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The holiday season is the season for sharing and everyone loves a good excuse to bring something yummy to the office. But what if you don’t know what to bring?

Yes, we’ve all been there. It’s the night before you’re supposed to bring in a holiday treat into the office, but you’re stuck. What do you bring? Sweet? Savory? Both? Finger foods? Maybe a dip? There are so many options that you find yourself caught in a whirlwind of Pinterest ideas and thoughts of just buying something on your way into the office the next morning.

But, fear not! There’s no need to settle for pre-packaged snacks or Pinterest fails that you’re too embarrassed to serve. Instead, because we love our PaperDirect loyal customers, we’ve created a list of fail-proof, delicious holiday snacks that the whole office will love. In fact, be warned that you might be asked to bring these yummy snacks to events all year long!

If you’re ready for comments like “Who made this?” and “It’s delicious!” – check out these recipes and be the star of the show at your office Holiday party.

Cookie Dough Dip

INGREDIENTS

• ⅓ cup light brown sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• ¾ cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
• Graham crackers or Nilla wafers, to serve
• ½ cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, brown sugar and salt over medium-low heat, stirring continuously, until the brown sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat, whisk in the vanilla extract, and set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar for 1 minute, until smooth and fluffy.
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly beat in the cooled butter mixture. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Transfer the dip to a serving bowl and refrigerate if not serving immediately. Remove from the refrigerator 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Serve with graham crackers or Nilla wafers. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Peppermint Bark

INGREDIENTS

• 30 crushed peppermint hard candies, divided
• 1 1/2 pounds milk chocolate candy, coarsely chopped
• 1 teaspoon oil-based peppermint flavoring, or to taste
• 1 1/2 pounds white chocolate, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Spread 1/3 of the peppermint candy over a 9×13-inch baking pan lined with wax paper.
2. Melt the milk chocolate in the top of a double boiler over just-barely simmering water, stirring frequently and scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching, just until melted. Pour the melted chocolate over peppermint candy in the prepared pan. Sprinkle another 1/3 of the candy on top of the milk chocolate. Refrigerate until the chocolate hardens, about 30 minutes.
3. Melt the white chocolate in the top of a double boiler over just-barely simmering water, stirring frequently and scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching. Stir in the oil-based peppermint flavoring. Pour the white chocolate over the milk chocolate, then spread the remaining 1/3 peppermint candy on top.
4. Refrigerate until the white chocolate hardens, about 30 minutes. Cut or break into pieces to serve.

Christmas Muddy Buddies

INGREDIENTS

• 8 cups Chex cereal, divided
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
• 1 cup red candy melts
• 1 cup green candy melts
• 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
• 2 (gallon-sized) Ziplock bags

DIRECTIONS

1. Place 4 cups of Chex cereal in a large bowl. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine 1 cup Red Candy Melts, 1/4 cup peanut butter and 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil. Microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds, stir and cook in 15-second intervals until smooth.
2. Pour melted peanut butter mixture over cereal, toss to coat.
3. Pour coated cereal into gallon ziplock bag. Add half of the powdered sugar (3/4 cup) into ziplock bag and seal. Shake to coat cereal.
4. Pour coated cereal onto parchment or wax paper and allow to set.
5. Repeat process with remaining ingredients and Green Candy Melts.
6. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Last Minute Tips
If you’re still thinking to yourself that you just can’t do it… keep these tips in mind.

• Simple works best.The more you try to do, the more stressful it’s going to be. Not to mention, if things don’t quite work out the way you planned, you’re going to be even more bummed.
• Quality over quantity.Focus on making something that’s great and people won’t mind if it’s in a limited quantity.
• No perfection needed.If your treat doesn’t look like the picture, that’s okay. Calm your inner perfectionist and trust that it tastes delicious.
• It doesn’t have to be themed.Don’t worry about making things green and red, or holiday themed. If the dish is delicious, it doesn’t really matter what color it is.
• Bring your treat in a disposable container.Cleanup will be a breeze and you won’t freak out when you forget it at the office.

Enjoy these delicious treats and remember that PaperDirect has got you covered. Happy holidays!!

With the holidays fast approaching, you’re likely looking at a growing number of holiday parties on your calendar. From the office to your living room, the holidays are the perfect opportunity for friends, coworkers, or family to come together.

Of course, once you’ve caught up on current events and filled your plate with yummy holiday food, how will you fill the time? There’s nothing like a few group party games to get everyone laughing and having fun. Here are some awesome Christmas party game ideas to get you started!

Fun Games to Play at the Office

Hold an Ornament Raffle: Have everyone at the party guesses the number of ornaments on the tree. Closest wins a small gift!

Christmas Movie Trivia: Print out some trivia questions that are focused on Christmas movies and have your office mates divide up into teams to see who knows the most.

Charades: An oldie, but a goodie. For a holiday edition, make all the acting prompts Christmas themed.

Two Truths and a Lie: Have everyone tell two really awful Christmas gifts they’ve gotten as well as one fake one.

Office Gift Exchange: Set a price limit of $20 and then have the people in your office engage in a gift exchange. You can go white elephant, or you can have people pick names leading up to the party itself.

