It isn’t always easy to convince your coworkers to come to an office party. At the best of times, office parties are boring or at least offer decent food. But at their worst, parties can be a source memorable for all the wrong reasons. This makes employers apprehensive about offering them.

However, if an office party is done correctly, employee satisfaction, retention, and a whole host of other workplace factors will improve. It’s worth the effort to throw a knockout work party.

How to Throw a Great Corporate Office Party

Whether you’re throwing a retirement, going-away, or holiday party, there are plenty of unique ways to ensure the good times keep rolling! Here are 9 ideas your employees will love.

1. Consider a Spectacular Centerpiece, Like a Fondue Tower

Interesting centerpieces, like chocolate fondue towers, can make your office party the talk of the town. Not only do fondue towers make your work party extra yummy, but they’re mesmerizing to look at. Set out a tray of strawberries, cookies, and cakes to encourage staff to eat from it.

2. Purchase Some Indoor, Safe-to-Use Fireworks, Like Ice Fountains 

Ice fountains are a great way to spice up a party without putting your colleagues in any danger. Ice fountains look great on cakes, champagne bottles, and cocktails. Since they burn out quickly and don’t produce a lot of heat, you can light and use them safely indoors.

3. Play Some Unique Corporate-Friendly Party Games

Your employees have played every corporate-friendly party game in the book, so you’ll have to come up with something different. Websites like Confetti offer some incredible team-building games, like Drag Queen Bingo, Werewolf, and Boom Box, that are sure to be smash hits.

4. Buy a Pre-Made Murder Mystery Office Party Kit

Creating your own murder mystery takes a lot of work, but you can buy kits and set them up in your office with minimal effort. If your employees are big fans of cold case shows or true crime, they’ll love this concept. Murder mystery office parties are also perfect for Halloween.

5. Rent a Karaoke Machine or Go to Karaoke Night

Karaoke is always fun, especially when you have a group of talented musicians on your staff. Unlike an office talent show, which pressures people to go up on stage, karaoke is comfortable because everyone assumes you won’t be a great singer. If you are, you can show off your voice!

6. Set Up a Bunch of Board Games for a Throwback Night

Most of your coworkers will know how to play Risk, Monopoly, Sorry, Clue, and other games from our childhood. If they don’t, you can set up a team-building opportunity where everyone can learn from each other. Either way, everyone gets to socialize and have fun playing.

7. Have a Themed Night With Costumes and Decoration

Everyone loves to dress up, especially in costumes or outfits they wouldn’t wear under any other circumstance. A Hawaiian, ugly holiday sweater, or Roaring 20s party can put people in the mood to party. You can even have a prize-winning costume contest at the end of the night.

8. Bring the Pets in for a Relaxing, Quiet Evening

If your employees are pet lovers and their furry friends are comfortable sitting in a room with other animals, then suggest bringing them to the office. To make sure they feel safe, don’t play any loud music or offer alcohol. Check for allergies before welcoming in your employee’s pets.

9. Book a Dozen Food Trucks for a Food Truck Rodeo

Call up a food truck catering company and have yourselves a little rodeo. While bringing in a bunch of food trucks sounds complicated, it’s actually much easier than catering a whole party. Plus, your employees can pick from a selection of foods, not just from what you ordered.