lovethechefblog

At this time of year there are many parties going on with lots of family, friends and yes, that dreaded office party. Well, I wanted to make a change from dreaded to AWESOME with the office Christmas Party. We have a family owed carpet and rug cleaning company and we do an office party every year. I am forever trying to make it fun and enjoyable. We have done dinner and Tanglewood, lunch at the Tavern and the candle light tea in Winston to mention a few. This year we have a young group of guys who may have thought that the office party would be a dud so I had to come up with a new party plan.

Our ice breaker was a “beer tasting” that went over well. I went to Total Wine and bought several strange beers. I took pictures of the descriptions with my phone and read them aloud while trying each beer. I covered the lables on the bottles with red paper so no one knew what they were getting. I don’t like beer so I have fun picking the cool looking bottles and I had a little help from the staff at Total Wine. It was fun to watch the faces of our guys as they tried the beers. 

Next, I gave out small gifts.This gift was several fast food gift cards that you could keep or…….give to homeless people on the street corners. I hope to instill the joy of giving. The feeling you get when you give is unexplainable and makes you want to do it again and again. I gave the dates of our employees a small hot chocolate gift.

 

Our dinner menu was: Beef Tenderloin with Gorgonzola Cheese and Sage, A Baked Potato bar, Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus, Salad and Bread! I made candied pecans and a vinaigrette dressing for the salad. Dessert consist of Strawberry Cheese Cake and one of our employees, Joel, made a Apple Cobbler. I put an ornament on everyone’s napkin that they could take home.

After dinner we did a Dirty Santa exchange. All the presents were already under the tree because I didn’t want anyone to bring anything! I Googled “good dirty Santa gifts” and came up with: itunes, Starbucks…the normal items but I wanted to get some different gifts. I did do itunes and a Starbucks hot chocolate with mugs but also our gifts were: wine with stemless wine glasses, Jersey Mikes, Movie tickets with Godiva chocolate, brownie in a mug, Juice Shop Certificates, Hickory Farms gift set, a gift card to a local beer store to make up your own 6 pack and Bailey’s and a pound of coffee. All gifts cost between 15-20 dollars. It was a blast. Everyone, including dates got a gift.

 

I googled office games and came up with this: wrap a cool present several times and play a game by using music. Sorta like hot potato but if the music stops you unwrap one layer of the wrapping paper. The person who opens the last layer of paper gets the present. I bought a “Catch Phrase” game that was gender neutral. 

I was at the stereo turning the music up and down. Not looking at the people passing the gift. Becca, one of our employees girlfriend won. 

This was a fun game because you didn’t have to be and employee to win. Everyone was on equal ground!

We also gave small bonuses with a “Thank You” card to let everyone know how much we appreciated them. I made a small speech stating our great appreciation of their hard work and how important they are to us. I think if people feel appreciated they will work hard for you and feel like a team!

Our last gift of the night was a gift card to a popular restaurant in town.

If we as employers make our employee feel appreciated it builds team mentality. If I feel appreciated, I will work even harder for the cause. My reason for posting this party is not to make myself or our company look good but to help others have party idea’s and to help companies see that we need to appreciate our employee’s. After all, they are the face of our business. we truly couldn’t do it without them!