Christmas Party Ideas – Event Entertainment

If you’re looking for unique Christmas party ideas you’ve come to the right place! There are numerous aspects of planning the big end of year event that will make or break the overall experience for your guests – including, but not limited to, finding the right venue, organizing delicious catering to keep them happy, and of course, entertaining them.

To help you make the best choices for the first two aspects, we have a guide guest-written by our friends at ACC Catering for choosing the best caterer for your event, and we highly recommend Venues2Events to help you find the perfect venue – they’ve also provided a Ninja Sheet Template for your invitations that will help you increase RSVPs.

The home for unique Christmas party ideas

But when it comes to entertaining and engaging your guests, Applause Entertainment is your go-to experts. You’ll be receiving top industry recommendations and assistance from our professional entertainment consultants, as well as putting your event entertainment needs in safe hands. You can learn more about how consultancies benefit your event entertainment booking experience here.

To help you get started, here are some ideas for your Christmas/End of Year corporate event. Every year we’re called and asked for unique Christmas party ideas – so we understand that people want to make their event exciting and different. This is just a small sample of the sort of insight you can expect from Applause Entertainment speciality consultants!

Remember, if you have your own ideas, or would like to hear more, we specialize in offering a bespoke entertainment experience! Get in touch today.

The best time to book your Christmas event is…today! However, if your calendar is currently reading October/November, then get in as soon as possible, as the entertainment you’re about to see will book out quickly.

Welcoming Entertainment is the first step in coming up with themed Christmas party ideas

Your event is a story, and you are its author – write an introduction that will hook your guests and draw them into your narrative. Welcoming entertainment, when done right, has two major functions: to set the tone and gently give the guests a taste of the experience you’ve crafted for the evening; and to act as an ice-breaker, especially if your event will include different intra-office departments, teams, or plus-ones who are strangers.

Examples of Welcoming Entertainment and some recommended event themes…but it’s all up for mix-and-match – what’s your idea?

Glamorous Hollywood: Silly Security, Paparazzi, Screaming Fan

The silly security guards will pretend to stop your guests at the door, ask them a whole bunch of wacky “security questions”, and try to hold back the hordes of screaming fans and nosy Paparazzi who are swarming your guests asking for the latest scoop and a selfie. Your guests will feel like VIPs straight from the walks of Hollywood.

Alice in Wonderland: White Rabbit in Special Effects Prosthetics, a Stilt Walking Caterpillar, Magician Mad Hatter, and Alice herself

Just like the adventures of Alice, your guests’ journey into Wonderland should be greeted by the White Rabbit, a tall and imposing Caterpillar on stilts, the curious Alice herself, and the insanity that is the Mad Hatter. These characters are beautifully costumed and made up, and your guests will be immediately drawn into the mystical Wonderland theme. The best part is, after the event has begun, these characters can rove the event and further entertain your guests.

Roaring 1920s: Mafia Gangsters, Cigar Girls, NYC Bellhop

With wise-cracking accents, impeccable costumes, and oozing with old-timey charm, your Roaring 1920s event theme will be in full swing right from the start. Your guests will be seamlessly transported from the 21^st Century to the era of The Great Gatsby.

Christmas: Christmas Elves – or Elf-arazzi, Christmas-themed Living Tables, Santa Claus

If you are going full-blast with a Christmas-themed event, then Christmas Elves are the perfect way to welcome the guests to the North Pole. We have special Elf-arazzi, which is a Christmas Elf themed Paparazzi option, and perfect for corporate events with children on the guest list . (There are more examples of themed-acts later on.) Christmas-themed Living Tables add a touch of sophistication for your guests, and of course, you have to have Santa Claus.

Themed Acts and Performances that keep the Event feeling consistent

Let’s keep using the Christmas theme as an example, and imagine that you’ve organized beautiful wintry venue decoration and table centrepieces to deck the halls at your event. What will further enhance and accentuate your Winter Wonderland theme? Depending on the style of event you are organizing, the entertainment can go a long way to maintain a consistent experience for your guests, by providing a focal point that is both entertaining, and engaging.

To give you an idea of how entertainment and acts can be themed, and how they benefit your event, here are some Applause Entertainment original concepts. Keep in mind that we can create a concept for your event, so pick our brains about the possibilities.

Science Fiction: Roving Android Magician and Fembots

Science Fiction is an event theme that invites a lot of imagination being injected into the entertainment, as well as a technological flair. Often, a Science Fiction themed event is also a costume dress-up event, where guests will be in eye-catching costumes and outfits. As entertainment coordinators, whatever entertainment we are providing must go above-and-beyond that, in order to be the focal point of the event.

