The Christmas or holiday party at year’s end is a tried-and-true tradition in the workplace. As a boss or company owner, you probably understand that your workers like to cut loose and celebrate after a full year. You might have your party just before Christmas, on the last workday before the holiday.
You can set up the party in different ways, with drinks, food, decorations, and activities. You should have giveaways and possibly bonuses as well.
Let’s talk about holiday party favors that your workers should enjoy. You want them to go home happy after the event, and giving them some small items ensures that.
Setting Up Your Goody Bag
If you need Christmas goody bag ideas for adults, you should start with the receptacle itself. You can give one to each person who works at your company. By giving one to the lowest individuals on the totem pole, as well as the highest-ranking company execs, you promote solidarity.
You might approach a company or party supply store and look at what goody bags they offer. You can get large or small ones, and you’ll probably want some with a holiday theme. You can easily find some with Christmas colors or pictures on them.
You might also get a company to custom-make some for you with your business’s logo on it or your company’s name. That’s a smart branding idea, so you may decide to go that route.
Christmas Tree Ornaments
You might put a Christmas tree ornament in each goody bag you pass out at the year-end party. You can buy these ornaments in bulk from a greeting card company, or you might order them from overseas and get a business that makes them to ship them to you.
You might put the company logo or name on the ornaments, or perhaps you can do a picture booth earlier in the month. You can use the pictures from that booth to customize the ornaments. You can give each worker an ornament with their picture on it. They can put those ornaments on their tree at home for their family to enjoy.
Arts and Crafts
Maybe you want to encourage some activities for the party, but you don’t want things to get too wild and crazy. You can include some coloring books, markers, and colored pencils in each goody bag you pass out.
You can have a contest and see who comes up with the best colored picture. You can post them all on the bulletin board or in the break room.
You might give out a prize for the best colored-in picture. Maybe you’ll award the winner a gift certificate, or you’ll let them leave work early for a week.
Soap
You might do a partnership with an artisanal soap company. You can ask them to make up some special soaps just for your business. You can customize each one for the workers to whom you give them.
Customized, artisanal soaps often look and smell much better than the average one you get in a store. They probably feature some unique colors, and they’re more festive. Your workers should appreciate those, and they can use them at home.
You might go with some other bath and beauty products as well. You may get some bath bombs or lip gloss. You can get aromatherapy candles that the workers can burn in their bathrooms at home.
Hot Drinks
Maybe you’ll get a company to make some unique hot drink mixes that you can include in the goody bags at the party. You might go with some fancy coffee flavors or some different hot chocolates. Maybe you’d prefer to put some ramen cups in the goody bags instead.
You can put in a mug for each worker as well. They can use those mugs when they sample the food or drinks you put in the bags, and they can keep that mug to reuse throughout the year.
Edible Items
You will certainly want to put in some edible items that your workers can snack on during the party. You should have additional refreshments, but also some small candy treats they can either eat at the party or bring back to munch on at home.
You might get a chocolate grab bag from Hershey or another company. You can buy big bags at a store like Target or Walmart around the holidays. You can find candies with holiday colors and themes and drop a few in each goody bag before you distribute them.
You might also put some candy canes in there. You can include different candy items in each bag. That way, your workers can trade them if their neighbor at the next cubicle has something they particularly like. You may also read How Old Do You Have to Work at Target?
Clothing Items
You can’t fit anything large in a goody bag, like a jacket or sweater, but maybe you can do smaller clothing items instead. For instance, you might get some one-size-fits-all fuzzy socks. You can have the company logo on them, or maybe you’ll get some that have Santa, his elves, or some other Christmas-themed pictures on there.
You might get some mittens or gloves and put them in each goody bag. Maybe you’ll get each worker a sturdy winter hat from a company like Land’s End or Carhart. Your employees will enjoy wearing those hats to work every morning on snowy days in January and February.
You can round out the goody bags with many different practical items or fun, quirky ones. You might go with some earbuds for each worker, or maybe you’ll put in some magnets, chip clips, pens, paper pads, etc. You can go to dollar stores and look for small items to include if you can’t come up with any other ideas on your own.
Goody bags ensure your workers will enjoy your party. Make sure that you have enough for everyone, and thank each person sincerely for the work they did for your company during the year as well.