The office Christmas party. Boom time for brewers and HR consultants worldwide! So how do you plan the ultimate office Christmas party? Is it in the details? The guest list? The dress code?
Here’s the five top tips for throwing the ultimate office Christmas party:
1. Plan Backwards.
You know what ruins an office Christmas party quicker than Greg from Accounts trying to charm his way into your Christmas stocking? Having to clean up after everyone has left and you’re stuck in a stinky, messy venue with no one to help. If you’re organising a Christmas party, make sure you’ve got an exit strategy – someone to clean up after you. Organise an office cleaning too: perhaps outsourcing to a cleaning service provider like AMC Cleaning to do the hard work for you afterwards, because who wants to be cleaning up when you should be kissing under the mistletoe?
2. ‘Love Actually’ Will Be Your Guiding Light.
If you’ve seen Love Actually, Harry give some great advice on planning a Christmas party: “Find a venue, over-order on the drinks, bulk buy the guacamole and advise the girls to avoid Kevin”. The ultimate Christmas party usually involves too much of the stuff that you’ve held off on for the whole year, so go on. Search out some kooky London Christmas party venues. Over order the drinks. Get the cheesy DJ. Buy the greasiest finger food. It’s the one party where you can get away with it – enjoy it!
3. Invite Management.
Many people hate having management at Christmas parties, claiming it cramps their style. Nothing could be further than the truth. Management, like the workers, always tell the truth during a night of corporate-sponsored Christmas cheer. As they say – information is power. You’d be amazed at the truth that comes out when you give a manager a topped up glass and a listening ear. Invite management. Information is power.
4. Make Sure You’re The One Holding The Camera.
Ever flicked through your Facebook news feed the morning after the night before? If you’re the one behind the camera, it will be everyone else’s cheerful faces in the news feed. If you’re organising the ultimate work Christmas party, make sure you’re the one documenting the awesomeness, instead of being the one being documented.
5. Forget The Details.
People won’t remember if the balloons matched the napkins that matched the colour on the email invitation. They just won’t. If you’re organising the ultimate Christmas party, remember what Christmas parties are all about – having fun on the corporate credit card. They won’t remember that you spent hours trawling the internet (in company time!) looking for the perfect table decorations, name-cards and music set list. They simply won’t. Sure, make it nice, but don’t go overboard. Your co-workers won’t appreciate all the hard work you put in to make it 110% perfect. They just want to know the booze is free, the music is loud and HR won’t be invited.
Have you organised a work Christmas party? What worked for you? Do you have any horror stories you’d like to share? Tell us your thoughts in the comments, below.
