You’ve chosen the perfect party venue, planned a marvelous menu, and asked invitees to save the date, time, and place. To create a company holiday party to remember, it makes sense to also include fun activities available for people who want to participate.
Just as every company is unique, what party attendees may consider to be “fun” also varies. So, as you choose which games to offer, think about who will be at the event. If employees can bring their children, for example, then you’ll want to provide different games than if it’s an adult only get together.
To help you get started, this post shares seven holiday party games that are enjoyable for people who want to play them, while still making it comfortable for those who want to snack, sip, and chat, instead.
Ornament Guessing Game
This game can be a fun ice breaker or one that people can participate in during virtually every part of the party. Just leave enough time for the winner to be announced and receive a prize! Simply put a stack of index cards by a decorated Christmas tree. People write down their names and how many ornaments they believe are on the tree. Whoever is closest wins the prize.
Ornament Exchange
You can ask party attendees to bring a gift-wrapped ornament to the event venue. As people leave the party, they can each choose one to take home. You can hold an ornament exchange in conjunction with the guessing game described above or as its own activity.
White Elephant Swap
This idea takes more pre-planning but not a lot. Each person attending the holiday party should bring a wrapped gift. You can set ground rules, which can include the amount of money that should be spent on the gift; whether regifting is allowed; and what’s considered an office-appropriate gift. Are gag gifts acceptable?
As guests arrive, have each person write down his or her name on a notecard and then put the cards in a bowl. Then, during the party, you can hold up a gift and pull out a notecard—and the person whose name is on the card wins that gift. Or, as another variety of the game, you can assign names to people a few days ahead of time so that attendees can know who will receive the gift.
This is one of the more popular holiday games. In fact, there are so many variations on the theme that there’s an entire website dedicated to white elephant swap games.
Christmas Scavenger Hunt
If you can get into the corporate party venue early enough, you can hide items around the party room, each with a holiday theme. You can then provide guests with cards that contain photos of items in the scavenger hunt. Whoever finds them all first wins a prize.
Or, if you want to add another layer of interest to the game, you can organize the photos slightly differently on different people’s cards, perhaps in a bingo pattern. Then, the first person who finds five pictures in a row could win a prize. So could the person who found the items that are placed in the four corners of his or her card, and so forth. Creativity rules!
Holiday Photo Booth
Although this isn’t exactly a game, it can be plenty of fun. You can provide a Christmas-themed backdrop, along with props that party attendees can use. For example, you can offer elf hats, reindeer antlers, goofy glasses, long white beards, jingle bells, and much more. You can provide selfie sticks for the photos to be taken and, if desired, ask people to upload them in a place online where they can be seen by other party attendees.
Holiday Sticker Stalker
As people arrive at the event venue, they can be given a predetermined amount of holiday-themed stickers. The goal is for each person to put his or her stickers on other people at the party without being noticed. The first person to successfully get rid of all stickers without being caught wins a prize.
Name that Holiday Song
If you’ll be using a corporate party venue with a good sound system, then you can create a game around the holiday songs being played. You can arrange to have numerous holiday songs played, along with some that aren’t so well known. At a strategic time (with a sit-down dinner, it could be shortly before the meal will be served), you can have a snippet of a song played; people at each table can write down their best guess before you move on to the next song.
Whichever table gets the most correct, wins. To make the game more challenging, you could ask that people write down the name of the song and that of the singer. Make sure that you have enough prizes on hand to award to everyone on the winning team!
Choosing Thrasher-Horne as Your Event Venue
When you select Thrasher-Horne as your holiday party venue, you’ll be celebrating the season at one of Northeast Florida’s most unique centers. Located on the scenic campus of St. Johns River State College, it’s ideal for large groups, as well as more intimate gatherings.
At Thrasher-Horne:
- more than 6,260 square feet of space is available in our multipurpose rooms to create seating arrangements and more that suit your unique needs
- ample free parking is provided for attendees
- on-site security is also provided
- the party venue is easily accessible, near Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and surrounding areas, making it convenient for party attendees
- our professional sound system is ideal for holiday music
- we can provide lighting, a/v carts, wireless network access, screens and projectors, a stage platform riser, and more
- fees for event rentals are affordable and include customized furniture setup and breakdown, and your choice of table sizes and shapes, plus cushioned chairs for guest comfort
To discuss your needs for event rentals, please contact us online or call 904-276-6815, ext. 2.
