The Last Week Before Christmas: Winding Down and Gearing Up for 2025
As the final week before Christmas, businesses across the UK begin to wind down for the holidays. The festive spirit takes hold, workloads slow, and teams look forward to a well-earned break. However, this time of year is not just for relaxing—it’s a valuable opportunity to reflect on achievements, strengthen team bonds, and plan for success in 2025.
At The Teambuilding Company, we specialise in corporate team building events that help teams celebrate, connect, and get ready for a strong start to the new year. With activities like chocolate making team building, crystal challenge team building, and outdoor team building events, we’ll help you end 2024 on a high note and enter 2025 with energy and focus.
1. Celebrate the Year’s Successes with Your Team
Before jumping into plans for 2025, take time to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments your team achieved throughout 2024. Recognising successes—big or small—motivates teams and fosters a sense of pride.
How to Reflect and Celebrate
- Host a Year-in-Review Meeting: Gather your team to look back on the highlights of 2024. Use visuals, slideshows, or videos to showcase achievements and milestones.
- Organise a Fun Celebration: Treat your team to a festive team building day that combines fun and reflection. Activities like chocolate making team building offer a light-hearted way to bond and celebrate together.
- Recognise Individual Contributions: Highlight standout efforts and achievements from your team members. A little recognition goes a long way toward ending the year with positivity and gratitude.
A meaningful celebration leaves teams feeling valued and motivated as they head into the holidays.
2. Engage in Fun and Festive Team Building Activities
The last week before Christmas is the ideal time for teams to step back from work and reconnect. Organising fun team building activities not only rewards your team for their hard work but also strengthens bonds that carry over into 2025.
Top Team-Building Activities for the Final Week
- Crystal Challenge Team Building
Inspired by the iconic TV show, this action-packed event blends mental, physical, and skill-based challenges. Teams work together to complete tasks, collect crystals, and race against the clock. It’s perfect for energising your team and boosting collaboration.
Explore Crystal Challenge Team Building - Chocolate Making Team Building
Give your team a sweet treat with a chocolate team building challenge. Teams learn to craft delicious chocolates while working together to create unique, festive masterpieces. It’s engaging, creative, and perfect for the holiday season.
Discover Chocolate Making Team Building - Corporate Treasure Hunt
Turn your office, local area, or even an indoor venue into an adventure with a corporate treasure hunt. Teams solve clues, complete challenges, and work together to uncover hidden treasures, building teamwork and problem-solving skills. - iPad Movie Making
Let creativity take centre stage as your team scripts, films, and produces short movies using iPads. This unique team activity fosters collaboration, creativity, and plenty of laughs—plus, you’ll have videos to share and enjoy long after the event. - HAKA Event
The HAKA event brings energy and unity to all spaces. This powerful and engaging activity connects teams, motivates individuals, and creates a shared sense of purpose. - Large Group Icebreakers
If you’re working with a big team, large group icebreakers are a fantastic way to break down barriers, get everyone involved, and inject energy into the workplace before the holidays.
By incorporating fun team activities into your schedule, you’ll help your team unwind, bond, and head into the break feeling connected and motivated.
3. Plan Ahead: Set Your Goals for 2025
While it’s tempting to switch off entirely in the final week of the year, a little forward planning can make all the difference when January rolls around. Use this quieter time to set goals and prepare for a strong start in 2025.
How to Plan for the New Year
- Host a Planning Workshop: Gather your team to discuss goals, challenges, and priorities for 2025. Collaborative sessions help align everyone toward a shared vision.
- Set SMART Goals: Make objectives clear and actionable with the SMART framework—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
- Book a January Team-Building Event: Kickstart 2025 with a corporate team building event. Activities like indoor team building events or outdoor team building events are great ways to refocus and energise your team for the year ahead.
Starting the year with clear plans ensures your team hits the ground running after the holidays.
4. Strengthen Team Connections
The festive season is all about connection and gratitude, making it the ideal time to strengthen relationships within your team. A connected team is more productive, collaborative, and motivated to succeed.
Strengthen Bonds with These Activities
- Fun Icebreaker Activities: End the year on a light note with fun icebreaker activities that encourage laughter, storytelling, and connection.
- Crystal Challenge Team Building: Recreate the excitement of the legendary Crystal Maze with a series of fun, fast-paced challenges designed to promote teamwork and problem-solving.
Whether you opt for indoor team building sessions or adventurous outdoor team building events, activities like these help teams bond and head into 2025 stronger than ever.
