21 Creative Office Party Games
Have an office party coming up and hunting for creative games you can play with your colleagues? With these games, you can get to know your coworkers better and have some fun along the way — which will hopefully make for better collaboration and work when the party's done.
Here are creative office party games for any kind of party — whether it's a holiday party, a summer celebration, a launch or promotion party, someone's birthday or something else entirely. Bonus: you don't need a physical office to play all of these games. Many of these games can be done remotely, too!
Office Party Games for Holiday Parties
If you have an office holiday party around the corner, consider one of these office party games to get everyone in the spirit.
1. Holiday Cookie Challenge
Have everyone in the office wanting to participate bring in home-baked holiday cookies. Then have a panel of judges determine which holiday cookies are the best on two fronts: 1. Taste 2. holiday spirit. Give a prize to the winner.
2. Holiday Movie Trivia
Play a round of trivia about classic holiday movies. Split the office up into groups and give them each points for every question they get right. Whoever earns the most points at the end of the trivia game wins.
3. Name That Carol
Split the office up into small groups and play Christmas carols for them. Then have them guess the name of the carol or the singer. The group with the most correct guesses at the end of the game wins.
4. Best-Dressed Challenge
Throw a holiday-themed party at the office with holiday-themed treats and music. Then ask all the people at the office to come to the holiday party prepared in a spirited outfit. The person with the most holiday-themed outfit gets a prize.
5. Holiday Charades
Have the whole office get together to play a round of charades based on the holidays. One person gets up and, without words, acts out whatever it is that they've pulled out of a hat. Then everyone else in the group has to guess what it is that they're acting out.
Office Party Games for Summer Parties
Celebrating the summertime? These office party games will help you and your colleagues welcome summer with open arms.
6. Summer Memories
Have everyone get together over drinks or lunch and share their favorite summer memory from growing up. Some people might find that they share a lot in common due to these stories. Make sure to keep them short so as to not bore anyone — perhaps one minute each.
7. Tug-o-War
Celebrate the start of summer with a summer classic. Split the office up into two teams, each that'll pull one side of the rope in opposition to the other team. Whoever pulls the opposite team over the middle line wins.
8. Water Balloon Fight
If you have a company retreat and you're somewhere outside (i.e. away from laptops and important things), consider an innocent, water balloon fight (another summer classic!). Just make sure that no one is carrying their company phones in their pockets before you begin.
Office Party Games for Launch Parties
Are you celebrating a recent launch? Perhaps of a business, a new branch of the business or something else along those lines? These office party games will help you pump up the rest of the office about it.
9. The Guessing Game
To celebrate the launch of a new business, a new branch or something else, get everyone together for a guessing game to guess what the launch is all about. You can help out by giving them verbal and visual clues until they get it right.
10. Blind Artist
Pair up participants and have them sit back to back with one another. One of them will hold a picture of something pertaining to the launch (perhaps the new logo, for example) and the other one a blank piece of paper and a pen or pencil. The participant with the picture will have to describe the picture in their hands, without using any specific words that will give it away too easily. The other participant will draw the image described to them. At the end of a set time, they'll each show their pictures. The pair with the best representation wins.
11. Pictionary
Have someone who knows some secret information about the launch go up to the front of the room and draw it out. Then have the rest of the group try to guess what the picture is or means about the launch until they get it right.
Office Party Games for Promotion Parties
Office party games for promotions can be a lot of fun, especially when everyone in the office knows that the promotion was well deserved or even perhaps long overdue.
12. ABC Challenge
What better way to celebrate a promotion than with a brand new challenge? Split the office up into small groups, and provide each of them a pen and paper. Instruct them to write letters A through Z vertically down the left side, and then set a timer. By the end of the time, they'll need to have come up with one word that starts with each letter. The group with the most words wins.
13. Don’t Do It!
The goal of this game is to do the exact opposite of whatever whoever is placed in charge says to do. If the person in charge says to "stand still," move around. If they say to "hop on one foot," hop on both feet. Whoever actually listens to directions on accident loses. This is a fun way of letting the promoted person know that they'll have a whole new set of directions to listen to.
14. Musical Chairs
Congratulate the person who got a promotion by challenging them to make sure they take their new seat. Have everyone circle a group of chairs (make sure there's enough for all but one player) to some music. Then, when the music stops, everyone has to rush to grab a seat and, whoever is the one standing without a chair, is out. Keep going and removing a chair each time until there's one person remaining, who will be the winner.
Office Party Games for Birthday Parties
Celebrate your colleague's birthday with one of the following office party games that are sure to get everyone excited and involved.
15. What Is It?
Put various small items that could all be great birthday gifts for the birthday person in a large bowl. Blindfold them and have them reach into the bowl and pick an item. They must identify the item they pick up in order to get it as a birthday gift. If they can't figure it out while blindfolded, they can keep digging in the bowl for a new item.
16. Birthday Bake-Off
Have everyone in the office bring in home-baked goods for the birthday party. Then have a dedicated panel of judges to judge the best baked goods. The winner of the challenge gets to take home half of the leftovers of the cake and cookies with the birthday person.
17. Birthday Brunch Laughathon
Over a birthday brunch, have everyone take turns laughing while looking at the person beside them at the table. If that person starts laughing, they're out. The person left not laughing at the end of a set time is the winner.
Office Party Games for General Office Parties
Throwing an office party just because? Sometimes, it's nice just to get everyone together so they can get to know each other outside of their titles and job descriptions. Here are some office party games for those occasions.
18. Show & Tell
This one may sound juvenile, but Show & Tell is a great way of getting to know each other. Have everyone in the office bring in something of value to them, and then around food and drinks have each person get up, one at a time, and describe their meaningful item. This will help people get to know one another on a much deeper level, and some may be surprised to actually have connections or similar stories.
19. Guess Who
Get everyone together for a game of Guess Who. Everyone writes their names down and puts them in a hat, and then one person goes up and draws a name (so that every name eventually gets drawn). This person then does their best to describe the person whose name is written on the piece of paper they pulled, without describing their job description or sharing their job title. They may describe the person's hobbies, their sense of humor, their taste in music, etc. until the others in the group "guess who." This game helps colleagues learn more about each other outside of what they do at work.
20. Two Truths & a Lie
Two Truths & a Lie is another great game for teaching people about one another. And it's super simple. Each person in the group gets up and shares two truths and one lie about themselves. Then everyone else has to guess which of the three things that the person has shared is the lie. The more outlandish the truths, the more difficult and, therefore, exciting the game.
21. Name That Tune
Everyone gets together and listens to music together. One person plays the songs and pauses them each after a certain amount of time. Everyone else in the group has to guess what song that is. Usually, the larger group breaks up into smaller groups of three or four so that they can guess together. It's a fun game that clues people in on what type of music scene each other are into. The first person or small group to guess the song correctly is the winner.
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This article reflects the views of the author and not necessarily those of Fairygodboss.
AnnaMarie Houlis is a multimedia journalist for a gamut of both online and print publications, as well as an adventure aficionado and travel blogger at HerReport.org. She covers all things women's empowerment — from navigating the workplace to navigating the world. She writes about everything from gender issues in the workforce to gender issues all across the globe.
What’s your no. 1 office party game? Share your answer in the comments to help other Fairygodboss members!
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