How to Plan an Unforgettable Work Christmas Party

Christmas is around the corner, and you need to start planning for the inevitable Christmas party. How to plan a Christmas party is a complex process, one that we’ll walk you through to ensure your event is unforgettable. We’ve got event entertainment that will keep your guests busy until the New Year. In fact, we’ve got Christmas party ideas that will top all others, so prepare to throw the greatest celebration your office has ever seen. 

Plan

​It goes without saying, but you can’t leave the plan for a Christmas party to the last minute. The best venues are booked early, and the greatest event entertainment is already appearing at other parties; you can’t afford to hang around. Start as early as possible to ensure everyone can make the date. If you have a large office, it’s likely that someone will be unable to do the date, but if you try and plan a Christmas party as early as possible, there’s more chance everyone can make it. 

Pick an Outside Venue

We understand it’s easy to host a Christmas party in the office, but is it really a good idea. The office is where your employees, or colleagues, come to work for eight hours a day, five days a week, 50 weeks of the year, so there’s a reason they may not want to celebrate in the same office they do that. If you plan a Christmas party in advance, and pull together all of those excellent Christmas party ideas, you can get a great venue even on a budget. Make sure your venue is easy to get to and, if possible, there’s a nearby taxi rank. You can look to the likes of Design my Night for venues in your local area. 

​If you have to host the work Christmas party in the office, utilise our Christmas event ideas for work. By that, we mean make it as festive as possible, and host the party away from the normal working area. 

Christmas Party Theme

​No Christmas party is complete without a Christmas party theme. In fact, it’s almost unheard of for unique Christmas party ideas without a theme. You could even go down the casino route (our personal favourite), with our hugely popular casino theme hire - including roulette wheel hire, blackjack and even poker.

If you are looking to host a winter wonderland party, there is a vast number of options to ensure you throw the perfect party. Christmas is the chance to get creative and have a blast; you can still choose a Christmas theme reflecting your company’s serious market, but you can have a little fun. 

Healthy Dose of Competition

There’s nothing like injecting a healthy dose of competition to your event entertainment. It’s a top tip when it comes to great work Christmas party ideas, as you can be sure a competition will break the ice at an office party. We have a whole range of Christmas party games ideas you can gain inspiration from, or you could even go so simple as to include a ‘best Christmas jumper competition’ to your party. 

Food and Drink

​Food and drink should be high on the list of your Christmas event ideas for work. Remember that whatever you do, you need to cater for the whole office for the duration of the party; whether that means day and night. Drinks will be flowing, and no one wants to see a Christmas party run out of food and drink early. 

Find out your budget early to plan for the menu, and include something for everyone in the group. For larger offices, your Christmas party ideas for food should feature a buffet. It’s ideal as most people can eat when they are ready and are not forced to wait for a sit-down dinner that would, most likely, cost more. 

Seating Plan

​If you do happen to host an event with a sit-down dinner, arrange a seating plan before the party. To ensure everyone is happy, mix the teams up a little to ensure colleagues are sat with people they may not normally speak to, along with those they do. You could provide the guests with event entertainment during the dinner, by placing games and jokes in the centre of the table. 

Event Entertainment

You’ve got the basics sorted for how to plan a Christmas party; now you’re onto the fun stuff. Event entertainment is a big part of the holidays, especially corporate Christmas party ideas. Music is all-important to the party. Think of the Christmas classics and add them to the playlist; you know what classics we are talking about. While everyone loves Christmas music, create a playlist that also includes chart-toppers to get everyone up on the dance floor. You could even go so far as to hire a karaoke machine. In fact, you should do that - it’s our top Christmas party idea. 

Now you’ve got the music sorted; you can consider other ways to keep your guests occupied. Event entertainment games are a fantastic option for earlier on in the evening, before everyone has had enough food and drink to keep them on the dance floor until the early hours. We have a load of options that complement any corporate Christmas party ideas. From casino theme hire to carnival funfair games, retro arcade machine hire to even crazy golf course hire - there’s so much to choose from. 

Photos

​If you’ve gone to this much trouble of looking into how to plan a Christmas party, don’t forget to take a whole heap of photos; if only to embarrass your colleagues the week after. You could also include the photos in a company newsletter, if you happen to have one, or make a short timelapse video for social media - guaranteed to improve your reach and gain followers. 

Alternatively, you could look into photo booth hire​. Photo booths are popular for Christmas event ideas as they get rid of the hassle of hiring a professional photographer. All you have to do is let your guests take their own pictures, and they’re printed off there and then. Photo booth hire also eliminates any need for party favours, as your guests will be taking the pictures home with them. 

If you would like to discuss how to plan a Christmas party with our event entertainment options, with one of our team, get in touch today.