I divide my guests into groups of 3-5 people. Each group is given an identical bag of supplies, scrounged from home and/or purchased at the dollar store. They are given 20 minutes to create the object of the game. First year, they were to build a Christmast tree (had to ease them into this kind of fun!). Another year, they were to dress one person as Santa. Another year, they were given the name of a carol. For the supplies, let your imagination run wild, and don’t make it too easy for them! Basics include coloured paper, tape, glue, pipe cleaners, cardboard tubes, newpaper – the dollar stores are great for items. It’s amazing the variety of outcomes each group comes up with. We usually have a judging panel to determine best outcome. Winners get a prize and judges get a thank-you gift for performing the difficult task of choosing the winner. The photos from these contests will provide laughs and fond memories for years to come!

We did a scavanger hunt / amazing race. Each team had to first complete a game or challenge and then they would get a clue that would lead them somewhere else in the office to find an envelope with their next challange.
They couldn’t participate in the next challenge until they had located the paper with the next challenge on it. The first to complete all 4 challanges won. It was funny to see everyone dashing down the halls to find their clues. They were very competitive.
the challanges were :

Reindeer poop challenge – One member of team has to put his hands behind his back and eat a bowl of Reindeer poop (chocolate covered nuts and popcorn) out of the bowl without using his hands. the clue is in the bottom of the small bowl.

Oven mitt challenge- Wrap a small box with lots of tape (the more tape the better). Then put it inside a bigger box and wrap that one as well. Each box gets bigger. Have several boxes wrapped. One member of the team puts on oven mitts and unwraps the first box Then they take off the mitts and then next member unwraps the next gift. This goes on until the last box is opened. We put the next clue in the smallest box.

snowball challenge- Have two baskets about 8 or ten feet apart. In one basket have several large styrofoam balls. One team member has to take a small spoon (baby spoon works best) and put the styrofoam ball on the spoon and walk it over and drop it in the other basket. They then run back and give the spoon to the next member who does the same thing. If the ball falls off on the way, they have to go back to the beginning and try their ball again. (this is a lot harder then it looks because the balls are so light) Once they have all of their snowballs in the other basket they received another clue.

The last challenge was the Christmas tree challange- We had a box for each team with all of the tree trimmings in it. We also had the name of the person in the box who was supposed to be “the tree”. (On one team we had the CEO of the company as the tree.) The rest of the team members decorate this person with all of the trimmings. (Garland, ornaments, tinsel, lights and even a funny hat as a tree topper) The first person to plug into the wall and light up the tree won.

This was not your ordinary Christmas party but our office still talks about it years later.

This year, I’m going to incorporate the Crazy White Elephant Gift Exchange this year with and Guess Who/What email question. The first correct responder will be able to choose but not open one of the wrapped gifts and take it to their office. They cannot play again unless someone steals their gift. If someone steals their gift, they’re back in the game. We will open the gifts together at the office party at the end of the two weeks.

Last year our Employee Association gave a prize for the best decorated cube or office. This way the office looked terrific, people were in the Christmas spirit and someone got a little cash for
Christmas as the prize

The next year we did gag gifts, and it wasn’t too interesting.

This year we are doing Christmas bingo and you can print off bingo cards off the internet, however, I picked them up at Walmart 75% after Christmas last year. I am using M&M’s for the markers. Everyone was instructed to bring one gift, unwrapped, and only $1.00. So that has been a difficult challenge. However, we look towards having fun.

I have heard you can do a bunch of boxes within a big box. They say most people will guess around 30 boxes, however, if you have tiny ones in it you can get 100 or more. The prize goes to the person that guesses the right amount.

My friend just had a party and they did make a Santa suit out of tissue paper, and she said it was pretty fun. She used cotton balls also for the beard or the hat if they got that far.