What are some ideas or suggestions for my company's 2nd annual christmas party?!
Last year we did it at Dave & Busters so there were pool tables and an open bar - the whole party was planned for us. Dave & Busters was a bit too far so we need to host it closer to the office this year and I am not able to find anything in the area with pool tables - I have only been able to find baquet halls. I am considering using a banquet hall and having it catered but I need some suggestions for events or entertainment. It would be great to be able to find somewhere with pool tables but I can't find anything local.
WeI'd also rather not do a gift exchange.
Any ideas?
Answers: I am coordinating my company's 2nd annual Christmas party and am in desperate need of suggestions.
Last year we did it at Dave & Busters so there were pool tables and an open bar - the whole party was planned for us. Dave & Busters was a bit too far so we need to host it closer to the office this year and I am not able to find anything in the area with pool tables - I have only been able to find baquet halls. I am considering using a banquet hall and having it catered but I need some suggestions for events or entertainment. It would be great to be able to find somewhere with pool tables but I can't find anything local.
WeI'd also rather not do a gift exchange.
Any ideas?
what about a comedy club or hiring a comedian for your hall? any fondue places or hibachi restaurants around you? those are fun, maybe just plan on meeting at a bar someplace after dinner for after party.
My firm hires a DJ and everyone ends up doing [drunken] karaoke by the end of the night. Good times.
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Have you checked with various apartment complexes or planned communities? Many of them have "convention" halls, some with billiards/darts/etc. You could still have it catered and have access to such things.
Just a thought! Good luck.
we always do the gift exchange thing and i hate it, thats no fun and they do it different where like you can take other peoples gifts, i dunno how it works but i usually sit it out lol, id much rather have a get together and get to have drinks or something
Do you have an Old Chicago's or UNO's pizza place? Those are good laid back places with good food and alcohol. :)
Some bars and cocktail lounges have kitchens and rooms available for private parties - and some bars have pool tables. :0). Is there a Jillian's near you? Or a private club such as the Elks or CYO or Lions? Some of these clubs have pool rooms and rent out rooms for private parties. Some have kitchens; most all will require that you cater your party.
Instead of exchanging gifts, my firm has a Yankee Swap. It's a lot of fun and a real icebreaker. We set a limit of $20 max for the gift. The gift can be as serious or comic as you wish, so long as it's in what's agreed upon as good taste. Each person brings a gift - gag or otherwise - and all gifts are annonymous. Each person who brought a gift draws a number. When gift time comes, you proceed to call the numbers and the person whose number it is selects a gift and opens it and shows it to everyone. If the person doesn't want what they've opened, he/she has his/her pick of it or any other gift that has been opened up to that point. Obviously, the number a person wants to draw is "1," because after all the gifts are opened, that person (because there were no gifts opened when he/she opened the first gift) gets to choose from every gift that has been opened. It can initiate quite a bit of bartering and swapping around among your co-workers and is a lot of fun. We only have one rule. Several years ago, someone gave as a gift a rubber chicken. If that rubber chicken is "recycled" and given again as a gift, something has to be added with it. Once it was a chicken-themed cookbook someone added to the rubber chicken; another time, it was an enamel baking dish with chickens on the side that was added.
Another firm I worked with had a wonderful tradition of presenting a skit which all the support staff put together - mostly spoofing the officers and managers for whom they worked. Since no one knew exactly who did the writing, all were safe. LOL
My present employer also participates in a program where we all bring in a gift on "party day" that is contributed to a local orphanage.
Our party changes every year, but we like the white elephant gift exchange and fight over the best gifts. Every one brings a gift that they buy,make,or find. So you get some nice things and some yuck things. Pic an order, (draw numbers, or do birthdays, or do alphabet of last names.....what ever) first person opens, second person can open or take firsts gift, third person can open or take anything of the opened gifts,
THEN THIS IS WHERE WE DO IT DIFFERENT whoever's got taken can take another open gift or open new one;. but cannot take back one that was taken from them. After the game gets going, you can have at least 2 layers of steels each round, so after 2 people next person has to open a new gift. Then next person can open or steel, then as their gifts are taken 2 more people can steel, but then next person has to open. I hope that makes sense. really fun and all the gifts get moved around a lot because we let 2 people each round TAKE/steel an opened gift. You may get your favoriate item many times, but not end up with it. It's better when you have lots of people playing.
But we always bring a food and/or toy to put in a box to give to a local charity.
we do dirty Santa - it gets to be a blast. We do limit the being taken to 3 times other wise we could go all night with 1 sometimes.
rent it.... have it catered. have a blast.
(( okay, so then you can get music and dance and tell jokes and play games let get you know your co-workers, everyone drops something odd about them not everyone knows, people can guess and get points... ))
We had a casino night at our holiday party last year. We hired a company called plan it interactive to help coordinate the event. We gambled for tickets to exchange for gifts about 2 hours before the end of the party. Everyone had a wonderful time.