The glow-strips attached to the Android Magician and Fembots not only draw reminiscence from classic retro Sci-fi genre films such as Blade Runner and Tron, they offer an engaging roving entertainment that help the guests fully immerse in the sci-fi theme, while providing them with a high quality performer. You can learn more about either of these acts, or the Science Fiction theme, by clicking on the links above.

Wild West: Cowboy themed Casino croupiers

The Wild West has recently seen a resurgence thanks to HBO’s Westworld, but the love of playing “gun totin’ cowboys” has always been a favoured event theme option. Casino tables is a fun and sophisticated addition to any corporate event, whether it’s a celebration, or geared towards team building purposes, and it is a natural progression to incorporate the two together.

Whilst there are many ways your event can be transformed into the wild frontier, one way that we enhanced the Casino experience to complement the Wild West theme is to dress the professional croupiers as cowboys as well. This gives the guests the immersive experience of playing poker at a proper Wild West saloon.

Character event hosts and MC

Events need to be kept on schedule, and large events with a large guest list or lots of speeches and/or segments are heavily reliant on having a way to ensure it happening. If you want to do something unique with your Christmas party ideas and event planning – a character actor may be the entertainment solution for you! Why not take the opportunity to entertain your guests at every moment? A character-performing MC, whether they’re impersonating an existing celebrity/pop culture icon, or an original personality, is refreshingly engaging and unlike anything your guests would have seen before. This gives your event a natural edge in keeping everyone amused and interested, creates a relaxing and friendly atmosphere, and with professional character performers and event hosts such as Applause Entertainment’s character MCs, your event’s schedule will run smoothly.

And, as a bonus, you have the flexibility to theme your event host to suit your event theme!

Here are some examples of our Character event hosts, and suggestions of the types of event themes that can be enhanced by them.

Dick Deveroux – Hollywood Red Carpet themed event

Hollywood red carpet is an easy theme for any corporate event, because it helps the guests feel like they’re VIP, and it’s an easily accessible black-tie dress code. But it doesn’t mean you can’t organize an exciting and different event MC to give the event an extra injection of energy.

Dick Deveroux is an Applause Entertainment original character inspired by the red carpet hosts of Hollywood, and is deliciously hilarious and just a little bit of a…dickens! Learn more about Dick Deveroux and see his larger-than-life personality.

Big Tony – Roaring 1920s themed event

The Roaring 1920s is a classy and swanky event theme, made even more popular by the film The Great Gatsby. Finding the right type of event host for a 1920s theme event, however, can be a little difficult, as you’ll be in need for a performer who is both able to perform their MC duties, but also an actor who can perform a 1920s character.

Big Tony is the perfect solution for this scenario. He is a loud-mouthed Mafioso-type character who will command the attention of whatever room he is in, and Applause casts a professional actor into the role so your guests can enjoy a real taste of the 1920s.

Grinch – Christmas themed events (can be family-friendly, or hilariously rude, depending on your event)

One staple of any Christmas event is the big man in red – Santa Claus! But what if you’re trying to break the mould – and defy expectations? The Grinch has the flexibility to be a bit rude and let your guests have a few laughs, and is a creative way to side-step End of Year events that don’t want to explicitly celebrate Christmas. Depending on your event needs and guest list, the Grinch can also be played as a family-friendly character.

Our Grinch impersonator character is enhanced by special-effects makeup (SFX makeup) such as professional prosthetics, contact lenses, hair, and intricate film makeup for the ultimate effect. Learn more about how you can invite the Grinch to your event. The Grinch is one of our most popular Christmas party ideas and acts we do every year – he truly is a fan favourite.

Start writing your own event story with the best in event entertainment

By now, you should be pretty excited about your own event. Perhaps one of our themes, acts, and ideas have given you a spark of inspiration. Let us help you grow that spark into an amazing event, and chat with us about your ideas! Christmas and End of Year events are often an exciting experience that everyone looks forward to, so give them a real treat with expertly curated entertainment.

We offer options for all sorts of themes and acts, and we love the challenge of working with our clients to develop whole new concepts – many of the examples here were original concepts! So consult with us over the phone today for more work Christmas party ideas or corporate celebration entertainment solutions!

Are you looking for more creative Christmas party ideas and solutions for your event entertainment needs? Start exploring the website to get inspiration, or call 1300 261 545 and enquire about your next event! It’s time to build your event experience.