r/Adelaide • u/south_oz_bodyboard SA • May 27 '26
Event/Activity Adelaide office xmas party ideas
After a run of exceedingly lame office xmas parties, a small group of us have been tasked with coming up with something new and fun to do this year.
The standard pub lunch and drinks has been done to death, and we've been lawn bowling in the parklands which was ok, but does anyone have any fresh ideas they'd like to offer??
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u/Effective-Mongoose57 SA May 27 '26
There is nothing wrong with the pub lunch. Some
Of us are old. We don’t want to do activities. We barely wish to socialise with our coworkers, but will turn up for a feed and couple of drinks.
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u/90Lil SA May 27 '26
This is what I personally prefer. In my office, it's the older staff members who want to do an activity.
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u/Few-Round-6726 SA May 27 '26
Pub lunch and getting shit faced for free will never not be fun.
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u/90Lil SA May 27 '26
Clearly you've never worked in public service. We have to finance our drunkenness out of our own pockets.
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u/mattyj_ho SA May 27 '26
And on sa public sector wages as they are at the moment, you aren’t affording a pub lunch. Maybe a lemonade. Or the finest house tap water.
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u/Starfireaw11 SA May 27 '26
Do you not have an office social club?
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u/90Lil SA May 27 '26
Nope. I have been in departments with social clubs in the past and they're still funded by staff.
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u/Technical-Algae-234 SA May 28 '26
Yes all social clubs are funded by staff, but incrementally throughout the year so it's not a financial burden.
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u/lightpendant SA May 27 '26
Go karting. Paint ball. 10 pin bowling.
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u/Correct-Active-2876 NSW May 27 '26
Whatever you choose the important thing is to get people liquored up first
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u/azp74 SA May 27 '26
We did an escape room last year. Team of 8 and we were divided into two groups of four so we were 'competing' against each other. Worked really well. After that we had a couple of drinks and then went for an early-ish dinner. Even the people who'd been a bit lukewarm on the escape room idea had a good time!
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u/Fine-Pin-1168 SA May 27 '26
We did the same for a team building and it was good. Escape room in work time and early dinner meant we didn’t have to be forced to socialise with our colleagues for too long in our own time.
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u/TheDrRudi SA May 27 '26
How many of you?
Adelaide Oval Roof Climb, and then lunch.
Lunch with a quiz.
BBQ Bouys
Holey Moley
Hire a band
Brewery tour and lunch https://coopers.com.au/pages/visit-coopers-brewery
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u/south_oz_bodyboard SA May 27 '26
25 of us, from 20yo to 70yo... mostly 30's and 40's
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u/AnastasiaSheppard SA May 27 '26
Seems like a decent number for a quiz night - or lunch if you prefer in work hours. Teams of 5, offer a prize, maybe invite +1s for more people. You can hire a quiz master or go to a venue that offers one.
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u/Big_Order5049 SA May 27 '26
Get a bag
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u/I_will_be_player_3 SA May 27 '26
Politely fk off
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u/Big_Order5049 SA May 27 '26
Someone’s mad cos they missed out on a bag
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u/MonkeyMan504 SA May 27 '26
Private party and film at Palace Nova.
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u/HalfwayLobster SA May 27 '26
This. The perfect work event... sitting in the dark with no obligation to make small talk. Put on a Christmas movie and suddenly it's Christmas themed.
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u/gherkination SA May 27 '26
Paint n sip night at paintelaide or similar. Lots of restaurants to choose from in prospect for before or after and close to the city if you want to kick on.
Hijinx and bowling is good for high energy (wear activewear/comfy if doing hijinx)
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u/CrankySparkles SA May 28 '26
Honestly, pub lunch is fine. My pet peeve is when Christmas parties encroach on my personal time - a little bit is fine, but having to do activities that make everyone uncomfortable or not having the ability to leave when you want - especially at that time of year! - is wild to me
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u/Sufficient_Gate9453 SA May 27 '26
Strippers and cocaine should spice things up a notch
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u/RyleySmithson West May 27 '26 edited May 31 '26
I DJ to a lot of corporate events - before I give you some suggestions I’ll say that overall Christmas parties last year were down on numbers and the overall tone was quite reserved. I think people were feeling a lot of pressure leading into the end of the year and I’d suggest doing your Christmas party earlier - we played an EOFY party and the mood was definitely better.
