Ideas for Small Office Christmas Parties
Just because you’re a small office, that doesn’t mean you can’t have an awesome end-of-year party!
Even with a small office, you and your colleagues have loads of choice when it comes to doing something fun and exciting to see out the year. After all, everybody deserves a treat after a busy year. With these Christmas ideas for small groups, you and your workmates will be sure to have a fun and memorable time during the festive season.
What are the Benefits of Hosting a Small Office Christmas Party?
Aside from getting everyone in the festive spirit, hosting a works Christmas party for a small office lets everyone know that you appreciate all their time, effort and hard work throughout the year. It’s no secret that many businesses struggled to keep afloat during the Covid lockdowns, both large and little, and many of us have been working to get ahead ready for a “return to normality” next year. So, treating everyone to a bit of festive fun with these small work Christmas party ideas will be sure to let them know that their hard work is valued.
Top 10 Christmas Ideas for Small Groups
With so many small office Christmas party activities out there, it can be hard to sift through all the options and find the perfect activity for you and your colleagues - but fear not! Here at Funktion Events, we too are a small team, so it’s safe to say that we know a thing or two about small-scale Christmas parties! With that being said, here’s a list of our top 10 small group Christmas party ideas you and your colleagues can get stuck into this December.
Our Christmas brochure has the full list of festive activities on offer - See here!
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1. Smartphone Christmas Treasure Hunt
An absolute classic that everyone can get stuck into, the Smartphone Christmas Treasure Hunt combines interactive trivia with a cheeky pub crawl around your local area. This self-run event uses a bespoke game app which everyone will get to download on their phones before splitting up into smaller groups to play the game. You’ll use the app to head to GPS hotspots around the area, tackling a host of trivia questions and interactive photo/video challenges whilst stopping off for a few pints at your favourite boozers!
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2. Chocolate Making
Everybody’s favourite sweet treat, organising chocolate making for you and your colleagues is a wonderful way to get creative and learn how to make your very own confectionary! With an experienced chocolatier to host the session, they’ll give you some fun facts on the history of chocolate as well as giving you plenty of yummy tasters to try out throughout the class. By the end, you’ll have a goodie bag packed with your very own chocolates to take home with you. This experience is also suitable for vegans too - just let us know beforehand.
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3. Pub Olympics
Transform your office into the best boozer in town with Pub Olympics, a host of hilarious and competitive games that the whole office will be sure to love! Offered either as a fully managed event or dry hire (we drop everything off for you), you can pick and choose what you want to play, with everything from Giant Jenga to casino tables, air hockey, electric darts and everyone’s favourite - a Nintendo Wii!
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4. Christmas Wreath Making
Of course, the festive season isn’t complete without a few decorations! But instead of buying your bog-standard wreaths at the supermarket this year, why not opt for a Christmas Wreath Making class with your colleagues? With all the equipment provided for you on the day, your host will teach and show you all the tips and tricks you’ll need to craft your very own Christmas wreath from scratch, using a variety of festive features like pinecones, ribbons and festive decorations. At the end of the class, you’ll get to take home your wreath where you can hang it for years to come.
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5. Retro Showdown
Take yourselves back to the golden age of television with the Retro Showdown event, a host of classic gameshows from the 80s and 90s that most of the office veterans will remember! Even if you have a young team, they too can get stuck straight into these games without a hitch. After splitting into smaller groups, your event manager will run through the rules of each game before you rotate around each one, competing for fun money as you go. Whether you fancy yourself a Bullseye champion or a Wheel of Fortune genius, only the group with the most fun money at the end of the activity will be crowned the winners!
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6. Virtual Escape Rooms
Rack your brains with a mind-boggling virtual escape room, a fully interactive and competitive event that will see small groups race against the clock to uncover clues, solve cryptic puzzles and escape to freedom before time runs out. With a professional event manager to host the session, they’ll provide you with an online meeting link before they set the scene and explain why you’re trapped. Then, you’ll have just 60 minutes to break out of the room using the bespoke game app on your phones. The question is - Who will make it out and who will be trapped forevermore?
