First and foremost you need to make sure you have a hip spot to have the holiday party. You don’t want to be the boss who has their functions at the work spot. I had a boss who had the xmas parties where we worked. Employees were encouraged to bring something for a potluck. It was so lame that I would not even attend even though it was during work hours. You don’t want to be lame as Mrs. R@#$# whoops did I almost say that outloud. Anyway my other  bosses made  the effort to find a spot so we can gather. When you are at work then it makes it hard to truly enjoy yourself at a holiday party if you are at work place. Going elsewhere brings more excitement to the staff.

 Once the place is selected then you have provide the vibe and that is set by the dj. What does the dj play? Some corporate events require all xmas songs during the dinner portion of the night. Others would want a mix of xmas music with some pop appropriate music that will get people dancing. Alcohol does help people let loose on the dance floor but its not mandatory. Its get to get a list from the party organizer so the dj can get a feel of what they are looking for.

One of our favorite spots to eat is Chick Fila and this is the second time we did the company party. Last year it was Newark and this year it was in Fremont Mariott. So what happens at these events?

 We did a gift wrapping game, musical chairs, dance, xmas bingo, raffles, more dancing and some speeches and then give out company swag. These games you try to get as many people involved. We always connect a few microphones so you can have multiple hosts and you have the music ready to go with the flip of a switch. These xmas events are all about celebrating the hard work that goes through the long year and it gives the employees something to look forward to. Corporate events are a good way to build company culture and make employees happy. I can tell that management truly appreciates their employees and truly want to celebrate them. We do like doing parties for other folks in the industry since they are done on the off days. The store is closed on Sundays so there is no excuse to not to go.

I do like setting up for the same company events since you know what they like already and it makes it easy to set up their playlist. Last year we incorporated a lot of Spanish hits and this year we made sure they were lined up with some hot Spanish tracks. Its not all Spanish tracks but you always got to have a little of Christmas songs handy but not all xmas events call for Christmas songs. Some people just want to have party songs which is fine for us.

I was all over the bay area for 3 holiday corporate events. Saturday we were doing a big internet company bash in Morgan hill. This is the 3rd event I have for the group. They gave me a lot of songs in their playlist of their liking. Mama mia served up a master meal. A few of the leaders spoke about achievements and talked about folks they wanted to hi light. We finished up the night on the dance floor.

The following day we were doing a corporate event in Fremont which was primarily Spanish music. This was the first corporate event where most of the music was Spanish. I started the event with a little xmas music then 15 min in when folks started showing up I then went with Spanish. I did throw in some old school classics in English. The boss was a young man and his assistant were running the events. They were running games for their employees for nice prizes. Later on they did a raffle and gave out prizes. The songs that got everyone grooving was cumbia and salsa.

Then on Thursday we had a real estate party. They know how to party and they did it on a weekday. It was at their office and they were very happy folks. It was supposed to be a 3 hour event but it was extended to an extra hour. It was all old school and r&b the whole night, No new music the past 5 years was played. There were no announcements and the theme was just to eat drink and be merry. All of them succeeded!