Hello. I am planning a holiday party for my office this year. I want to give attendees gifts for the occasion. Do you have any suggestions? Also, what could I do to promote the party? I do not know if I should make it holiday neutral or not. Thanks, Olive

Hello Olive,

Thanks for your question! Ah, the holiday party season. Fun, yet a bit stressful when you do not know what to give your employees and when you want to remain PC. I do, however, have a few suggestions that can help you in your planning process.

I will start by giving you suggestions about how to decide on a party theme. It is difficult to convey an all encompassing holiday theme with so many religious celebrations in one season. To avoid hurting any feelings or annoying anyone, you can go one to two ways:

1) Include all holidays in the party theme. Have a Christmas tree, Menorah, Kwanza lights and snowmen. This way, no one can complain; you have covered the holidays and have even included the non-religious snowman. The only downside to this is that the party decorations may look a bit cluttered.

2) Don’t include any holiday items and just use holiday colors. Luckily, red, green, blue, white, silver and gold all look nice together. You can then decorate with snowflakes. Basically, you are throwing a winter themed party before the New Year.

For both of these parties, you could use imprinted balloons, napkins, plates and glasses with holiday messages, like “Happy Holidays,” “Happy New Year” or “Seasons Greetings.”

As for a holiday gift for the office, consider giving something simple. For example, serve champagne or other beverages in glasses with an imprinted message, like, “Holiday Office Party 2007: A Night to Celebrate.” This is a simple and memorable gift that can be reused.

If you would like to get any of these items for your office party, contact our client services at 866-618-3471. They would be happy to help you figure out pricing, shipping and imprints. I hope these suggestions have helped take some of the stress out of your party planning.

Thanks,
Abby Ink
Editor’s note: Abby Ink is our resident Promotional Products Professional. She answers all questions and requests for ideas via email and selects some for publishing in this regular column on the blog. You can ask Abby a question using this form.

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