Over recent years the business meetings and events industry has seen drastic and surprising changes in the world of UK work Christmas Parties. In 2024, Christmas Party spend was up by 15% and searches for Christmas Party related terms increased by 104% vs 2023, according to Hospitality Leisure News and other industry sources.
In 2025, we expect demand for Christmas Parties and events to grow, as the need for employee engagement and social wellbeing continues to increase.
So, what are the top work Christmas Party ideas and trends you should be considering when planning your corporate Christmas Party in 2025?
Your Christmas Party planning just got a HO HO HO lot easier as Blackberry Event’s team of event management experts bring their top five trends to event organisers across the UK:
Save budget and make better returns when you combine your end of year conference and awards with your Christmas Party. In today’s world of corporate events, delegate expectations are rising whilst company budgets are decreasing or maintaining.
Therefore, our event planning elves recommend that instead of focusing on reducing costs, concentrate on increasing value when organising events for your business.
One highly effective way doing this is increasing the returns on your Christmas Party by combining it with and end of year conference so you can get the brownie points for a great Christmas ‘do’ whilst being able to get important messages over to your team or building vital cross-functional working relationships.
Furthermore, if bolted your Christmas Party and conference on to an evening awards ceremony, you can go as far as rewarding high performing employees helping them to feel valued, motivated and loyal – again reaping best returns on your festive investment.
All businesses are under the microscope to do better when it comes to their environmental and social impact. Company events are a great platform and opportunity to embed a new ethos, way of working or company values.
The Christmas Party is all about bringing people together at a time of year for giving and using your event as a force for good. There are many ways you can incorporate an element of giving back at your corporate Christmas Party, conference or awards. Work with a reputable event agency such as Blackberry Events to make giving back exciting and rewarding in the form of a thrilling team building activity. Examples include a Charity Bike Build activity, Charity Golf Events and events that educate your team on important world issues such as climate change.
Other ways you can incorporate giving back at your Christmas Party or conference is to have a charity partner, raise awareness and generate donations throughout your event or why not have a food bank set up within your work Christmas Party venue?
Diversity, equality and inclusion or DEI are words you may be coming across more often in recent weeks, months or even years. DEI is now and rightly so being seen as a priority on business agendas and it now forms part of the all important company ESG strategy.
Event attendees and employees now expect to see more DEI focused experiences. Christmas Parties traditionally have been poor examples of workplace events considering DEI.
Now organisations risk falling behind if they don't comply, with awareness for the need for DEI rising and lifelong trends shifting, such as the need for low or no alcohol fun it is a new era of work Christmas Party planning and one we can all embrace at no additional cost.
As working from home becomes the new norm, face to face events become all the more vital to get right! This combined with the need to retain employees and clients as competition ups their ESG game, organisations must consider how they can do better to make their events more welcoming, fair and accessible to all.
Lucky for event organisers across the UK, agencies such as Blackberry Events are geared up to bring solutions to tackle all three of these key event planning considerations.
Ideas for ways to incorporate DEI when Christmas Party planning:
- Include a diverse range of speakers at your conference or awards.
- Consider entertainment options for all personality types, whether that be acts and performances for those who prefer to sit and watch or free participation games for those who like to join in the fun on their own terms.
- Include activities and engaging moments in you Christmas Party agenda that help people to mingle and have fun with or without alcohol.
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Noticed less bottles in the recycling bin after the family have been over for Christmas Day? There’s a reason for that. Entrepreneur Steven Bartlett highlighted recently the huge shift in attitude and behaviours towards alcohol among young people.
Did you know? 36% of 18-24-year-olds now identify as teetotal, a notable increase from 2022. Event agencies are seeing a huge influx of requests for low or no alcohol corporate events because of this changing landscape and in order to encourage better employee wellbeing.
So what work Christmas Party ideas are there for low or no alcohol consumption?
GPS Treasure Hunts: Get teams outdoors, getting that all important movement and fresh air in whilst partaking in some festive fun and challenges as they explore their chosen city at this magical time of year. Win points and prizes for creativity on photo and video challenges or brain power on quizzes and puzzles. Don’t forget to grab a mulled wine or hot chocolate on route as this outdoor team building option provides low or no alcohol options.
Gameshows: Bring your audience alive with some high energy interaction and gamification. Bring nostalgia, laughs and connection with entertainment inspired by the UK’s favourite and most loved gameshows. Entertainment options like gameshows at your Christmas Party allow for audience participation which in turn results in fun outside of alcohol.
