Being given the role of planning a Christmas party for your organisation or social group can be a great way to ingratiate yourself with others by creating a memorable, fun and inspiring event. Of course, it can also take some work to get it right, and there are a few pitfalls you will need to avoid to make your party special. Here are three things to consider when planning your own festive event!
Catering for Everyone’s Drinking Preferences
Christmas is a time most of us associate with letting our hair down, forgetting about counting calories, and unwinding with some great food and drinks. It can therefore be tempting to plan your occasion around drinks, with lots of beer, wine, cocktails and shots – and perhaps even some festive additions like eggnog and mulled wine. However, if it is a company event you may have some people who don’t drink alcohol for personal or religious reasons, and even if it is a party with a group of friends who you know all like to drink, there may be some people who are driving and want to abstain. To make your party fun for them too, make sure that your alternatives to alcoholic beverages include some nice drinks, like virgin cocktails and smoothies.
You can even hire a bar for your event that specialises in smoothies for both alcoholic and non alcoholic blends, like the mobile bars from liquidchefs.co.uk. That way, the people who don’t want to drink alcohol feel truly pampered and aren’t left drinking the off brand cola you bought to use as mixers!
Give Options for Night Owls and Early Birds
Not everyone wants to party all evening, especially with people from work when they may well have a family waiting in at home or childcare arrangements they’ve made. On the other side of the coin though, for some of your younger staff members, this party may well be one of the highlights of the year workwise, and they would like to keep celebrating into the night. Keep the important parts of the event like the meal and any speeches to the early times, but then do consider a plan to move on to pubs or clubs later in the evening for people who are interested.
Create Some Activities for Focus
Not everyone is comfortable just hanging out and mingling over drinks and snacks, so give your evening some focal activities to stop the party from going dry. Consider secret Santa style gift giving, or perhaps some funny awards for the year. Have some speeches from the bosses, or even do some silly stuff like a karaoke or quiz. Giving people something to do will help people loosen up and talk to each other more, and foster a more fun atmosphere.
Your Christmas party can be a big hit if you plan well to take everyone’s idea of fun and party needs into account! Think about your group and what they will enjoy!
