The office Christmas party. It sure sounds fun, but when it is your turn to come up with office Christmas party themes it can soon become the stuff of nightmares.
One important factor to keep in mind while deciding on Xmas party ideas is the office culture. You need to ensure that it is a fun night filled with lots of food and laughter. Since you are running late, we have picked out the easiest games that will ensure that you have the maximum amount of fun.
Three Cheers for Christmas!
Most offices tend to have an ugly Christmas sweater party. If this is a tradition that is followed at your workplace, you might want to stir things up this time and give people a few alternatives.
Some of the most elegant Christmas party themes include the nutcracker theme and the Pirates. For the Nutcracker ballet theme, people can dress up as any character they prefer and to spice things up you can change the setting, as they do with the ballet. If you want to make it feel more inclusive, you can also brainstorm some Christmas party theme ideas with your colleagues. They will be able to provide better clarity on what is doable and what is not.
Office Christmas party themes should strike the right balance between memorable and entertaining. No party is complete without a smattering of games. Games done right can set the tone for a magical evening.
Candy cane fishing
Materials – candy canes and rope
You can tie candy canes to the end of a rope and use the hook part of the cane to pick up other canes and collect them in a box, kept some distance away. You can set the time limit and distance as per your convenience. This can be played individually or split people into groups and play this like a relay.
Unearthing the gift
Materials – Securely wrapped gift boxes, oven mitts and Santa hats
This game is best done in groups. A slight twist on the classical passing-the-parcel game, in this game a big box is wrapped multiple times. The idea is to unwrap it one wrapper at a time. The player must wear oven mitts and a Santa hat while doing so. Equal parts hilarious and difficult it makes for a good laugh and keeps people on their toes. Immediately after a person removes one covering, they must pass the gift, hat and et al to the next in line. The team which manages to get to the gift the fastest is declared the winner.
Dumb Charades
Materials – List of Movies/Songs/ Books
If you have never played this before, this is the time to try it. Good interpersonal dynamics keep the fun quotient high. Everyone takes turns to depict the movie/ song they have been given. You are not allowed to speak and must rely on non-verbal communication to help your team score some points. Themes can range from movies to favorite books to Christmas songs. You can come up with a host of ideas based on how formal or informal the work culture is. Extra points for using inside jokes.
For Virtual Christmas Party
Virtual Christmas party themes just need to follow one rule – Everyone joining in must be able to participate and have fun. It would be a good idea to have a masquerade or have people turn up in the most ridiculous hats. Both these themes can lead to discussions on why they chose it and lead to an entertaining evening of storytelling. To make it more inclusive, you can ask the participants to join in with their families and also organize a talent show. Those who wish to, can perform a song, dance or even a stand-up act. You can close with everyone joining in for some caroling.
If you can spare some time, you could compile a presentation of holiday cards of each employee. They could then share their favorite Christmas tradition with the group. Xmas themed party ideas need not be elaborate or grandiose, the most important thing is to come together and partake in the Christmas spirit.
It is just as important to have games at a virtual meet as it is for a physical party in the office.
Pictionary
Pictionary is always fun and can work as a bonding exercise and ice breaker. There are plenty of sites that throw up easy words, on which you can draw. It can be as easy or as difficult as you want it to be. Some websites also let you set different themes and provide quality support. The easiest way in case you are crunched for time is to join everyone on call and the person is asked to draw out the word on MS Paint, which will guarantee some heated banter and laughs.
Pictogram
Emojis, icons and symbols of Christmas-related words. For example, if you want to show reindeer – you can show rain and deer and have them guess the word. Further, this can also be customized depending on the interests of the group. If your team is heavily into movies/ books, you can pick a theme based on that. For example, to depict the book -I Know why the Caged Bird Sings
You could use the symbols – An eye, capital letter ‘Y’, the picture of a jail, a bird in flight and a microphone.
Trivia Night
You can decide on a topic everyone is comfortable with. Random unknown facts can be used here. Ensure you have tie breakers in place and nobody is using any reference material.
At the end of day, no matter what games you decide to go with, just remember to make it inclusive and delightful enough for everyone to feel comfortable enough to let their hair loose. It has been a difficult year, but as the year ends and new things await, it is imperative to celebrate the year gone by with the ones we spend most of our time with, our colleagues who make up our extended family.