‘Work Christmas party’… Do those words strike a certain amount of fear in your heart? Perhaps you’re the person who is left to organise it every year, or perhaps you’re the naysayer who doesn’t attend if you can absolutely help it?
If you’re the one charged with planning the event, then you’re probably looking for inspiration for your Christmas work party, well aware that pretty much no-one likes organised fun. It’s a tough gig, indeed.
While you could always host the party at the office, doing so may well dampen the festive spirit before it’s even got started; it’s a sadistic person, after all, who wants to spend their free time at their place of work. And there really is no greater buzzkill than sitting at your very own desk, sipping a can and contemplating meeting some deadlines until the party’s over.
So, providing an alternative location should be an absolute must, especially if you live in London where nearly every restaurant, bar, club and park offer Christmas themed events.
Getting out there and away from the office has the power to encourage colleagues to let their hair down and foster a sense of camaraderie with their co-workers. And that’s what this is all about, right?
If you’re based in the capital, we’ve come up with some ideas for festive work parties that beat warm prosecco out of a plastic cup in the corridor. Here are 6 Christmas work party ideas in London.
A Bottomless Brunch
What could be more festive than drinking a glass or two of prosecco this Christmas? This is a celebratory drink, make no mistake, and Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without consuming a bottle or two (responsibly of course).
Enter the Christmas Bottomless Brunch. Here are a few of our favourites in the capital:
- Supa Dupa Fly: Why not try Supa Dupa Fly’s infamous R’N’Brunch Party, which takes place on the first Saturday of every month in Shoreditch? Their event on 3rd of December could be ideal for your Christmas work party. For £39.90 per person, you get access to the party, a quiz on RnB music, two courses of food, and one hour of unlimited prosecco or rum punch. The Supa Dupa Fly team even offers discounts for groups of 10 or more.
- Barrio Bars: It’s crackers and maracas this Christmas at Barrio. They are throwing Christmas-themed bottomless lunches at their various venues throughout London. Think festive palms, glittery piñatas, and Christmas caipirinhas…the works. They also offer private rooms and exclusive hire options for full-on fiestas at all their venues.
- The Escapologist: This popular bar in Covent Garden is throwing a, ‘Mariah Vs Buble’ bottomless brunch with Christmas bangers galore. Altogether now…‘’I don’t want a lot for Christmas’’.
- Lucky Voice: Everybody loves karaoke (well, most-body) and Christmas time brings with it a whole new set of holiday songs which everyone always knows the words to. Lucky Voice is hosting a Christmas Karaoke Brunch at their Islington venue. Adding bottomless booze to the mix will help your work colleagues create a loose-tongued, playful atmosphere where people are more willing to sing. Altogether now…. Wait, we’ve done this one already.
- The Cocktail Club: On the first day of Christmas, my baby gave to me… bottomless cocktails and all-round debauchery! The Cocktail Club are throwing a noughties Christmas themed bottomless brunch in their Old Street and Shoreditch venues, and we can’t wait.
Festive Feasting Menus
While you won’t be hard pressed to find a London restaurant offering a traditional festive menu with all the trimmings, why not mix things up and have some brighter flavours for your Christmas party in London? Here are our top pick of alternative festive menus in London:
- Pachamama: Pachamama’s festive menu is a rolling style service of their very best dishes picked by the chef. At Pachamama, it’s all about modern Peruvian inspired dining. Expect a procession of light, vibrant plates full of colour and zip, and they even have festive brussel sprouts, Peruvian style. The restaurant has private dining rooms in each of their venues in London, which can comfortably cater up to fourteen (hugging) guests.
- Brigadiers: For something a little different, why not try this excellent Indian barbecue joint? With four private dining rooms, free flow beers, giant sports screens and a party atmosphere., Brigadiers is a seriously opulent, high-class affair.
- Korean Dinner Party: This popular Korean restaurant in Kingly Court is offering two festive menus. The first menu, named ‘K-Town Kristmas’, involves a massive pork shoulder that’s been slow roasted for 12 hours, served with kimchi, apples and lettuce cups. Alternatively their ‘KFC – Korean Fried Christmas’ involves lots of Korean fried chicken, which should never be turned down!
Ping Pong Merrily On High
This is the year to pull out all the stops for Christmas and play a little ‘ping pong merrily on high’ with all of your work colleagues! Enter Bounce – the home of ping pong in London.
Bounce, with venues in Old Street and Farringdon, has become something of a London institution, with Londoners heading there every night of the week for a few rounds of ping pong and a cocktail or two.
