We love Christmas at Great Race HQ as it is our busiest (and most wonderful) time of the year! A question we are always getting asked is ‘should I theme my Christmas event and if so- WHAT?’ It’s not 100% necessary in order to have an awesome event but it really can add to the festivity if your group is up for it. As it’s not always easy to find something that suits the personality of your group, brings the Christmas cheer and is not unbearable in the Australian heat, we’ve compiled this little list of unique Christmas Party themes.
UGLY CHRISTMAS ACCESSORIES
This one is fun for everyone as people can choose how little or how much they participate. The aim of the theme is for everyone to find the ugliest Christmas themed accessory and the more the merrier! It’s easy to change into after work and prizes can be awarded for the ugliest or kitsch-est find.
CHRISTMAS MOVIES
Have people choose their most loved Christmas movies and dress as one of the characters (if you were doing an event in teams- you could even theme the teams by each movie!). Christmas movies play on your attendees nostalgia and is an excellent talking point during your event. ‘Oh I loved Home Alone but Home Alone 2 is my favourite!’ or even ‘I totally forgot about Nightmare before Christmas- I used to watch that every year’. You can play movies in the background and even have challenges to remember quotes or re-enact scenes.
CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD
Australia is a multicultural country and each unique culture brings its own fabulous foods, rituals and traditions. Your friendship or work group could celebrate this by asking everyone to bring a plate of food from their heritage and share with you some of their more meaningful or more absurd traditions! Did you know the Japanese popularly eat KFC at Christmas? In South Africa they are known for eating deep fried caterpillars at their Christmas feast, yum! If you would like to take this idea even further you could look at hosting or joining a dinner with the Welcome Dinner Project.
SOMEONE KILLED SANTA CLAUS
Someone has killed Santa Claus and it’s up to your group to find out who! This is a murder mystery party with a twist and people can be given characters and scenarios beforehand. Was it the overworked elf who couldn’t bear making another toy? Was it the reindeer who resented Santa eating too many cookies and making the sleigh-pulling ever harder work? You can design the night yourself or even look online for downloadable Murder Mystery Packs. It’s a fun way to get everyone engaged and breaking down those ‘social silos’ that can happen when you get groups together.
CHRISTMAS CAROL KARAOKE
You will need a bit of tech for this one but any electronics retail store will sell a cheap microphone (or some even have small karaoke machines) that can be plugged into your entertainment centre. Download a Christmas Carols Karaoke album and you’re set! Everyone has their favourite Christmas tunes, whether it’s more the more traditional Frank Sinatra or something from Hanson’s Christmas hits. If you’d like to add a dress-up element you can always ask people to come as their favourite musician who has released a Christmas greatest hit. As it’s a little more obscure it will encourage creativity and get people asking ‘I didn’t know they made a Christmas album, let’s hear it!’.
AMAZING RACE
We run Amazing Race style adventures (and many others, just ask us) that can get you exploring throughout your own city. As much as we love it when friends get stuck under the mistletoe together, we pride ourselves on creating an environment where people are engaged and can celebrate without the party having to come all down to food and booze. Teams compete to crack codes, solve puzzles and get festive in our Amazing Race style adventures. It’s a great icebreaker if you want to move on to something else afterwards or as an entire event, it will give people something to talk about for weeks to come! Get in touch with our friendly team today to find out more!
