Office Holiday Party - Do Something Different This Year

It's holiday time and I bet you just can't wait for that white elephant gift again, or to hear you coworkers sing The Twelve Days of Christmas for the 10th year in a row. These types of activities are what give company holiday parties a bad name. Why not do something different for a holiday party in your company this year? Think of three or four events which occur during the holiday season where your party could be useful to others and enjoyable to the company employees at the same time. Challenge your office co-workers to join you in requesting to do a different holiday party this season.

Here are a few ideas that may be used to start your company brainstorming on what kind of office party to hold.

Host a "Stuff the Santa" Company Party:

Divide the office into several groups. Give each group an oversized button front red shirt to build their Santa. One group member is designated as Santa and throughout the week before the holiday party, each Santa accepts small toy or stuffed animal donations to stuff the Santa shirt with. Each Santa should make a daily office appearance to show how plump the holidays are making him or her. Other team members are encouraged to donate items which can be stuffed in the shirt Santa is wearing to fill him out. Team members may also offer a challenge for other teams to accomplish a task with the prize being a gift to stuff the opposing Santa. For instance, Team A may challenge Team B to a three legged race through the parking lot. The winning team's Santa receives a present to increase his size and chances of winning the contest. Hold a pot luck lunch at the normal holiday party time and have each team Santa visit the office fully stuffed will all their donations. Any Santa who can't fit their goodies in their suit, can add a Santa bag to the attire. During the party, the Santa team collecting the most goodies can be rewarded with not having to sing the Twelve Days of Christmas with their coworkers! Toys can be donated to a local charity or shelter.

Have a "Hammer in the New Year" Office Party

Instead of the traditional appetizers and drinks to welcome the New Year in, contact the local Habitat for Humanity and book a Hammer Party date. Appoint individuals to be in charge of the working side of the party, and others to arrange for food for the event. If you have a large office, you may consider working on multiple houses if they are available. Consider returning to the house when all work is done to celebrate the owner moving in.

Have a Company "Exchange" Party

Cookie Exchanges are fun for the holidays. You may consider altering the idea to be the main theme for the office party. Have everyone bring in a certain number of home baked items for exchange. Play a few games, have some punch and use some of the goodies for snacks. If you don't have enough of each type baked goods for everyone to have some hold a drawing for who gets to pick first and or which five types of cookies each person gets. You might liven the exchange up a bit and have it be a chocolate exchange, or a Christmas candy exchange. Other exchange ideas include ornaments, holiday decorations, or movies and music. For these types of items, you might do a hot potato exchange. Have someone read a popular Christmas story or sing the lyrics to a song and use a key word where the gifts get passed to the right or left every time that word is spoken. This can be quite humorous as some folks lose track of what the word is while trying to move the gifts to get to the one they want. At the end of the story, each person keeps the gift they are holding.

These are just three ways you can liven up your office holiday party days. Brainstorm among your company and come up with a holiday party you all enjoy.