Come December, both venues get decked out for Christmas and offer festive party packages. Four tiers of Christmas ping pong packages are available, all of which include great value food and drink (think Christmas canapes like smoked salmon blinis and turkey sliders). Prices start from just £25 per person.
Read: 12 IDEAL Michelin-starred tips for Christmas
A Christmas Pub Crawl
Is Christmas really Christmas without going to at least one pub? Well, why not go to 12 instead?
The 12 pubs of Christmas is a tradition in Ireland and the concept, as the Irish Post explains, involves numerous, often bizarre, rules. Largely, though, the idea is to ‘’visit twelve different pubs in one night, spend 30 minutes and have a drink in each, wear the ugliest Christmas jumper you own, and strictly abide by the laws of each pub”.
The rules are loosely (and by the end, we mean loosely) as follows:
Pub # 1: No names
Pub # 2: No pointing
Pub # 3: Drink your drink with the wrong hand
Pub # 4: Get a shot and move on
Pub # 5: No swearing (pretty tough by the mid-way stage!)
Pub # 6: Speak in an accent
Pub # 7: Waddle like a penguin from the 6th pub to the 7th
Pub # 8: Raise your pint up high and keep it there the whole time
Pub # 9: Selfie with a stranger
Pub # 10: Play ‘Never Have I Ever’
Pub #11: Dance
Pub #12: There are no rules. Just relax and enjoy your pint
Phew.
Back in London, we think the Bermondsey Beer Mile is ideal for a Christmas pub crawl, as it boasts more than a dozen pubs in close proximity. You can choose 12 out of the 17 pubs in the area, but here’s our suggestion.
Start at Maltby Street Market and have a pre-bar crawl beer in the market (is that strictly necessary?). Then, head on to some or all of these:
- Southwark Brewing Co.
- 80 Druid Street
- Hawkes Cider, 86-92 Druid Street
- Billy Franks Craft Beer & Snack Shack, 104 Druid Street
- Hiver, 56 Stanworth Street
- Anspach & Hobday, 118 Druid Street
- Moor Beer, 71 Enid Street
- Cloudwater, 73 Enid Street
- Brew By Numbers, 75-79 Enid Street
- Bianca Road, 83-84 Enid Street
- Craft Beer Junction, 86 Enid Street
- The Kernel, Arch 7, Dockley Road Industrial Estate
- The Outpost – Three Hills Brewing, 7 Almond Road
- Spartan, 8 Almond Road
- EeBria, 15 Almond Road
- Partizan, 34 Raymouth Road
- 650m to Fourpure, 22 Bermondsey Trading Estate
Better read our article on 5 ideal party season hangover cures for this one.
Head to Winter Wonderland
If you’re looking for a day out that will please all of your work family, then look no further than Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park; it really has it all.
From ice sculptures and skating to fairground rides and stalls with mulled wine, all illuminated under sparkling Christmas lights, there’s something for everyone here. This year, Winter Wonderland is running from 19th November to 3rd January 2022, with entry available in four hour slots for just £5. Pre-booking is highly recommended, as tickets sell out fast.
A Themed Office Party
We get it; while having your festivities somewhere other than your office sounds like a brilliant idea, your Christmas party budget may have shrunk this year because of, well, you know.
So, if you do have to throw your Christmas party in the office this year, then a themed office party is a must.
‘’But isn’t Christmas a theme enough?’’, we hear you ask. Well, not really; whacking on a Christmas jumper and playing Last Christmas isn’t exactly going to get the party rocking, now is it?
Indeed, this year we can do better than a prolonged party parade of ‘wear your Christmas jumper’, and er, that’s it. Instead, keep guests on their toes by throwing a curveball, and a great soiree to match.
Dig a little deeper and get creative. There are plenty of different aspects of the festive season that you could focus on, from classic inspiration such as a Charles Dickens Christmas to more contemporary concepts like the Nightmare Before Christmas or Winter Wonderland themes.
Check out our tips on 4 IDEAL themed Christmas party ideas over here for more inspiration!
So you can make your party one that your colleagues will remember, consider hiring a Christmas party photo booth for your office through companies like Event Rhino. Their one-of-a-kind digital photo booth, for instance, adds the option of selfies, gifs, boomerangs, and videos to your party.
Event Rhino can work with you to design and customise the interface of the booth, meaning you can even add company branding to your festive snaps. The digital content created can then be shared directly with guests via text message or uploaded to their social media. If you’ve added company branding, therein lies instant marketing, too…
And with two birds killed with a single sprout, our work here is done!