Corporate Christmas Party Planning

Corporate Christmas parties are often planned by employers as a way of showing appreciation to their employees. Most Christmas parties allow employees to bring their significant others and are held at a place away from the office. Christmas parties are excellent ways of not only showing corporate appreciation as well as giving employees the chance to get together and get to know each other better.

Begin your Christmas party planning by organizing a party committee. The more social staff members will really get into this and they will have great ideas. If your committee is running short on ideas consider soliciting ideas from the other employees. Send out a small questionnaire to the staff and have them drop it in a suggestion box. This ensures that you will be able to incorporate some ideas that everybody else is interested in.

There are many places you can hold the party, but one thing is for sure – get out of the office! Nobody wants to go back up to work after they have just left from a long day. A different environment is much more inviting and your guest count should go up considerably. Hotels and restaurants are common places, but there are a variety of others available as well. Consider an art gallery, day or night- river cruise boat, museums, ice rinks or other party halls that may be in your community. Some venues may provide catering and that can be an added bonus as well.

Depending on your budget, you may be able to afford a live band or DJ. If not consider having guests bring their favorite Christmas CDs. If you have a sound system available, set it on shuffle and there will be great tunes all night. Be sure to keep up with CDs by tagging them with employee’s names, as they may forget to get them after they leave.

Many people tend to associate corporate parties with an open bar. This is fine if you ensure that there is plenty of food available to keep guests from drinking on an empty stomach. Should a guest go home drunk and have an accident, the company may be held liable. Offer a variety of non-alcoholic beverages in addition to alcohol. If the party is to be held at a hotel, you may consider working out a deal with the hotel for guests to stay at a discount to keep them from driving home impaired. You may also choose to have a cab service set-up to make sure everyone gets home safely.

Many corporations like to give their employees a small gift for attending the party Be sure that your gifts are personal and not a promotional item that you use for advertising. All of the gifts can be the same, or if you have a small staff you may be able to have them personalized. A little something is always appreciated. If you are unable to get everyone a gift, consider doing a gift, cookie or ornament exchange so that everyone will have something when they leave.

Many employees look forward to the annual Christmas party.  Be sure to keep them interesting each year. They are also more apt to attend if they can bring a guest with them. Don’t talk business all night and have a different style of party each year. This will keep your guests showing up year after year.