The holiday office party is an age-old affair. Emphasis on the old, for some workplaces. While familiar traditions can bring employees comfort and cheer, trotting out the same party year after year can make your team debate whether or not to attend.
Working for a team building company, I get a peek into the inner workings of thousands of companies’ holiday parties every year. The organizers who are bold enough to go beyond the “holiday party formula” and embrace more innovative ideas pull off parties that employees are visibly excited to attend.
Here’s how to throw an end of year bash that feels like a gift to your people, and not just a seasonal routine.
Don’t call it a Christmas party
A “holiday party regrets” survey by FourLoko found that 45% of respondents still called their corporate December gatherings “Christmas parties,” which feels like a shockingly high statistic for 2024.
Given how global the modern workforce has become and the rise in diversity initiatives in corporate culture, I would expect “holiday party” to be the default instead of a near 50/50 split.
Calling the event a holiday party is the safer and more inclusive option.
“It’s always been called a Christmas party,” is not a good enough excuse to avoid deviating from this tradition.
Even though 88% of Americans celebrate Christmas, at least 12% do not. It is unwise to assume that 100% of your staff observes this occasion, especially considering how common it has become to work alongside colleagues from different countries or with varying belief systems.
Non-observers may feel left out even if they do not outwardly object to the Christmas party label. The annual party is largely about camaraderie, and othering some coworkers defeats that purpose. It is not worth the risk of making any team member feel unwelcome at the big bash, especially if your company only throws one major party a year.
Plus, calling the event a Christmas party implies that one holiday is the only reason for the occasion. These parties also exist to thank employees for a year of hard work and to help folks relax. The “Christmas party” label can be limiting, and undersell the reasons for the gathering. “Holiday,” is a much more all-encompassing term that hints at the many reasons to celebrate.
You can check out this list of holiday team building ideas for inspiration.
Skip the booze
Picture an office holiday party, and free-flowing spirits are likely one of the first things that come to mind.
It’s time for that to change, and not just because the thought of employees overindulging stresses out HR and legal departments this time of year.
Long gone are the days when an open bar is the most exciting thing about a company holiday party. In fact, the possibility of coworkers getting a little too jolly with the drinks is many professionals’ least favorite part of the evening.
There are many reasons employees may choose not to drink, including sobriety, religion, medical conditions, and personal preferences. It has also become increasingly trendy to embrace non-drinking culture in society at large.
Worried that a dry holiday party might cause water cooler grumblings or an office mutiny? Here are some figures to further put your mind at ease.
- Searches for mocktails were up 137% year over year at the end of 2023, per Yelp’s trend forecast.
- According to a Gallup Survey, only 62% of U.S. adults say they ever drink alcohol, while 38% abstain completely
- Sales of non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits reached over a half billion dollars by mid-2023, Nielsen reports.
When employees say they need to drink at a holiday party, it may be because they feel like they need alcohol to endure awkward interactions or a bad atmosphere. Focus on the fundamentals and make your party genuinely enjoyable, and chances are, employees will not mind that alcohol is missing. In fact, your guests might not even notice the absence.
Ditch Secret Santa
Secret Santa has been a work holiday party staple for decades, which is precisely why it is time to hit pause on the tradition.
Participants typically pay out of pocket for gift exchanges, which can be much less fun for employees when money is tight. In 2022, payment Platform Affirm reported that half of Americans planned to skip Secret Santa that year, and the current economy is similarly shaky. Secret Santa can also feel like employees are self-funding their festivities, rather than the company giving the celebration.
Not to mention, less-than-stellar gifts can cause coworker conflicts. Every office seems to have at least one story of a teammate spending way under the budget, obviously regifting, or picking a truly baffling present.
Plus, doing the same gift swap year after year can get boring. It is time for leaders to get creative and change up the holiday party agenda.
Instead, host a board game night, a “cocoa cookoff” where teammates compete to brew the best cup of hot chocolate, or a soapbox derby-style sleigh race. Maybe go bowling in ugly sweaters or play a holiday-themed murder mystery. Or, at least, retool the gift swap with an interesting theme like desk decorations, snacks, books, or acts of kindness.
Your employees have done Secret Santa at dozens of other office parties and holiday gatherings in general. Picking an out of the ordinary activity makes your celebration special and unique, forging a stronger group identity and insider culture for those teammates who participate.
If you decide to do a gift swap, here are Secret Santa games you can play to shake up the routine.
Hold your party somewhere employees won’t expect
Most company holiday parties happen at one of three places:
A: The office break room or conference room
B: A restaurant for a sit down dinner or a bar for happy hour
C: A swanky offsite venue, like a hotel or event space
However, there is a whole wide world full of holiday party location possibilities.
Such as:
- Head to the mall and shop together for gifts for underserved families.
- Solve an escape room.
- Rent out a pickleball court and hold a tournament.
- Invite the team to the CEO’s house for milk, cookies, and holiday stories.
- Take over an ice cream parlor and learn how to make frozen treats.
- Visit a music studio for lessons on how to play classic carols on a ukulele.
- Reserve a movie theater and use the screen to play a slideshow of the past year’s wins.
- Play a holiday-themed scavenger hunt in a museum.
Moving the party to a new and different space can build curiosity and anticipation among employees, and result in a greater turnout. Plus, sourcing non-traditional holiday party venues could mean more options for dates and better prices compared to competing against other companies for restaurant or event space during peak busy season.
Check out more fun alternatives to traditional holiday parties.
Ignore the calendar, and party past December
Holiday parties do not have to happen smack dab in the middle of December, when your team is hard at work finishing out the calendar year and racing around to a dozen other seasonal gatherings.
You can hold a holiday party in another month, like November or January. We host our internal company holiday party in February, since our team has packed schedules in December and then recuperates in January. The “late” party has become a special company ritual.
There is also no rule that the holiday party has to be the big event of the year. Feel free to switch up your spend and have a humble, simple end of year gathering so that you can go big on a Halloween party or a summer picnic if that is more your team’s style.
Final Thoughts
The work world has come a long way since the 1950’s, and it’s time that the company holiday party catches up. There is no reason to stick so strictly to norms that you throw the same party on repeat.
As leaders, we call for creativity and innovation in our employees, yet fail to follow that same spirit of imagination when planning a fun time for our teams during the holidays. There are plenty of venues and entertainers who can provide these new experiences for our employees during the holidays, with little to no extra lift on organizers. Planners simply need to be bold enough to toss out tradition and give the holiday party the rebrand that it deserves.
For more help planning your celebration, here are virtual holiday party ideas and holiday icebreaker questions.