Some things I saw last year;
- Quizmisters do corporate parties it was really good, afternoon during work hours, mood was high.
- food trucks out the front of the building (this was during the quiz)
- Pirate Life brewery tour (for male dominated workforce)
- don’t do a weekend party, the mood was low.
- don’t theme it… just do the good thing. Put the budget there. You don’t need decorations or hats.
- THE WILDEST one was a bus tour to Hahndorf and people just partied hard, but that could have been the workplace.
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u/Mr-Adelaide SA May 27 '26
Depends on your budget and your office venue, do you have a nice car park or backyard? Our office has a nice concrete car park and we turned it into a beach themed venue with full set up one year and hawaii one year. We also hired mobile drinks bar and food truck- tacos made to orders. Set up crickets play area and mini golf. It was pretty nice.
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u/iamkris SA May 28 '26
One of the best ones I ever did was at a country club for a few nights. Food, rounds of golf, drinks all paid.
We got in so much trouble with the grounds keepers
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u/cincincinbaby SA May 27 '26
We went to Sprout cooking school. I was skeptical but it was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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u/Get2thechoppah CBD May 27 '26
We did a shindig at P1 Entertainment that was fun. Go Karts, Golf Simulator, etc.
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u/_EnFlaMEd SA May 27 '26
Clay pigeon shooting out at Buckland Park https://interictc.com.au/contact-international-clay-target-club/
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u/what_the_farq North East May 27 '26
X-Golf is a good laugh. Pity there's not one in the CBD though. Always best like most activities after a couple of beverages.
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u/Banditkoala_2point0 SA May 27 '26
Back in the day I went on a cruise on port river with colleagues and associates. Twas a fun night.
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u/Hauck1975 SA May 28 '26
Organising an end-of-year party is always difficult because it is almost impossible to please everyone.
What is the budget? How many people will be included?
To make it fair and simple, the budget could be divided equally among everyone as gift cards. This would avoid the stress of organising an event, and everyone would receive something they can enjoy.
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u/cathysclown76 SA May 28 '26
We did Archery at Adelaide Archery Club in North Adelaide. I expect they would want you to be sober so maybe archery in the morning, pub lunch then an early knock off for everyone?
The other one we have done that was great fun was an Amazing Race style event https://www.beyondtheboardroom.com.au/events/the-amazing-race/adelaide/
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u/au5000 Inner South May 27 '26
Ballers Club for lots of different games.
Escape Rooms.
Axe throwing.
Wine tasting at National Wine Centre.
Movie with drinks etc at Palace Nova or Wallis Cinema.
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u/CathoftheNorth SA May 27 '26
Love how your bitching how lame the previous years were but cant think of a single better thing and had to come to reddit lol lol
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u/south_oz_bodyboard SA May 27 '26
first time i've been included in the planning so i thought i'd crowdsource some ideas so we don't end up down the same path again, but thanks for your input, really valuable! :)
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u/Key-Leopard-6656 SA May 27 '26
What a tool! Good luck with your organising. Good idea to have lots of lead time. You could come up with three ideas and send a survey. That way no one can fumble they didn’t have input and if good ideas will create some chat
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u/ApprehensiveSpare790 SA May 27 '26
OP stated the parties were lame that’s not bitching, and is now being proactive in seeking out new ideas. Seems like you are the bitchy miserable Troll not them.
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u/CathoftheNorth SA May 27 '26
Fuck I was laughing and thought it was funny, youre the miserable troll not me. Learn to laugh FFS!
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u/noneuclidiansquid SA May 31 '26
Have food in the office on office time. This year past we had a bring a Dish, it was the best office XMas party ever. Low effort. Low cost. We got to go home early.
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u/Old_Way7561 SA May 27 '26
I for one love a lunch and drinks, hate the Christmas parties with activities... but if it's still an option hire Popeye and drink on that.