Yes, that’s right, we are already thinking about the Christmas season and you should too particularly if you are the lucky one in charge of organising this year’s Christmas office party.
Don’t panic! We have compiled a useful list of tips for you…
1/ Timescale
Make sure you book the venue in advance particularly if it will be in London and if you are planning on having it on a Thursday or a Friday. Venues get booked up as early on as July/August so you should ideally have it all confirmed by the end of the summer. Also take note of the venue’s cancellation policy and put a reminder in your diary a week or two before the policy expires.
2/ Location
It all depends on the budget of course but having your Christmas party outside of the office is a good idea. You want it to be somewhere no one can get distracted and where your colleagues can really spend time with each other and celebrate a hopefully successful year. Also, if there are drinks involved you don’t want to risk any spillage on your IT equipment just before you all go on holiday…! Make sure the venue is not too far from the office and quite central so that everyone can get home without too much trouble although this year’s Night Tube will certainly be interesting…
3/ Notice
Once the location and date are confirmed make sure you let your colleagues know as the Christmas season is probably the busiest in our jam packed social diaries.
4/ Food
If the event involves drinking make sure you sort out a generous amount of food/snacks/canapes/energy bars for your colleagues ideally within the first 3 hours of the event. You don’t want to be doing all the damage control the next day. Make sure you check and double check everyone’s dietary requirements and any food allergies.
5/ Entertainment
A good office Christmas Party usually has a theme and/or games & entertainment. In my opinion, the cheesier the better but it all depends on your office culture and whether or not your colleagues would actually enjoy a David Brent style do. We love a good old Secret Santa, a Christmas jumper theme, and maybe a few Wham! tunes. If you have a bigger budget why not hire a live karaoke band or a videographer that will film your colleagues singing a song of your choice and then edit it to create a music video. There are many original ideas out there these days so you can think outside the box.
6/ Speech
Ask your CEO/Manager to prepare a short speech. The office Christmas party is also about celebrating the business you work for and its journey in the last 12 months. A good speech will give your colleagues a big boost for the new year. The overall tone of the speech should be positive and give the manager of the business an opportunity to thank its staff for all their efforts and hard work. The speech should definitely end on a high and include a few (good) jokes.
7/ Enjoy it !
Planning the Office Christmas party should not be a burden- once the venue/food/transport have been dealt it you can relax and enjoy the fun bits such as organising the theme, games etc! And if all comes to worst the success of a party comes down to the guest list right?!
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