Top 5 Melbourne Corporate Christmas Party Ideas

With Melbourne being such a hub of industry, it’s typical for professionals living and working in the city to have not seen or experienced more than a fraction of what this urban haven offers. Thankfully, the end of the calendar year and the Christmas break allow millions of Australians to explore. It’s no surprise, then, that the best Melbourne corporate Christmas party ideas are those that’ll take you to new parts of the city or invite you to take on new experiences unique to Victoria’s artsy capital.

If you and your team have been working hard all year, then consider your Christmas party to be the time to let loose and indulge in all the best bits of Melbourne – aside from your daily morning coffee and cronut. Here’s our expert list of the top 5 Melbourne corporate Christmas party ideas that will make your company’s end-of-year celebrations vibrant and memorable.

1. Escape Rooms – The Ultimate Team Building Experience

Want a Christmas party idea that also doubles as a great opportunity for team building? Then you can’t go wrong with an escape room Christmas party. The intricate puzzles and adrenaline rush of solving each chronological conundrum makes escape room experiences both highly satisfying and camaraderie-building, as all the room participants must rely on one another’s knowledge and insights to progress and find their freedom.

Since escape rooms are highly structured experiences within a set schedule, this Christmas party idea is easy to organise for larger teams, ensuring everyone can quickly get home after the festivities. If you’re planning your Christmas celebrations on a Friday afternoon with a 5 pm finish, you’ll find an escape room Christmas party an excellent fit for your end-of-year schedule. And if you plan to continue partying once the escape experience is done, that works out just fine, too!

2. Scavenger Hunts – An Urban Exploration

With its many laneways, sprawling gardens and parklands, and architectural hidden gems that provide a glimpse into the city’s rich history, explorations of Melbourne never fail to enrich and delight. If you’ve been living and working in Melbourne for a while, chances are you’ve spent many a weekend just exploring the city itself and wondering how all these fascinating tidbits can exist within Melbourne’s grid network of crisscrossing streets.

This grid network also makes Melbourne the perfect city for a scavenger hunt, namely one that takes your 9-to-5-ers all over the city and lets them explore laneways and locales they won’t be able to see from along their regular tramline. For teams who are new to Melbourne, a scavenger hunt Christmas party can provide you with not only a more profound knowledge of the city’s vibrant history, culture, and design but also give the team with a fun day out that’s in total contrast to their regular office hours.

3. Yarra River Cruise – A Breezy Bash

There are many different ways to see Melbourne, from hopping on a City Circle Tram to taking in the breathtaking view from the Eureka Skydeck. Although Melbourne is a city that’s been built for walking, the winding Yarra River itself promises yet another opportunity to take in the urban sights from a new perspective: from the water itself.

If you’ve ever taken a stroll down the Southbank Promenade, you’ve probably seen the sheer variety of river cruises and party boats that travel up and down the Yarra River daily. The cooling river breeze and lively views of the heart of Melbourne make this particular end-of-year party idea a great bet for any corporate teams looking to soak up the summer sun and get into the centre of the action before Christmas comes and the city begins to quiet down once again.

4. Christmas Karaoke –  Silly Fun for the Silly Season

Corporate teams can come with their fair share of natural division. Departments can often stick together in office environments, which is excellent for fostering a sense of teamwork between team members but can also lead to work silos and segmentation of your wider company roster. If you want to promote interpersonal relationship-building between different departments, your Christmas celebrations can provide the perfect opportunity for organic icebreakers. And there is no stronger icebreaker than drunken karaoke. 

Yes, this Christmas party idea is not for the faint of heart because karaoke is just one of those activities that everybody needs to get involved in for it to really become raucous and uninhibited – the perfect recipe for unforgettable fun. If your team is filled with folk who love to carpe their diem every damn diem, then karaoke is likely to be a perfect fit! 

If this is the ideal Christmas party idea for your corporate team, then we have to recommend KBOX Karaoke, who thankfully have a few locations across the Melbourne CBD and surrounding inner city suburbs. Just find the best location for your team and make your booking swiftly because they do fill up fast around the holiday season. 

5.  Rooftop Dinner & Drinks – Savouring the Foodie Scene in Summer

Finally, there really is no better way to celebrate the end of another lucrative year for your business than by exploring Melbourne’s vibrant foodie scene, with many iconic local pubs and eateries in the CBD often changing their menu for the holiday season. Having a really decadent team dinner with artisanal delights provides a cornucopia akin to your flourishing profit margins. 

And given that Melbourne’s set to enjoy some pretty great weather this summer, we have to recommend booking out a rooftop alfresco dining space so you can enjoy an open-air degustation. The alfresco setting also offers a nice change of scenery compared to the familiar views from your office windows, so why not book out a pub or restaurant rooftop that’s also at least a few blocks away from your local haunts? That way, your Christmas feast is sure to be a lot more memorable, and you’re more likely to find a place none of your teammates have visited before, meaning the experience will be totally new for everyone.

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With so much to see and do in Melbourne at all times of the year, having a convenient home base can make corporate celebrations all the more enjoyable. Furnished apartments in Melbourne provide a comfortable, home-like environment where your team can relax and recharge between events. Opting for a fully equipped apartment ensures everyone has the flexibility to explore and unwind at their own pace, making the Christmas celebration feel like a true getaway. With this list and the objective to plan a party that offers new experiences, your Melbourne company Christmas celebrations should provide ample excitement and be a fete that’s set to start their summer holidays off with a bang!