06 Sep Office Holiday Party Ideas That Are Not a Sit-Down Dinner

Office Holiday Party Ideas That Are Not a Sit-Down Dinner

The sit-down staff dinner is the default holiday party for one reason: it is the easiest thing to book. It is rarely the thing people enjoyed most.

The problem with a plated dinner is structural. Everyone talks to the three people beside them for two hours, the speeches happen while people are chewing, and the party ends when the plates get cleared. You have spent the most money on the least social part of the night.

Here are twelve ideas that work better, roughly in order of how much organizing they take.

Ideas that take no organizing

1. A private trivia round written about your company. This is the one that consistently steals the night. We run West Bedford’s longest-running trivia night, and a round built around your own team (who has been there longest, whose inbox is worst, which project nobody will name out loud) lands differently than pub trivia. It also does something a dinner cannot: it mixes departments, because you build the teams.

2. Music bingo. Pick a decade. 90s and 2000s is the safe pick, Pop Divas is the loud one, Country is the divisive one. Everyone can play regardless of age, seniority or how well they know each other. Twenty minutes in, your VP of Finance is singing.

3. A guided tasting flight for the group. Beer, wine or whisky, poured and talked through. Three samples per person, roughly a quarter pour each. This is the best icebreaker we run for teams that do not socialize much, because it gives people something to have an opinion about that is not work.

4. Set the room up for mingling instead of seating. The simplest change on this list. High tables, no assigned seats, food set out rather than served. People move. Departments mix. Nobody is trapped.

Ideas with a bit of setup

5. Bring your own DJ or band for the back half. Cocktails and conversation from seven, music from nine. You can bring your own performer subject to approval, or we can help you arrange one. This structure works because it gives the early-leavers a real party and the late-stayers a proper night.

6. Live music instead of a DJ. For teams that skew a bit older, or for an afternoon party, live music beats a DJ every time. Jazz, blues and soul work particularly well in this room.

7. Karaoke. High risk, high reward. Best for teams that already like each other, and worth having a plan for who goes first, because the first three minutes decide whether it works.

8. A team awards segment. Not the corporate awards. The other ones. Televisions and a microphone are available by arrangement, so a short slideshow with genuinely funny categories takes fifteen minutes and gets talked about until March.

9. Speed puzzling. Teams of two, 300-piece puzzles, we supply them, prizes at the end. Sounds ridiculous, is ferociously competitive, and works for people who do not want to sing or dance.

Ideas that change the shape of the party

10. Move it to a Sunday afternoon. Daylight, a calm room, everybody home by six. This is the format for teams with young families on staff, and attendance is usually the highest of any option here. It is also the cheapest night of the week to book.

11. Make it a two-part night. Semi-private early for the whole company, then the group that wants to keep going stays on. No pressure on anyone to perform enthusiasm past their limit.

12. Tie it to a cause. We host community fundraisers regularly, sometimes several a month. Building a small fundraising element into a staff party (a raffle, a round where the venue contributes) gives the night a point beyond itself, and teams remember those years.

The one thing that matters more than the activity

Every idea above fails in the wrong room.

A staff party works when people who do not normally talk end up talking. That needs a space where the volume lets you hear each other, where there is somewhere to sit and somewhere to stand, and where nobody feels like they are in a function room being processed.

It also needs a drink list that covers everyone. Some of your team wants craft beer, some wants a proper cocktail, some wants wine, and some are not drinking at all. That last group has grown every year, and how a venue treats them says everything. We carry one of the largest non-alcoholic selections in Atlantic Canada, so the person driving home or taking a year off gets something interesting in a real glass instead of a soda water with a lime.

And it needs to be genuinely adult. We are 19+ throughout, which means the room stays the room all night.

What we bring to it

• 36 taps with about 25 rotating, plus cocktails, wine, cider, rare whisky and adult slushies
• Semi-private bookings for roughly 25 to 85 people, normally with no rental charge
• Full private bookings up to 125 people
• Bring your own food or order in from more than twenty nearby restaurants, and we handle the cleanup
• Basic audio and video, televisions and a microphone available by arrangement
• Free parking right outside, and cars can stay overnight
• Wheelchair accessible
• Ten to twenty minutes from most of Bedford, Sackville, Hammonds Plains and Halifax

Frequently asked questions

What are good alternatives to a staff Christmas dinner? Private trivia, music bingo, a guided tasting flight, live music or a DJ, and a mingling layout instead of assigned seating. All of them get people talking across departments, which a plated dinner does not.

Can you run private trivia for our company party? Yes. We can build a round around your team. Tell us when you book so we have time to write it.

What is the best activity for a team that does not know each other well? A guided tasting flight, followed by trivia with mixed teams. Both give people a low-stakes reason to talk.

How long should a staff holiday party run? Three to four hours is the sweet spot. Start with food and mingling, put the activity in the middle, and leave the last hour open.

Do you have space for a slideshow or awards? Yes, televisions and basic audio and video equipment are available by arrangement.

Can we do a staff party on a Sunday afternoon? Yes, and it is one of our most popular formats for teams with families. It is also the cheapest night to book.

Tell us what your team is like

Send us your headcount, your date, and one line about your team. We will suggest a format that suits them rather than a package.

The Village Taphouse 11 Bloom Lane, Unit 107, West Bedford, Nova Scotia 902-404-6778 19+ only