Wellness Fun: That’s right wellness can be fun for all, even those who don’t usually take part in it in their spare time. Most of us that haven’t tried wellness may just not know where to start as the industry becomes more complex. Incorporate some inclusive wellness activities to your end of year Christmas Party or Conference. Break up your conference agenda with a dash of post lunchtime Disco Yoga to your favourite festive anthems or bring guests together the morning after your Christmas Party to rejuvenate with some calming activities such as Stretching or Tai Chi.
Most Christmas Parties require some form of entertainment but with the event entertainment sector innovating by the minute,it’s hard to know where to begin especially when you as the event organiser is faced with the worry of pleasing everyone. We advise a mixture of entertainment options within budget that tackle several objectives for your business. We think of entertainment as an opportunity to drive your event objectives, for example you could:
- Use a comedian to tell a perceived “boring”story or to send important messages to your audience in a fun and interesting way.
- Use free play games such as Casino Tables or Retro Arcade Games to encourage people to connect and laugh without the forced fun feeling that some team building events can bring.
- Combine grand shows and performances with eye-catching Christmas Party event theming and décor to provide a fully immersive experience and a celebration that makes attendees feel rewarded and valued.
Take your team away from the meting room and into a new environment for a festive team experience. Go for gold standard cocktail making with Shakespear Distillery – a sustainable and multi-award-winning experience based in the heart of the midlands or visit one of the many new gaming experiences such as The Squid Games Experience or Boom Battle Bar if you are based in Manchester or London.
For help organising your 2025 Christmas Party speak with our event management team today.
If you found that interesting here are some suggestions from us to find out a bit more about Blackberry Events and our events management services.
Noticed less bottles in the recycling bin after the family have been over for Christmas Day? There’s a reason for that. Entrepreneur Steven Bartlett highlighted recently the huge shift in attitude and behaviours towards alcohol among young people.
Did you know? 36% of 18-24-year-olds now identify as teetotal, a notable increase from 2022. Event agencies are seeing a huge influx of requests for low or no alcohol corporate events because of this changing landscape and in order to encourage better employee wellbeing.
So what work Christmas Party ideas are there for low or no alcohol consumption?
GPS Treasure Hunts: Get teams outdoors, getting that all important movement and fresh air in whilst partaking in some festive fun and challenges as they explore their chosen city at this magical time of year. Win points and prizes for creativity on photo and video challenges or brain power on quizzes and puzzles. Don’t forget to grab a mulled wine or hot chocolate on route as this outdoor team building option provides low or no alcohol options.
Gameshows: Bring your audience alive with some high energy interaction and gamification. Bring nostalgia, laughs and connection with entertainment inspired by the UK’s favourite and most loved gameshows. Entertainment options like gameshows at your Christmas Party allow for audience participation which in turn results in fun outside of alcohol.
Wellness Fun: That’s right wellness can be fun for all, even those who don’t usually take part in it in their spare time. Most of us that haven’t tried wellness may just not know where to start as the industry becomes more complex. Incorporate some inclusive wellness activities to your end of year Christmas Party or Conference. Break up your conference agenda with a dash of post lunchtime Disco Yoga to your favourite festive anthems or bring guests together the morning after your Christmas Party to rejuvenate with some calming activities such as Stretching or Tai Chi.
Most Christmas Parties require some form of entertainment but with the event entertainment sector innovating by the minute,it’s hard to know where to begin especially when you as the event organiser is faced with the worry of pleasing everyone. We advise a mixture of entertainment options within budget that tackle several objectives for your business. We think of entertainment as an opportunity to drive your event objectives, for example you could:
- Use a comedian to tell a perceived “boring”story or to send important messages to your audience in a fun and interesting way.
- Use free play games such as Casino Tables or Retro Arcade Games to encourage people to connect and laugh without the forced fun feeling that some team building events can bring.
- Combine grand shows and performances with eye-catching Christmas Party event theming and décor to provide a fully immersive experience and a celebration that makes attendees feel rewarded and valued.
Take your team away from the meting room and into a new environment for a festive team experience. Go for gold standard cocktail making with Shakespear Distillery – a sustainable and multi-award-winning experience based in the heart of the midlands or visit one of the many new gaming experiences such as The Squid Games Experience or Boom Battle Bar if you are based in Manchester or London.
For help organising your 2025 Christmas Party speak with our event management team today.
If you found that interesting here are some suggestions from us to find out a bit more about Blackberry Events and our events management services.
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