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7. Festive Ceramic Painting Workshop
Get artsy with a Festive Ceramic Painting Workshop, an instructor-led activity that lets everyone bring out their creativity and paint their very own Christmas tree decoration from scratch. Choosing from a variety of ceramic baubles, snowflakes, stars and others to choose from, you’ll also have your paint and brushes included too. When you’re all finished up, you can take home your wonderful new tree decoration and hang it up year after year.
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8. Virtual Horse Racing
Bring about some healthy competition with a Virtual Horse Racing event, a fun and fast-paced experience where everyone gets to check the odds, place bets, train horses and even sabotage others to get ahead! Playing with fun money, everyone will split into smaller groups before the first race begins. With six races in total, each completely different from the other, you’ll need to strategise and plan your next move together before placing your bets, studying the form guide and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each horse & jockey. With no racing or betting experience needed, everyone can get stuck in and have a thrill with this activity.
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9. The Team Quiz
We all love a bit of trivia, so for all those quizzical brains out there we have The Team Quiz, a fantastic way to get together and bring about lots of friendly competition! With three different formats to choose from, you can opt for a general trivia quiz (with the option to add your company’s own custom branding), a retro gameshow format or “Through the Decades” for those that want to do a bit of time-travelling back to the good old days.
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10. Smartphone Pub Treasure Hunt
For those of you that are looking for a fun and inventive way to explore your local town or city whilst having tonnes of fun along the way, then our smartphone pub treasure hunt will be sure to tick all the boxes!
On the day, you and your colleagues will get to download our bespoke game app before forming your teams of 4-6 people and starting the activity. With a limited amount of time on the clock, you and your squad will get to navigate the app’s interactive map to find GPS hotspots located at pubs around the area. At each, you’ll be faced with a host of interactive challenges and questions, with points awarded for each successful attempt.
By the end of the activity, those that have managed to soar to the top of the leaderboard will be crowned the overall winners!
When is the Best Time to Host a Small Office Christmas Party?
There’s no perfect answer when it comes to the right time to host your festive celebrations in the office. Depending on what day you plan on breaking up for the Christmas break, it’s usually best to arrange something during the last few working days of the year. For example, if you’re finishing up on a Friday, look at arranging something fun for you and your colleagues on the Tuesday or Wednesday of the same week. This way, everyone will get right into the festive mood as the big day will only be around the corner from then!
What are some Good Christmas Party Ideas for Small Groups?
If you’re still not sure about what kind of small office Christmas party ideas will suit you and your colleagues, there’s a load of fun and inexpensive things that you can get up to on the run-up to Christmas that will be sure to get everyone in the festive spirit.
1. Christmas Bake-Off
This is one that we personally love and take part in every year! Setting up is quite simple; put everyone’s name into a hat and draw them out one-by-one. This will determine the order in which everyone will bake, so all you need to do is set aside one day a week for each person and each week leading up to Christmas. Not only does it give everyone a chance to show off their skills and get creative, but it’s also a day that everyone can look forward to each week.
2. Fancy Dress Competition
If the bog-standard Christmas jumper isn’t enough, you could always think about hosting a Christmas fancy dress competition during the festive season for you and your workmates. Whether you choose a festive theme or not is up to you, but it’s definitely a good way to lift everyone’s spirits.
3. Take your Colleagues out for a Christmas Lunch
This is another festive activity we at Funktion always look forward to each year! If you’re based in-or-around a city centre or high street, taking everyone out for a bit of lunch during the run-up to Christmas is a great way to break up those busy December days! When you’re all finished up, you could always go for a walk around the Christmas market stalls too.
4. Host an Awards Ceremony
Have your colleagues worked especially hard this year? Then organising a small awards do is a brilliant way to recognise everyone’s skills and efforts. You could always throw in some funny ones as well to lighten the mood.
5. Have a Christmas Wrapping Race!
Simple, fun and competitive, all you need for this is a load of wrapping paper, some tape, scissors and a box for each participant. The rules are as simple as they can get - After a quick countdown, everyone races to wrap their box first, the fastest being the winner. You could always incorporate a few prizes for the winners for this too. You could also make it interesting by stashing each person’s kit under their desk… then, at a random time in the day, make a sudden announcement that the game has begun! Think of it like a wrapping race but with the franticness of Musical Chairs!
Christmas Parties Should be Fun, Not Hard Work!
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