Yes, it’s already that time of year again. The holidays seem to appear out of thin air every year…one minute you’re cashing in your hard earned vacation time on a beach somewhere and the next all the cubicles in the office are decorated with garland and red bows. And as you know, with red bows comes the dawning of the holiday office party.
You know the drill, the “party” that’s anything but. Everyone is standing around not really knowing what to do with themselves and Karen is in the corner guzzling the free booze. But don’t reach for your stress ball just yet! We’ve got five tips that will take your traditional holiday office party from “blah” to “FALALALALALALALALA!”
1. THE FOOD
As with most parties, people come for the food. Sorry karaoke singer, sorry inspirational speaker, dearest apologies stand-up comedian. People are there to eat the cheese ball. But who can blame them, right? Celebrating free food events has been ingrained in most of us since college when we could only afford to buy ramen noodles. If someone says: “free pizza…” you’re going.
The Dessert Building Throwdown taps into people’s desire to eat. And not just eat anything, eat all the sticky, sweet, unhealthy things that are practically a required food group around the holidays. Teams will be divided, rivalries made, and marshmallows consumed.
2. THE FUN
Most people wouldn’t describe their daily 9-5 grind as “fun.” They might say it’s fulfilling, or challenging, or a pain in the you know what…but fun is typically anything but the chosen word. Your holiday office party has got to be the exception to that rule. It should be the first word that comes to mind when it’s over (except, maybe, food).
Our Holiday Adventure is guaranteed fun or it’s free. We’re so confident in our abilities to help you throw a fun party, we’ll risk paying for everything ourselves if you don’t agree. But, you will. Using clues and challenges based on the research of positive psychology, our customized events make sure that whatever your definition of fun is… you’re having it.
3. THE INTERACTION
Especially in a larger office environment, you might not know all of your coworkers. Maybe you’ve been cc’ed on a lot of the same emails, but you don’t know their kid’s names or their favorite color. A successful holiday office party encourages interaction with the people you’ve been emailing from 10 feet away. Not in those awkward get-to-know-you games you were forced to play in school, and definitely not by a “secret Santa” game for a practical stranger, but in a “you would never know this was actually a team-building exercise because it’s so awesome” sort of way.
cityHUNT prides itself on delivering these office interactions at holiday office parties. Improving workplace happiness and building deeper, more meaningful relationships is the ultimate goal behind our corporate team building philosophy.
4. THE EXPERIENCE
Holiday office parties aren’t usually something you would describe as “an experience.” Skinny dipping in Aruba, eating an entire pizza by yourself…those are experiences. But there is hope for your party! Don’t settle for ho hum. Make it unique and memorable; make it an experience for your office this December.
People have an inherent desire to express themselves and many people are naturally competitive. Play on these personality traits and let people get creative with the Dessert Building Throwdown or enjoy some friendly competition with the Holiday Adventure we talked about before.
5. THE STORIES
When you combine delicious food, fun, team-building, and a memorable experience, you have a story to share for years to come. Suddenly, “Remember how drunk Karen was last year?” becomes, “Remember how the new hires dominated the managers at that cityHUNT last year?” And your holiday party goes down in the books.
Harness the power of non-conformity and stand out from the other corporate holiday parties this year with these tips from cityHUNT.
