I'm looking for holiday office party ideas! What are the best games, activities, food ideas etc?

cocktail hour style appetizers/ finger food are great such as sushi-wings-mini burgers-paella - as opposed to a sit down style of food especially if you are going to play games or activities that will keep people upright.

as for the games - what type of atmosphere and people at the party is important to know first.

do you want to have adult theme fun games (flirty-sexual based games) are fun if you have the right crowd.

New version of spin the bottle is really catcjing on at adult parties.

"Nuts and bolts" is really cool if it is a singles based crowd.

If you have a conservative crowd charades is making a comeback - scavenger hunts are cool.

i would need more info to make more suggestions.

for the gifting:

everyone brings a gift in the same price range.

all gifts are put in the middle.

first person whose turn it is gets blindfolded and has to pick a gift .after picking - the next person whose turn it is can steal their gift or pick another. - if the person decided to steal - the person who lost the gift goes again.

Adults are often not crazy about games that are formal. But for a office party, the mixers that I will give you links to will give the guests something mildly challenging to work together on and warm up to each other.

That's why they are called mixers as they are meant to get the group warmed up to each other and mixed together.

If you search for bowtie christmas party games on google or yahoo you should get to a bowtieproducts site that will give you 4 new original games that will help make your nite fun.

If links work in the answer blocks here's the link

http://www.bowtieproducts.com/christmas_...

there is also some party giving advice you may enjoy.

My wife and I made up the puzzles and many people really enjoy them.

I hope they work out well for you

John Griffin

We are planning to do a wine tasting "scoring" game. Everyone attending will bring their favorite bottle of wine and it will be placed in a decorative sack that hides that brand but is numbered. Each person will get score cards numbered 1 to 3 with 1 being bad, 2 being okay and 3 being good. Each person gets a taste of that wine and must score it. A tally sheet is kept and the wine that wins the highest scores win. We will probably have 3 - 5 prizes, depending on the number attending and the person that brought that particular wine will be the recipient of the prize. Prizes will be gift cards or gift baskets.

The food we will have will go with the wine:

Cheese tray with crackers, sandwich wraps, a veggie tray, some type of dessert (not sure but something sweet), and peanuts, of course.

Play a holiday trivia game. If you want to have the different departments compete against each other - run the trivia game like Family Feud. Get jingle bells - and have one representative from each department ring in when they have the answer.

Sample questions:

Name all of Santa's reindeer.

What three gifts were brought to the manger in Bethlehem.

What is another name for Santa Clause?

Can you sing a Christmas song in another language? (have them demonstrate)

etc.

It is a fun game. Good luck!

I think a good department challenge would involve collecting food for a food bank, toys for tots, coats for the homeless, adopting a needy family. Christmas also puts a strain on lots of employess pocket books, so you may want to include a "party fund" for the department who collects the most. Actually on John Stossel's Cheap in America TV special it was reported that the working poor gave the most. If your employer has matching funds you might want to check to see if the donations could be matched............

The office roleplaying "Who am I?" game could be fun. Everyone has their own personality and funny little habits. Throw everyone's name in a hat and have each person draw a name of a person to act out. This can be LOADS of fun...just make sure you tell people beforehand not to go too far. The purpose of this game is to have fun TOGETHER, not to embarass anyone.

Definitely make some kind of dip. Pass out some really cool pens and notebook paper. Play pin the tail on the boss. Just bring in a blownup picture of your boss and try to put the pin on his or her face. Then you can call your boss a PINHEAD.

It's not a party without the yuletide limbo stick.

you NEED AN X BOX for a good party, mayde some strippers

I am going to have to go with Bryan F's answer LOL