Simple ‘gift giving’ ideas can make your Christmas party special

WHILE Christmas parties usually come with their own self-contained atmosphere, there are still many ways you can create that extra bit of ‘feel good’ factor. All it takes is just a little bit of thought and one such example is to give humorous, low cost gifts that will help generate some extra bit of festive atmosphere. Try making the whole idea of gift giving a little more fun by transforming it into a collective activity. Incorporating gift giving themes, with a set spending limit, will make it more affordable and might encourage people to take part.

What kind of gifts do we give? Well, most work places have lots of social events in common throughout the year like indoor soccer, golf outings, walking trips, marathons, keep fit classes, exchanging books, cookery classes. There really is limitless ways one can decide on the best theme to adopt. For example, you can exchange novel things like coffee mugs or T-shirts with funny inscriptions dealing with funny episodes that have happened throughout the year (within acceptable limits of humour, of course).

Marathons are very popular right now and if you and your co-workers enjoy taking part in them, why not give the gift of a specially commissioned running vest with a funny quote or logo? Baking is another popular past time and exchanging your favourite recipes is a nice, thoughtful and inexpensive form of gift giving. You can do the same with book lovers in the office where each person receives a gift of someone else’s favourite book. This is a cheap and novel (pun intended) way to gift give and it will also create plenty of conversation long into the new year. If you still can’t come up with a theme, don’t panic as the tried and trusted Secret Santa is still a firm favourite among people.

You’ve probably already participated in a few Secret Santa exchanges in the past, but in case you’ve forgotten how this long-time tradition works, everyone in the office gets an anonymously assigned gift from a co-worker for whom they will buy an inexpensive gift. Usually, the names are drawn from a hat and there’s a strict spending limit.

And if you want to make it more fun, encourage employees to leave hints about their identities for their recipients up until the big reveal.