The other day my boss asked me if I had any ideas for a Christmas party, example--activities for door prizes and such. Everyone I work with are men (except for 2 of us). I know they have a place picked out so that is not an issue, nor is food. So all we are looking for are ideas for things to do to make it fun. It has been forever since I have been to a Christmas party that consisted of more than just eating and socializing. So far I haven't been able to come up with much (besides having a santa show up). Any ideas?
The men in charge of it all cut down all my/our ideas, they did not want anything that took too long or cost too much. But we all had fun, we ate, and then just sat around and talked (inbetween a few christmas speeches). Then went and looked at some christmas lights and went home. The gifts were popcorn bins and flowers. Overall everyone had fun.
I think they would have enjoyed the trading of gifts but no one had any good ideas of what to buy that everyone would like and that didn't cost much, but what was given was just as good...and it was nice to just sit and talk with everyone without involving a meeting with it. Thanks for everyone's help and ideas...too bad men are just picky..:)
probably one that I have always found to a hit is a white elephant gift exchange. You draw #'s and the 1st person chooses a gift from the center, the 2nd person can either steal #1's or draw from the pile. If take #1, the #1 draws another one.
When I worked I was always in charge of the Christmas party. The best thing to do is pick a place with games. We did a bowling alley once. You can do Kareoke, Darts, bowling, pool, etc. Plus, a lot of the alley's serve food or cater. Another good choice would be an indoor go cart place. Our budget didn't allow for this. The last year they did "tipTop" I think it is called. It's in downtown Omaha. They have theme rooms you can rent plus pool, arcade games, football, golf, and baseball pratice etc...
I love the gift exchange idea. A few pointers, though, set a price limit on it, high and low. No toilet paper, that sort of thing. Another idea is to check out a party store. If they don't rent party things like kareoke machines then they will know who does. This is a great way to just get some ideas, even if you don't actually rent stuff from them.
You could do a gift exchange. Have everyone purchase a gift and limit the dollar amount to spend. Tell everyone not to put any names on it. When they arrive...have everyone put their gift on one table. Attach numbers to them and have everyone draw a number (attach numbers to a candy cane). Or just have them put them on the table and half way threw the evening...let everyone go up and choose a gift.
Since you work with men, you can never go wrong with electronics, sports, and competition. Men like to compete so i would come up with a goofy sports relay thing and have the price be something elecronic. Example: tools, gaming gear, etc.
In most cases men are willing to do some pretty goofy things to win something or just for their egos!!
Have grab bag gifts, things that would work for both men and women. Have one person start by opening a gift. The next person can either take the gift the 1st person opened or get another one and open it. The 3rd person can either take from the other 2 that opened gifts or open a new gift. Continue until all the gifts are opened!
We have done this within the office for several years now. We all have a blast. Let me know if you need some gift Ideas, I would love to help.
Some gifts in the past were: Board games, Bottles of Alcohol, alarm clocks, gift cards, movie with popcorn pkts, blankets, back massager, movie tickets..
I hope that this helps.
T.
My husnabd works with all men and every year everyone including the wives looks forward to the Christmas party. Partyley because the gifts are good and there's an open bar : ) The part that is the most fun is that we all play a game and in the order you win the game is the order that you pisk your gift. The gifts are unwrapped and sitting under a tree. So throughout the party you take turns playing this dice game (everyone gets 2 tries) and toward the end they anouce what order you won in then you pick your gifts in that order. There are enough gifts for both the employees and their wives. It's alot of fun. Good Luck!
