Christmas party suggestions...

[Kim]

I've been put in charge of the entertainment for the office party this year. I have no idea what games would not be boring for adults to play, all my game experience is with drinkers, and this party will beyond dry. Can anyone help with some ideas? We have our own room at a restaurant, so we will have private space. Thanks!

[welfareloser]

dungeons and dragons. best when sober :P

man, how did you get stuck with this? this is tough.

really, everybody loves a pinata... ummmm... hey, how about have a gingerbread house making contest? it wouldn't be too expensive... give every table a pile of graham crackers, icing, candy to decorate, give a time limit, encourage people to work in teams, and give out cheesy prizes for the tallest, the prettiest, the ugliest, the most likely to fall down in a tornado... that's something where nobody's on the spot, so it's good for both intro and extroverts...

then proceed directly to strip poker :P

[zenbooty]

really, everybody loves a pinata... Especially if its one of the higher ranking "a-hole" managers strung up by his feet that everyone gets to whack!

[nickel]

whack-a-mole!

you can always do the cheesy "pin the nose on something" or "pin something else on something" :D

[Yossarian]

bring a couple decks of cards, try and get a few games go, or find out what game everyone can play, and organise a tourny of that game?

[cheapie]

oh man. that sucks to be chosen to provide entertainment. wow.

[Kim]

This is what I get for being the new girl in the office.

[nickel]

oh man. that sucks to be chosen to provide entertainment. wow.
the bright side: better to provide the entertainment than BE the entertainment.

[blueindian]

beer pong with soda instead of beer?

taboo.
cranium.
trivial pursuit.

[ray]

I say you either do Karaoke (which can be hilarious with co-workers), or you help plan a white elephant game. I am going to a friends' holiday party in a couple weeks and they have proposed the following white elephant game rules:

Everyone brings a wrapped present. The spending limit is $10.

Instead of going in turns to pick a present, people get to bid real money on the gifts. Whoever has the highest bid, wins the present. All proceeds are then donated to a charity. Also, the person who brought the gift that receives the highest bid receives a gift valued at $50 from the host/hostess.

I just thought of another idea. Remember that Seinfeld episode where Elaine...

http://www.littleboyinc.com/uploader/uploads/wacky.jpg

[welfareloser]

that's a cool idea... but it might be hard to coordinate it. i'd be real surprised if everyone actually managed to listen and remember and actually show up with a wrapped gift. and it would probably annoy 25% of the people to be given a task before showing up to a party...

i'm sorry, i don't mean to poop on it, cuz it's a neat idea, but maybe not appropriate for an office party where some of the attendees are inevitably going to be bozos. :P

[RoniMan]

how many people do you have attending? and how many people would you say would/could be "apathetic"?

*i* think board games are fun for all ages. so i would say taboo, boulderdash, guesstures, pictionary, would be great ideas (personally, don't care much for cranium, and trivial pursuit isn't as boisterous as the others games would be). however, as wfl pointed out, if ppl are gonna be party poopers, then it will depend on you if you can get more ppl into the holiday spirit than getting ppl out of it. also, you could see if management would be willing to help out in the sense of "donating" prizes for winners.

[welfareloser]

if you go with the boardgames thing, you could just set up a different game at each table with the appropriate number of chairs, game pieces laid out and ready to go... maybe even have a whistle blow every 30 minutes, and say people must change tables (or just chairs) at that point, and thus get stuck playing a game that somebody else already effed up for them... and hilarity ensues :P actually,t hat might annoy people if you ahve too many competitive types, but if the crowd is young and easygoing, it could be a lot of fun...

[zenbooty]

There's an idea! You should put out chess boards for EVERYBODY. You'll never be asked to arrange another stupid office party again!

[ray]

There's an idea! You should put out chess boards for EVERYBODY. You'll never be asked to arrange another stupid office party again!

:stupid:

Unless you KNOW for sure that everyone will participate in board games, I think that setting this up would be a terrible idea.

[welfareloser]

hmmm. i can't imagine too many people being completely annoyed by any and all board games.... but i may be way off. maybe a few tables with just decks of cards, too...

[Jenny]

I second the board/card games. Sounds like a blast!

[zenbooty]

hmmm. i can't imagine too many people being completely annoyed by any and all board games.... but i may be way off. maybe a few tables with just decks of cards, too...I think in an office environment people would see board games as kids stuff. Of course, I've never really been to a dry company party, save for like little birthday cake gatherings. I mean, if people are too stuffy to handle a beer being cracked, how will they possibly handle the excitement of Parcheesi?

