Ideas for a Company Christmas Party in Your Own Office
Ideas for a Company Christmas Party in Your Own Office
Plenty of companies hold the December party in their own office, usually because a venue would take most of the budget and the office is free. It's a sensible decision and it comes with one specific risk: the room where people answer emails all year does not automatically feel like an occasion just because somebody put up lights.
That's a solvable problem, and solving it is mostly about a few deliberate choices. I'm Magical Katrina, an award winning magician and mentalist, and I want to offer ideas for company Christmas party planning when the venue is the place everybody works.
The Money You Saved Should Be Visible
Start with the principle that makes this work. An office party costs a fraction of a venue party, which means the budget can go into things people actually experience rather than into room hire and a minimum spend on a set menu.
That's the argument for doing it this way, and it only holds if you spend the difference. An office party with the same catering you'd order for a lunch meeting hasn't saved money, it's just a smaller party. Put the saving into food people are pleased to see and one thing they didn't expect, and the office version comes out ahead of the venue version rather than behind it.
Change the Space More Than You Think You Need To
Practically the most important decision. Lights and a tree in a room otherwise exactly as people left it on Friday reads as the office with decorations, and people behave accordingly.
Move furniture properly. Clear the desks in whatever area you're using, change the lighting if you can, shut the doors to the working parts of the building, and set the food somewhere people wouldn't normally eat. The aim is that somebody walking in doesn't immediately see their own monitor, because the moment they do, they're at work.
People Will Leave Early From Their Own Building
The honest risk, and the reason to plan the shape carefully. At a venue, guests have travelled, committed to the evening, and will stay. In the office, the exit is the door they use every day and home is the journey they already know.
That argues for starting at a time that follows naturally from the working day rather than leaving a gap, since people who go home to change frequently don't come back. It also argues for having something worth staying for in the first hour rather than saving everything for later, because your room will be at its fullest early.
Decide If It's Still a Workplace That Evening
Worth settling rather than assuming. An office party has an ambiguity a venue party doesn't: people are in the building where they work, with their manager, and nobody is quite sure which rules apply.
Most people find that answers itself, but it's worth being clear with yourself about what the evening is. If senior people are visibly treating it as a work event, everybody else will too, and the party will be polite. If the point is for your team to actually enjoy themselves, the leadership behaving like guests rather than hosts is what makes that possible.
Program Something, Because the Room Won't Carry Itself
Worth planning for. A good venue does some work for you: the space is interesting, there's a bar, there's somewhere to move to. An office has one room, a table of food, and whatever you've put in it.
Without something happening, an office party is a group of colleagues standing in the room they stand in all day, having the conversations they have all day, slightly earlier in the evening. Something genuinely good in that space is what makes it an event, and in an office it's doing more of the work than it would at a venue.
Your Office Has No Stage, No Sound, No Power to Spare
Practically relevant for what you can book. An open plan floor or a boardroom has no stage, no usable sound system, sockets already full of monitors, and a ceiling that makes any amplified sound unpleasant.
Close up magic needs none of it, works in the room exactly as it is, and leaves nothing to clear before people arrive for work in the morning. For a party where the same space has to function as an office at nine the next day, entertainment with nothing to install and nothing to strike is the practical choice rather than merely a convenient one.
Think About Who Isn't Comfortable
Worth considering, since an office party has its own version of this. Your colleagues who don't drink, who are new, who work in a different part of the building, or who are the only person from their team in that evening are all easier to leave standing alone in an office than at a venue, where moving around is natural.
Something that circulates reaches those people. So does seating, so does food that requires standing somewhere specific, and so does somebody senior deliberately talking to the people on the edge of the room. The office version makes isolation slightly more likely, so it's worth planning against.
Someone Has to Clear Up
Practically important and routinely forgotten. At a venue, the evening ends and you go home. In your office, somebody is responsible for the room being usable in the morning, and if you haven't decided who, it'll be whoever is left or the facilities person arriving early.
Settle it in advance, pay somebody if you can, and choose suppliers who leave nothing behind. It's not a glamorous planning item and it's the one that determines whether the people who organized the party remember it fondly.
Why Book Magical Katrina
If your party is in your own office, here's my case. I'm a member of the Magic Circle in London and the Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood, I've earned multiple magic awards, and I've performed for clients including Formula 1, the Olympics, Porsche, Prada, Zapier, and the Ritz Carlton, with appearances on Penn & Teller: Fool Us and Masters of Illusion. I need no stage, power, sound, or setup so your floor works exactly as it is, I leave nothing to clear before Monday, I work from the first arrivals rather than a full room, and I'll deliberately reach the people standing at the edges.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an office party a cheap compromise?
Only if you don't spend the saving. It costs a fraction of a venue party, which means the budget can go into things people experience rather than room hire and a set menu, but an office party with meeting room catering is just a smaller party.
How do we stop it feeling like work?
Change the space more than feels necessary: move furniture properly, clear the desks in the area you're using, change the lighting, shut the doors to the working parts of the building, and put the food somewhere people wouldn't normally eat. If somebody walks in and sees their own monitor, they're at work.
Why do people leave early?
Because the exit is the door they use daily and home is a journey they already know, unlike at a venue where they've travelled and committed. Start at a time that follows on from the working day rather than leaving a gap, since people who go home to change frequently don't come back.
When should we program the main thing?
Early, since your room will be at its fullest in the first hour and saving everything for later means a thinner audience for it. Something worth staying for early also gives people a reason not to drift off at seven.
Do we need to book entertainment at all?
In an office, more than at a venue. A good venue does some work for you with an interesting space and somewhere to move to, whereas an office is one room and a table of food, so without something happening it's colleagues standing where they stand all day.
Will anything work in an open plan office?
Close up magic will, since it needs no stage, usable sound, spare power, or setup and leaves nothing to clear before nine the next morning. Amplified formats are a poor fit, because office ceilings make sound unpleasant and your sockets are already full.
How do we include everybody?
Plan against isolation deliberately, since an office makes it easier to leave somebody standing alone than a venue where moving around is natural. Something that circulates helps, as does seating, and as does somebody senior making a point of talking to the people at the edge of the room.
What's the thing people forget?
Clearing up, since somebody has to make the room usable in the morning and if you haven't decided who it'll be whoever is left or the facilities person arriving early. Settle it in advance and choose suppliers who leave nothing behind.
Make the Room Feel Like Somewhere Else
The best ideas for company Christmas party planning in your own office all come down to the same thing: the space has to stop feeling like the space. Change it properly rather than decorating it, spend the money you saved on things people experience, start early and program early because the room thins out, and decide in advance who is clearing up.
Then put something genuinely good in the middle of it, since in an office that's carrying more of the evening than it would anywhere else.
Reach out with your date and roughly how many are coming, and I'll tell you how I'd work your floor.