A simple guide to really enjoying your end of year party

Whether your service closes down for the Christmas break or not, most workplaces will have a function of some kind to mark the end of the year.

For some people this is their annual highlight. Others view with dread the mandatory ‘fun’ at a frantic time of year.

We consulted our CELA team and some other wise heads in ECE and created this mini-poster guide to help you really enjoy your holiday party.

We’d love to hear your best (and maybe worst) holiday party stories.  Scroll down for a selection of stories from our team.

Taneal has worked in events management and seen her share of great staff parties:

The best staff xmas party I attended was at Madam Tussauds. It was great because the entire team came together to celebrate the end of year. We were rewarded by the company for the hard work we had done and felt valued and appreciated. It was a lot of fun having the wax figures around us which became the stars of the very funny photos that were taken. It was a relaxed and fun vibe and the venue was the perfect place to get everyone engaging with each other.

Kathleen found that craftiness creates camaraderie:

One of the best staff Christmas functions I went to was full of fun crafts to do.  It was like speed dating, you had to move around the room and had 5 minutes to complete the craft idea or puzzle on each table.  A little bell would sound when it was time to move on, the time limit only added to the fun.   This was a great way to interact with colleagues in a different way, was very entertaining as people encouraged and laughed at the creations.  The best bit is you came away with a few new skills and a feeling of achievement.

Bec enjoyed a bout of barefoot bowls one year:

We got to leave the office, it was a reasonable cost, drinking was optional, and we were out in the sun enjoying the games so there was no time to fill in with present swaps or speeches.  With a big group like ours, if we’d gone to dinner we’d have barely spoken to anyone that wasn’t sitting close by, but at bowling we had a steward who swapped our teams around all afternoon so we really got to connect with – and compete with – pretty much everyone and we ended the year on a really great note.

Meet the author

Bec Lloyd is the founder and managing director of Bec & Call Communication, providing professional writing, editing and strategy services to the school and early childhood education sector since 2014. In 2018 she launched UnYucky mindset and menus for happier family mealtimes. Formerly the communications lead at ACECQA and BOS (now NESA), Bec is a journo and mother of three who produces Amplify for us at Community Early Learning Australia.