sparkling and flat)
2 bottles of wine - one red, one white
Hard liquor - a fifth makes approx. 14 drinks
Lemon and lime wedges and twists, olives and other garnish
Lots of ice - plan on 1 lb. per adult guest for the evening.

Consider adding a couple of the following seasonal beverages to fit the festive occasion:
Eggnog
Cranberry Cocktail
Hot Chocolate
Wassil
Coffee Bar - set out a few flavored liqueurs, brandy, whipped cream, and grated chocolate Garnish drinks with decorative ice cubes. Try using shaped ice-cube trays, adding a little food coloring into the water, or add mint leaves or raspberries to the water before freezing.

Company Christmas Party Games & Activities:

Many office parties begin with a cocktail hour that helps the guests get acquainted with each other and meet those that they ordinarily do not have much contact with during normal business hours. During this time, it is appropriate to play some background music and serve some light appetizers. This cocktail hour can last anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. If a meal is going to be served, it usually follows the cocktail hour and is done prior to any other activities. For a holiday office party, it is perfectly acceptable to have either a buffet table or a sit down meal, which ever fits into your budget and timeline the best.

After the appetites have been satisfied, here are a few ideas for activities:

Hire an ice carver to do a wintry demonstration!

Christmas Party Games

Videotape the guests arriving and mingling during the party and play the tape toward the end of the party along with a section of tape showing the accomplishments and goals that have been achieved throughout the year.

An office party definitely calls for toasts! The toasts can be serious or humorous, just so they give tribute to people as well as achievements.

Hire a band or small group of musicians to entertain, especially if you plan to host a formal dinner and dance.

Trivia -- Never was a holiday more suited to playing trivia games. If you are having a sit down dinner, roll up various trivia quizzes, and tie with ribbon to match your theme colors. Set the little bundles at each place setting. If you are serving food buffet style, put them in a decorative basket. We have provided a few ideas to build a trivia quiz around, or you can come up with other creative ideas.

Think of the interests of your crowd before choosing a topic. Try to include trivia related to the topic with a broad range of difficulty. This will make it much more challenging, and your guests will leave the party a little wiser than they were when they arrived:

Sports - who holds what record in what sport, or match famous sports figures with the correct sport. Ask a sports fanatic to help you pull this together!

Inventors and Explorers - Provide a list, and have guests try to match inventors and explorers with their invention or discovery. Much more difficult than you might think!

Music - Either have guests try to match Artists with Song Titles, match Song Titles with the year the song was a hit, or match Songs with the decade they were from. Spend 45 minutes at a music store with a pad of paper, looking at the backs of compilation and "best of" CD's, and you'll have enough music trivia to fill the whole year!

Movie Stars/Movies - Provide a list, and have guests match as many actors/actresses with the films they starred in, or have them try to match movie titles with the year the movie was released. Another fun "Hollywood" trivia game is to see who can name the most films that have won an Academy Award for "Best Picture".

Make a list of the 5-10 most influential/important people of the year…many periodicals, such as Time™ magazine, will be featuring such articles between now and December 31st. Ask guests to decide what significant contribution each made in order to make the list. The prize goes to the person who has all 5-10 or closest to it! A great prize to award the winner of any of these trivia games would be a trivia game, such as Trivial Pursuit™, a subscription to a news periodical, or a coffee table book chronicling the past year.

Christmas Party Games