Christmas parties at the office are excellent for fostering good will and camaraderie in the workplace. It helps your employees get to know each other better, and in a setting that’s outside of work. Party games, especially group party games, are also excellent team building exercises. They get people working together, communicating, and having fun! Now as always with party games, there need to be prizes and party favors, and you don’t want to look like a complete cheapskate when you end up giving your employees Post-It pads as prizes. Trust me, you do not want to be THAT guy.
So to help you avoid being THAT guy, here are a few suggestions for office party favors:
Office Supplies. I know. It sounds like a really dull party favor, but hear me out. Excluding the Post It pads, office supplies can be a lot of fun. It also puts a personal spin on the office environment. Cute, quirky office supplies like paper clips with cartoon animals on them, funny calendars, and notebooks are surefire favorites. Notebooks and daily planners are always good, too, and are fairly inexpensive for the office on a budget—like if you’re a small business that’s just starting out. That’s not all. There are really nice bookmarks out in the market today, as well as odds and ends for your employees’ desks. Handheld paper shredders, for one, are kind of fun.
Personalized tote bags. The best thing about these tote bags is that you can carry in them all the fun, cute, quirky office supplies your boss gave you for Christmas. Tote bags come in all shapes and sizes. And as party favors, they’re really neat; you can have them personalized beforehand with the names of each employee. They can be as simple and as elaborate as you want them to be, too.
Desk Accessories. Cubicles can be depressing little places to spend eight or more hours of twenty four a day in, but we can brighten them up and make them feel a bit more like home with odds and ends for your desk. Magnets are great for decorating your office space. Paper weights, puzzles, card holders, and all other types of ornaments are great for the employees who want to decorate their working space.
Coffee Mugs. But not just any coffee mugs. Personalized coffee mugs and coffee mugs with cheeky, funny cartoons and captions on them make for excellent party favors. There are also really cool color changing mugs that, well, change color in different temperatures. And the best part is, you can sweeten the pot, or in this case mug, even more with a few sweets or some nice pens thrown in. Travel and transportation mugs are inexpensive and environment friendly (bonus!) ways to carry your coffee, too.
Sweets. Everybody loves consumables. Virtually everybody loves sweets. You never ever grow out of a sweet tooth. So unless they’re The Grinch, they’re going to love sweets especially when made and decorated in cute and interesting ways, like these Danish chocolates and gift baskets.
And remember: the most important thing about office Christmas parties is to have fun! So have one! Happy holidays!