Last week I mentioned that I had been tagged to be a member of the holiday party planning committee at the office.  There were ten or so of us on the committee.  I know I may be a smidge biased having been on the committee, but I do think that the party went really well.

There were tables set up for card games, random drawings for prizes throughout the day, various guessing games and not one, not two but THREE Wii’s set up for some friendly competition.  Lunch was provided, as were beverages and in total I’d guess darn near every one of the 80 people we expected made their way to the party for at least a quick visit, nibble or game.

In total it took us just over a week to pull it together.  From idea to execution we had a pretty fast turn-around.  Needless to say, there were many preparations happening on and off of standard business hours to prepare for the festivities.

One of the team members that was scheduled to bring in their Wii for the party actually brought it in a day early to test drive the audio and visual on the very large projection screens.  After hooking it up we decided to test drive the system by playing a few games of boxing, tennis and bowling.

At one point we added a Mii to the Wii.  For those of you not in the know, a Mii is much like an avatar that you might create for yourself on Yahoo! Instant Messaging.  I picked out everything from Mii dark rimmed glasses to Mii wardrobe.  Even eye color, face shape and attire.  The only thing I didn’t have a say in (I don’t know why) was my hair.  I ended up with pigtails.

The next day as I sat down to lunch at the start of the party I looked up to see someone had selected me Mii on the Wii just in front of me.  Without a second of thought I shouted…

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I’m on the office planning committee charged with coordinating our team holiday celebration. My love of parties trumps my hate for Christmas so my Grinch-ish holiday tendencies aren’t spoiling the event planning fun.

One of the things we are considering is a photo scavenger hunt. In my head I have started kicking around ideas to put on the list but there is one tiny problem. In my head I can take every seemingly innocent photo suggestion and make it photo suggestive.

*bow chica bow bow*

We aren’t inviting HR to this party but I still need to behave. Let’s hope that I get teamed up with someone with a good moral compass to keep this event on the up and up. I really don’t need the team photo hunt to become an HR conduct report in the making.

Complete with photographic evidence.

Lucky for everyone someone other than me is coordinating the food. That right there increases the odds that it will be an edible lunch by about 100%. We’re planning an entire afternoon of screwing around although I think the employee communication will call it “team building” or something kinder and gentler and HR friendlier than “screwing around”.

So what is shaking in your office space for the holidays? Any fun competitions? Parties? Lunch adventures? Pin the tail on the manager?

Do tell.