Office Christmas Party Ideas in London: Dinners, Games, Ice Rinks and a Bauble the Team Painted

Every office Christmas party in London starts from the same three questions: how many of us, how much per head, and will anyone remember it in February. The set-menu dinner answers the first two. Here is what London teams actually book instead, or as well, from a studio that hosts a fair few of them every December.

1. The festive dinner, and how to rescue it

Still the default, and for good reason: it scales, it needs no explaining and nobody has to be good at anything. The catch is that everyone talks to the three people nearest and the only thing that goes home is the receipt. The fix is not to drop the dinner but to put something in front of it. A two-hour activity at five, the table at eight, and the conversation has something in it that is not work.

2. Activity bars: darts, shuffleboard, ping pong, crazy golf

Competitive socialising is the phrase the industry uses, and London is where it started. Flight Club for darts, Electric Shuffle for shuffleboard, Bounce for ping pong, Swingers and Puttshack for crazy golf. All of them take group bookings, all of them bring food and drinks to the lane, and all of them fill up for December weeks ahead. Good for loud teams of eight to thirty who want a leaderboard.

One to know: Puttshack’s White City venue is inside Westfield London, and so is our White City studio. Golf first, paint second, and nobody has to find a second postcode.

3. Ice rinks and the markets

Skate at Somerset House is the postcard version: a rink in the courtyard with a tree at one end. Hyde Park Winter Wonderland has the UK’s largest open-air rink and the funfair around it. Neither needs a private booking, which makes them the easy option for a big, mixed group, though forty minutes on the ice goes quickly and December evenings are cold. The Southbank Centre Winter Market works the same way, turn up and wander, and Christmas at Kew is the light-trail version of the same idea, with the mulled wine at the end.

4. Escape rooms, quizzes and treasure hunts

For teams of six to twelve who like a puzzle. Plenty of London’s escape rooms run a Christmas theme in December, quiz companies will write a festive round about your own office, and a street treasure hunt gets a team across a mile of the city before the pub. Structured, timed and cheap per head, which is why they suit a department better than a whole company.

5. Workshops where you make the thing

The fastest-growing category, according to everyone who sells Christmas parties. Wreath making, cocktail masterclasses, gingerbread decorating, candle pouring, and pottery painting. The appeal is simple: two hours where nobody looks at a phone, a skill nobody is good at so nobody is showing off, and something physical to take home. The dinner does not give you that. Nor does a leaderboard.

6. Paint a bauble with the team (this is us)

We run festive team sessions across four London studios: Studio 136 in Kentish Town, White City inside Westfield, Balham, and Studio 221 in Camden, which is our making studio: wheel and hand-building, no painting. Painting is the easy one for a mixed team, with 300+ pieces to choose from and baubles on the shelves in December. The mug goes back to the desk in January.

Under 30 guests, book a Sip & Paint table: £5 studio fee per person, pay for the pieces you paint, bring your own drinks. From ten guests, the bespoke package is from £30 per person for two and a half hours, tailored to your team. In-studio we host from 4 to 150. VAT invoices as standard, 15% off for NHS teams and 10% for charities on Tuesday to Friday painting sessions.

Cannot get everyone out of the office? The mobile workshop comes to you for groups of 10 or more, with a £50 to £100 travel fee. Pick kiln-fired pieces that come back in a fortnight or so, or the acrylic option that goes home the same afternoon. Team split across the country? Kits shipped ahead, and we guide the session over video.

7. Gift cards for the Secret Santa (and the clients)

For the people you cannot get in a room: gift cards are digital, land the same day and are valid 12 months at any of the five studios. £25, £50, £100 or your own amount, or a Pottery Painting for One at £30. Bulk orders for clients and teams go out with your message on them. The corporate Christmas page has the full list.

Which one, then

• Under 10: a public Sip & Paint table, or an oche at Flight Club. No private hire needed.

• Ten to 30: a private studio session, an activity bar or an escape room. This is the size with the most choice.

• Thirty to 150: take over a studio, or the dinner with an activity in front of it.

• Everyone, everywhere: Winter Wonderland for the walk-around, kits in the post for the remote half.

Whatever you pick, book it in October. London in December is full of the people who did.