Corporate Holiday Party Entertainment Ideas NYC
8 Underused Entertainment Options for Your Corporate Holiday Party
There’s a lot to planning your annual corporate holiday celebration, and when you get it wrong you’ll hear about it all year. It’s kind of hard to keep things fresh in New York, where even the most unusual and bizarre things become trite and overused almost overnight. The truly unique and exciting entertainment options (who wouldn’t want a live performance by Ed Sheeran or a personal presentation by Cirque du Soleil?) are hard to come by and incredibly expensive.
We’ve picked out several options that are both affordable (depending, of course, on the vendor you select) and interesting. No overused has-been entertainment choices here, nope! Best of all, you can up the ante a boatload (pun intended) by hosting your corporate holiday party on a charter yacht. Cruises around the NY Harbor are ideal for your holiday gala. Happy planning!
1. Book a Drumline or Percussion Band
Instead of an ordinary band or cover band, try something different and book a drumline, percussion band, or bugle corps. You can actually rent the New York Giants’ drumline, as well as many other drumlines and bugle corps around NYC. Some also provide dancers for even greater overall entertainment value. Talk to the band ahead of time and make sure their equipment is suitable for the party room on a charter yacht, but most are quite portable and yacht ballrooms are generous in size with excellent PA systems.
2. Acrobats or a Circus Show
In light of the popularity of shows like Cirque du Soleil, numerous similar acts have popped up in the City. These shows are suitable for all age groups, so if your employees want to bring their kids to your corporate holiday party, you won’t have to worry about inappropriate material from a comedian or unsuitable music from a modern band. Alternatives include street dancers, break dancers, hypnotists, and illusionists.
3. Host a Night of Improv
If your employees like to talk about “Who’s Line is It Anyway” around the water cooler, they might enjoy a comedy improv show at your corporate holiday party. These shows are easy to set up and execute on a NYC charter yacht, and since they’re done on the fly, you don’t have to worry about whether or not your guests have already seen the act.
4. Hire a Caricature Artist
Many companies steer clear of “Christmas gifts” or gift-swapping games like Dirty Santa. You can still give your guests something to take home while providing an evening entertaining in the process. Hire a caricature artist to draw caricatures. Employees will especially get a kick out of depictions of your CEO and their managers. Alternately, you can have the artist draw famous people instead of your own employees. Consider adding a screen for viewing the artist at work from around the room, or live streaming it for remote workers to enjoy, too.
5. Invite a Reality TV Star
Are your employees really into Real Housewives, Shark Tank, or The Bachelorette? These reality show stars are far more affordable to hire than other Hollywood stars and starlettes, and they’re amazing personalities to up the entertainment value of your corporate holiday gathering. They’ll mingle with your guests, sign autographs, pose for pictures and selfies, and many will also offer a talk or performance, as well. Alternately, you can hire a celebrity impersonator or a local sports figure to liven your event. A NYC charter yacht provides the ideal backdrop for those fun celebrity photos!
6. Rent a Golf Simulator
Did you know this was a thing? Because we didn’t know this was a thing. You can actually rent a golf simulator for your corporate holiday party! If your employees are the type to regularly come down with the “flu” when the Masters is on or duck out early any pretty day that tee times are available, then this is for you. Consider providing optional entertainment for the non-golfers (and the serious ones who need to back off and let someone else take a turn). Your yacht charter service can help you provide alternate games to entertain your employees, such as setting the party room up like a real Atlantic City casino.
7. Offer a One-Night DIY Class
This is the Age of DIY, as evidenced by all of the local businesses offering date night cooking classes, Sips ‘n’ Strokes, and similar DIY type outings. Bring the DIY fun to your corporate holiday party by hiring a local professional to provide a sushi making class, floral arranging, painting, woodworking, scrapbooking, international culinary class, or any kind of DIY tutorials that suit your employees’ fancy. If you opt for a cooking class, you might consider a lighter meal, such as hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, a salad bar, or perhaps a pasta buffet.
8. Bring in a Slow Motion Video Booth
Awhile back, the photo booth became enormously popular at parties and corporate events. In typical New York fashion, that quickly got replaced with something bigger and better. Now the rage is slow motion video booths. Even the most mundane joking around among coworkers makes for an epic slo-mo video that they’ll treasure for years. This is an excellent option for entertainment if your corporate holiday event features lots of speeches, an awards ceremony, or other business presentation, because it’s something they can enjoy in between the other events you have planned for the evening. Many of the charter yachts available for rent also offer the standard photo booth so employees can get great shots of themselves, their coworkers, and their families.
The party planning experts at Yachts For All Seasons are here to help you with everything from picking the perfect NYC charter yacht for your corporate holiday party to planning the entertainment to catering your dinner. We also offer other services, like helping you with party themes and decorations and floral services to provide gorgeous arrangements for your corporate event. Contact us to start planning your corporate holiday NYC party today!
