Holidays: Company Christmas Party

A few years back (in 2007,  I believe) I worked for a parks and recreation company, providing supervision and activities to middle-schoolers after school. Knowing how crafty I am, my supervisor asked me to be in charge of the decorations for the company holiday party. Being that it was a business party, I couldn't do anything religious or pertaining to any particular holiday that wouldn't include everyone. This left me doing mostly a winter-themed party.

I had a fairly small budget of somewhere around $300 and was responsible for all of the decor, linens, and centerpieces for the party. Being that it was nearly 4 years ago, I don't have much recollection of the details of the party, but have a few pictures to show my work. I also feel like I've learned SO MUCH since then and could make it a million times better if I did it today. But, experience is experience, and I wanted to share a few of the ideas I used.

I think there were roughly 10 tables holding about 9 people each. I rented white linens for the tabletops with a red square linen overlay. 

I rolled each of the linen napkins and tied a red bow around, and I placed them at each place setting.

The centerpieces were made of a glass vase, filled with "snow" (although not the nasty cheap plastic kind- more like the powdery soft synthetic snow). I topped the snow with berries and pine cone accents, and then used red glittery spiral sticks, branches, and berries to fill the vase. It all sat on top of a 12"x12" mirror to add light and reflection to the centerpiece. Very simple, but I think it was pretty.

There wasn't much I could do to the walls without putting holes in them. And the room has MANY doors and bulletin/dry erase boards, almost like a large classroom. So, I hung Christmas lights around the bulletin boards & dry erase boards, and then a cluster of ornaments down the middle.

As I said, the party was very simple and I'd do it all differently now that 4 years have gone by. But if you have a tight budget and need to do a Christmas party that's really all-inclusive, hopefully this gives you some ideas as to what you can do.