Planning the Infamous Holiday Office Party

Ok, so you're in charge of planning the infamous holiday office party. If you've ever seen the TV show "The Office" specifically the show about the office Christmas party you've witnessed just how a party that supposed to be fun can go so terribly wrong.

To avoid the horror of being known as the person responsible for planning possibly the worst holiday office party your company has ever had let us give you a couple of suggestions that may help you avoid that nightmare.

1. Before you make any decisions about the party talk to your co-workers and get their feedback on what they think would make a great party.

In addition to getting some great ideas from them which can actually make for a great party you can also lay off some of your responsibility (only if the party isn't a success) by reminding everyone that they helped you plan the whole thing! This tip alone is worth reading this article, right!

2. Consider a theme for your holiday party. Yeah... Yeah it's the holidays but that doesn't mean you can't play around with the traditional holiday theme.
If you do decide on a themed party don't forget to mention the theme in the holiday party invitations. You don't want people showing up in formal attire if everyone else is dressing like elves. It could ruin the party for some.

Having a themed party means you'll have to get creative and come up with some cool design ideas for your venue. You'll need to do more than just use the traditional holiday decorations for your party room.
Creating a themed corporate holiday party also gives your co-workers an opportunity to participate and get involved by contributing suggestions for a party theme.

3. Consider having the party outside of the office environment. It can be difficult to relax and have a good time if you're still inside those office prison walls.

4. Think about ways to get everyone to interact, relax and have fun. This is probably one of the most important things you can do to insure the success of a party. Decorations, food and drink are important of course but for a successful party your guests actually also have to enjoy themselves.

You need to come up with some unique ideas for your party by thinking outside the traditional holiday party box!

Of course one obvious way of loosening everybody up and interacting is serving cocktails. But I really think you'll want to do more than just get everyone drunk.
When your co-workers return to work they probably won't be talking about how much fun they had getting drunk but they will talk about how much fun they had dancing in the conga line or winning the pin the ornament on the Christmas tree game. Get the idea!

Here's a couple of simple ideas for activities which may help inspire you to come up with your own ideas for activities that will work for your particular party group.

*Conga line. Who says you can't dance the conga at a holiday party!
*If the theme for your holiday party is a 1960's holiday party rent a karaoke machine that just plays tunes from the 60's.
*Tarot card reader. Everybody loves having his or her fortune told especially with a new year right around the corner. And it gives everybody something to talk about.
*Or take a simple game like pin the tail on the donkey and switch it up and make it pin the ornament on the tree.
*Or find a pi簽ata shaped like a Christmas tree.

Yeah, I know all these are very simple ideas but hopefully they'll get your own creative juices going.

An important point to remember when planning your party activities is that we're all just kids at heart and participating in activities with others can really lighten the mood of a party by helping your guests relax.
Use your imagination to come up with some really cool ideas for icebreakers.

My final suggestion for the success of your holiday party is to get started planning early. Give yourself the time you need to plan the best holiday party your office has ever had. Happy Holidays and Good Luck!