[Memo]

Elf Strippers!

[attgig]

is this party going to be like a friday/saturday evening type party or is this like an afternoon party at the office?

if it's the latter (like everyone's suggestions are sounding like they are).....you gotta have decent food and drinks (the non-alcoholic kind - since it is at the office). start it off with lunch (hopefully, the office gave you a decent budget), use the food to get people chitchatting and what not. even if the rest of the afternoon sucks, the free lunch will satisfy most people.

afterwards, if this is an office with computers, get the IT dept to set up games :-D (i'm such a geek), and have network games for all the guys. even an xbox and a projector! =)

then for all the girls, you can....hrm, what do girls do? ddr? :-P how about just errr, chocolates and sit around and chat? errr...yeah, .... :)

[avlena]

what's your budget like? Our office has it's christmas lunch at a nearby magic club. maybe you can rent a magician or comedian for an hour or so. The entertainer could be on stage, or walk around from table to table and do mini tricks and gags.

[hoey222]

office pictionary......

[YanksFanRy]

I was thinking pictionary too before I even got to hoey222's post. I think that could be fun, and I like the karaoke idea as well.

[welfareloser]

some people truly hate pictionary because they are dumb and suck at it.

and the people who love karaoke... make the other people in the room hate it reeeeeeal quick :P

[oblongmelon]

split up the group into smaller groups-give each one a roll of toilet paper and let them create their own "snowman" or "snowwoman" in each group-leave a smaller group out to be judges..(can use personal items on the victims besides toilet paper-such as bow ties, necklaces, lipstick etc..)give them a time limit. Get a few decent gifts and have a trivia showdown. Give every table a list of ..which actor goes with what christmas movie..time them while they match them up. The fastest from each table then compete against each other-so on and so forth..I won a DVD player doing this last year! :) ( use Christmas movie or song trivia only)

[kimchicowboy]

yeah! DDR would be great! hahaha

[Kim]

I won't know my budget until tomorrow. The party is being held on a wednesday evening, at a restaurant, so I won't have to plan any food, thank goodness.

[Jeffbx]

So I guess a LAN party would be out of the question? ;)



I was actually thinking of taking my team to Gameworks this year... then I don't have to worry about entertaining anyone.

[chrissy]

Santa and Elf -- 10 cents per vote, money going to charity. Lucky winners spend the party dressed as a santa or elf

Have everyone bring an ornament wrapped to dinner. Read a story about christmas that repeats (or make one up about the office) words and move the ornamnets according to rules set at the beginning (so everytime "santa" is said in the story, the ornament moves to the right, everytime "elf" is said it moves to the left -- you can also pass to other tables on certain words and also twice in one direction)

[GracieBayb]

Time to whip out the Cranium!!!!!

[welfareloser]

okay... what's ddr?

i got all excited when cranium first came out, thinking it would be awsome... and really, the things on the cards were just... not quite right. can't put my finger on it. most were too easy, and too many depended on having the pop culture knowledge of a baby boomer. so i found it kind of boring. the concept is great, tho...

[RoniMan]

okay... what's ddr?

i got all excited when cranium first came out, thinking it would be awsome... and really, the things on the cards were just... not quite right. can't put my finger on it. most were too easy, and too many depended on having the pop culture knowledge of a baby boomer. so i found it kind of boring. the concept is great, tho...

:stupid: on the cranium thing...i don't like it either.

as for ddr (http://www.aaroninjapan.com/ddrvideos.html)...it's a video game (click the link for videos of it). watch the tenth one (Aaron AAAing Can't Stop Falling in Love Speed Mix Heavy) to see it in action, watch the seventh one (Yasu's Feet During Max300 Heavy) for just the feet. Granted, most people don't play at that level, but it's kinda cool. usually, for beginners, it's A LOT slower.


what's your budget like? Our office has it's christmas lunch at a nearby magic club. maybe you can rent a magician or comedian for an hour or so. The entertainer could be on stage, or walk around from table to table and do mini tricks and gags.

yeah...i'm a magician, and if you need someone, you can fly me out there...:P

[GracieBayb]

eh, i guess i'm the only one who likes cranium then.... :cry: won't anyone play with me!?

[avlena]

eh, i guess i'm the only one who likes cranium then.... :cry: won't anyone play with me!?

i'll play with you! i liked it! i also enjoyed Battle of the Sexes. (of course, the only time i played was at a party, but it was still a blast!)