How to host a company holiday party!

Company moral is becoming more and more important and company parties are a great way to create a sense of community and positive energy among coworkers and their supervisors. Employees are more likely to attend company parties than any other company social event so here are a few tips to make it the best.

Have a photo booth and let them take as many pictures as they want.

This will allow employees to create lasting memories that they can look back on. They may even post these pictures to social media, which promotes your company’s fun and positive environment to potential hires. This also encourages group interaction and allows for a different number of various groups to capture the moment.

Create a theme for your party, go all out and encourage others to do the same.

Whether its Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years advertise the idea that dressing up is encouraged, maybe even throw out the idea that those who participate will be given prizes. If you do decide on a theme make sure the members in higher up positions participate as well. It could make employees who do dress up uncomfortable if they are the only ones who show up in full Santa costumes.

Provide Food and Drinks

It doesn’t have to be a full on dinner but providing some sort of food for people to munch on gives them something to do initially and can make things less awkward. Make sure to also keep in mind dietary restrictions and allergies, always have alternatives for these employees so no one is left hungry.

Add a charitable aspect to your party.

Having a clothing or food drive gives your employees an opportunity to do something good for others, which makes them feel good and makes your company look good as well. You could even create a contest leading up to the party that promises a prize to the department that donates the most.

Have interactive games and encourage people to play

throughout the night.

You don’t want to have the typical icebreaker where everyone introduces himself or herself one by one but having games that encourage interaction and conversation is a must. Without games employees are prone to eat till their full and leave or drink too much. A good idea is to have trivia on the tables or create large teams to play group based games. That said, don’t keep a strict time line of games. Let people join the activity at their own convenience and keep things fun and light.

Create a comfortable and welcoming environment.

Make sure to place seating near the action. This way people don’t feel like they are being antisocial for sitting down and will allow people to sit together to mingle with people they might not otherwise talk to.