Works Party Ideas!

[bojogal]

We are a small business and every year have a bash for our staff and their partners - around 25 in all.
I like to do this at home as it means we can provide all the food and drink and its more personal. We have usually also provided some entertainment and its this one I'm stuck on.
We've had a year when we played silly kids party games, another when we hosted a race night for fake money and last year we hired a close up magician which was fantastic.
It needs to be not to intrusive for those who would rather stay on the sidelines with a budget of around �200.
Any ideas gratefully received!!

[what..the?]

Bouncy castle
Bucking bronco/buffalo
Hypnotist
Art/craft class
Mixed team /couples competition
bingo
karaoke
Animal demenstration from local zoo?
Fancy dress
Twister Olympics
Cocktail make and taste
Treasure Hunt
Team make a sants suit out of crepe paper
Casino and fake cash

[makemesmile]

I used to work for a small consultancy, and to raise a bit of a laugh at the Chrimbo get together, I asked all employees for a baby/toddler photo. Then I blue tacked them to a wipe board and asked every one to identify them (keeping their own secret of course). Probably not what you're looking for, but it provided a lot (!) of cheap laughs - especially as one of the directors photo was him as a naked babe in the bath!

[reinganum]

Quizzes often work well (adapt questions to suit audience). We've done the "baby-photo" in offices where I've worked and that's always been successful, too.

Another idea (similar) is to cut ads out of magazines but removing the brand name or product, and people have to guess which product it is. (With a lot of ads it isn't always as easy as it sounds.)

Another old favourite is to pin the name of a famous person (living or dead) on people's backs as they enter, then they have to ask others about their identity; but the respondents are only allowed to answer YES or NO. You have to deduce who "you" are. Usually no prizes, but great fun. (This probably comes under "kids party games"). Actually I think all this sort of thing tends to go down quite well, but you know your audience, and the most important thing is that no-one feels left out.

Hope it all goes well.

P.S. Can I come?