A Variety of Home-Based Party Games

Family Trivia: Test your family’s knowledge of each other’s favorite activities and hobbies with a round of trivia. You can even have the family participate by writing their own trivia questions.

Christmas Mad Libs: It’s easy enough to manufacture your own holiday-themed mad libs, or you can print them out for free. They’re a great time-filler, and there’s the added benefit of teaching the kids the parts of speech.

Name that Carol: Got some musical flair in your family? Try a round of “Name that Carol” in which someone sings a few bars of a popular carol and everyone else guesses the title as quickly as possible.

Pin the Nose on Rudolph: Print out a picture of everyone’s favorite reindeer and then have blindfolded people try to tack on his signature red nose.

The Penguin Waddle Game: Put balloons between your legs and have two teams race each other in a penguin waddle relay race. First one to the finish line without dropping the balloon wins!

No matter who is gathered at your holiday party, everyone will love to laugh and bond with these awesome holiday games. If you need invitations to your holiday party or a thank you note to express your gratitude for a fun, game-filled time, shop the hundreds of options at PaperDirect.

It’s likely that you’ve attended a holiday office party that doesn’t fill you with the holiday spirit – in fact, it may have been so dull that most employees wished they could just sit back down at their desks and resume their workday. Fortunately, your office doesn’t need to suffer the same fate.

If you’ve been tasked with planning a holiday party for work, look to this helpful list of tips and tricks to help you create a fun and memorable event that people will be talking about for years to come.

Send Out Invitations

Get your staff excited for the office holiday party by sending out invitations well in advance. Early invites mean that employees can block time on their calendars and begin looking forward to the impending festivities.

Pick a Theme

Nothing help set the mood of the party (and direct your efforts) like picking a theme. And don’t make the theme “holidays” – get creative with it! Plan an ugly sweater party, complete with costumes or games, or turn your office into a winter wonderland with fake snow and wintery decorations.

Don’t Make Your Employees Bring Anything

More than anything, your holiday office party should be about celebrating your employees’ hard work. So make it about them: get a catering company or restaurant to handle the food and drinks so that your team can sit back and enjoy themselves.

Commemorative Photos

Set up a small area of the office — complete with silly props and clothing — where your employees can take a photo of the occasion. The snaps will look great on your social media or recruitment pages.

Make It Interesting With Door Prizes

If your budget allows for it, get a few great door prizes that you can hand out over the course of the party. You could also have a few thematic games with prizes for the winners.

Give Your Employees a Keepsake

Prepare a small gift for each employee, as well as a custom greeting card. Fill the card with compliments, thanks, and a few words of encouragement – your employees will love feeling appreciated for all their hard work.

Remember That It’s a Holiday Party

Do your best to make the holiday party inclusive – don’t make it Christmas themed if you have employees who practice other religions. Keep it broad by branding it as a holiday party, and sticking to a nondenominational theme.

Make It a Puppy Party

Yes, this is a real thing. Check your local listings for a company that will rent a swarm of adorable puppies for a few hours. Your employees will love to destress by playing with the special guests all evening.

No matter what you’ve got in mind for your upcoming holiday party, you can count on PaperDirect to help you plan a winning holiday party for work. Our entire line of paper products can help you spread good cheer to every corner of the office.

It’s never too early to get the ball rolling on planning a company holiday party, especially if you host it off-site and incorporate vendors like catering and entertainment. Planning early means you’ll have less stress as the holidays roll around. Here’s our guide to planning the perfect holiday bash for your office!

When to Start Planning

Large companies that host parties for hundreds, or thousands, of employees work on some aspects of planning all year long if they have well-known entertainers on their wish list or are creating catering menus complete with signature drinks.

If you fit into this category and haven’t lifted a finger yet, it’s OK. You have options! Start calling venues you hope to reserve and ask if they’ve had any winter-season cancellations.

Remember, it’s not uncommon for retail-focused businesses to host their annual company holiday party in January or February so they can get through their busiest season efficiently, then unwind with a party! Use that date flexibility to your advantage.

When to Host the Party

Company parties are as unique as your business. Some are small dinner get-togethers on a Friday night to wrap up the work week on a festive note, while other parties are celebrated on a weekend so children and significant others can join in on the fun.

If your business operates 24/7, with various locations, be mindful of your staffing and plan to shut down operations for a day (or host two parties) so everyone has a chance to attend. The last thing you want to do is make anyone feel excluded from an office event.

Time of day is also important! If you plan to keep the celebration at your work location and only for staff, scheduling the party during business hours (and pausing work duties) is common. However, if you’re planning something more along the lines of a pizza and bowling party that encourages family members to attend, a Saturday afternoon or evening is best!

What You Need to Do

So, now you’re in full-on party mode! Before you can hit the dance floor or belt out your version of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer on karaoke, you have to do a little bit of planning. We’ve put together a comprehensive road map of exactly what should happen next, including creating a budget and buying gifts for the attendees. Use our holiday party checklist to make sure you cover everything in your planning!

As you work through each step, don’t forget to order your party invitations and annual awards certificates! PaperDirect can ship your stationery directly to the office so you can check yet another thing off the party planning to-do list.