Businesses Specializing in Unique Corporate Holiday Parties

by Beth Graddon-Hodgson

This year, reward your staff for their hard work by treating them to a fun and unique holiday party. Instead of the typical hotel reception room venue, with the 5-piece cover band and 4-course dinner; experience murder mysteries, James Bond or Hollywood themes with Shot in the Dark Mysteries or Canadian Outback Adventures.

Hosting a unique themed party, will not only help with team building, it will increase your standing on the various ‘Best Companies to Work For' rankings for 2009; knocking another New Year's resolution off your Executives' lists.

Shot in the Dark Mysteries is a company that offers murder mystery evenings for private parties and corporate events. What sets them apart from their many competitors is that their stories are personalized. My Bloody Christmas is their featured game of the year, which offers characters customized for your specific guests, and a typical murder mystery kit (available via PDF) containing suspect briefing instructions, chapter introduction scripts, and secret motives based on the information you have provided the Mystery Maven who creates your custom storyline.

My Bloody Christmas can accommodate any number of players, and will set the scene for a fun and memorable corporate holiday party. While Shot in the Dark Mysteries operates out of Canada, its convenient downloadable kits make it possible to host their parties around the globe.

Canadian Outback is an organization that specializes in hosting a variety of team-building activities year-round, but places an emphasis on corporate party planning for the holiday season. Their services can be provided in two ways; corporations can book guest attendance for one of their themed venues, or can get an add-on theme to enhance their pre-booked location.

This year's established theme for four of their venues in Vancouver and Toronto, Canada is Hollywood Holiday. Larger companies, with 200-500 employees looking to attend one of these events have the opportunity to book a date for their exclusive party between November 21 and December 20. Smaller organizations can still attend, but may be combined with attendees from other companies to fill the party to capacity.

Fees to attend Canadian Outback's glamorous holiday party range from $105-$149 (Canadian dollars) per person depending upon group size and requested date. Guests will get 5-star treatment with a red carpet, fancy drinks, a wide selection of appetizers, a casino setup and of course, themed décor and full party planning services.

If companies would prefer to have a James Bond, Crime Investigators Christmas, or Wild Bill's Casino theme brought to their party venue, a full entertainment package, including the talent will appear on location for about $3500 for up to 100 guests. Each party add-on is interactive; however, corporations will still be responsible for all other aspects of the party setup.