5. Find the Perfect Balance of Celebration and Productivity
The last week before Christmas is all about balance. While it’s important to celebrate, it’s equally crucial to tie up loose ends and leave the office ready for the new year.
Tips for Managing the Final Week
- Wrap Up Tasks Early: Encourage the team to complete key projects before the final week, so they can focus on festive activities.
- Celebrate Achievements: Schedule a team building day or festive event to celebrate accomplishments from 2024.
- Communicate January Plans: Share key dates, objectives, and expectations for January, so the team feels prepared for the year ahead.
Balancing fun with a focus on the future ensures your team enters the break feeling positive, organised, and ready for 2025.
6. Why Year-End Team Building Matters
Investing in team activities during the last week of the year has lasting benefits for your team. Activities like crystal challenge team building, chocolate team building, or a corporate treasure hunt create lasting memories, build trust, and reinforce collaboration.
Why Choose The Teambuilding Company?
- Tailored Experiences: We offer a range of events, from Christmas Themed events, indoor team building events, outdoor team building events, charity events and icebreakers.
- Expert Facilitation: Our experienced team ensures every event runs seamlessly, delivering maximum engagement and enjoyment.
- Proven Impact: Our activities capture communication, boost morale, and build stronger teams.
Discover Our Full Range of Team-Building Events
Looking Ahead to 2025
The last week before Christmas isn’t just about winding down—it’s a time to celebrate success, reconnect as a team, and set the stage for a successful year ahead. By engaging in fun team building activities, like crystal maze team building, chocolate making team building, or charity event, you’ll ensure your team finishes 2024 on a high note and enters 2025 with energy, unity, and purpose.
From all of us at The Teambuilding Company, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Ready to plan your next team-building experience? Contact us today by calling 01590 676599 or emailing us on events@teambuilding.co.uk and let’s make 2025 your best year yet!
Activity List:
OUTDOOR EVENTS
Crystal Challenge Team Building Event
A variety of Physical and Mental team challenges
Our Crystal Challenge team building event is designed to challenge your teams’ abilities to think quickly outside the box on a selection of purpose built team activities.
Taking inspiration from the Crystal Maze TV show, we have designed these unique, fun and engaging team puzzles which require your team to work together effectively in order to complete each one, winning crystals based on their performance.
The nature of these activities requires team members to draw upon their communication skills, leadership qualities and problem solving abilities which, in turn, will lead to improved performance.
This event is perfect for customers wanting an activity day without anything too physically demanding; the tasks are designed to exercise the mind more than the muscles, with a variety of brain teasers, puzzles and challenges.
Country Sports Outdoor Team Building Event
A Thrilling Day in The Country
There's no better way to enjoy the great outdoors than to have a go at our selection of fun, challenging and engaging Country Sports activities. We have a great variety of team challenges including archery, laser clay shooting, Segways and duck herding amongst many others.
This event is designed to create an interesting and fun team bonding experience, fostering friendly competition in a lovely setting. The Country Sports event can be a great follow on from a morning of meetings, although more often than not clients like to enjoy a full day Country Sports team building event.
We work with a variety of venues all over the UK which we have selected for the quality and suitability of their outdoor facilities. Please contact us talk through which venue might be best for your team. Many of venues even allow us to run our high adrenaline motorised activities from Quad Bikes to Powerturns; again please talk to us.
The Perfect Teambuild
A Taster Selection of Events
We have combined two of our favourites to create The Perfect Teambuild. Enjoy the high adrenaline, physical elements of Country Sports with the fun yet challenging cerebral exercises from Crystal Challenge.
We keep the day active and adrenaline filled with activities such as Human Table Football and Laser Clay Pigeon Shooting, while tasks like Cypher and Chemical Rescue reinforce the team fun element.
Chose from fifteen different team building activities to build your day in a format which suits you and your budget. We can get the blood racing in Inflatable Volleyball, challenge you with Bridge Build, change tempo for accurate Pistol Shooting, delight you with Duck Herding and finish off with a Team Ski! Or any other combination of activities.
The Great London Treasure Hunt
The City's Streets are your Playground!
Our London Treasure Hunt takes your team on an exciting journey through the nation's great capital, exploring the history and sights of this historic city.
We meet you at a pre-determined location. Whether it's your offices, a hotel, conference centre, pub, restaurant or even Waterloo Station, we can start the Treasure Hunt from any location.
You will receive a briefing from your event manager and each team will be issued with an iPad. The iPads are loaded with bespoke software that allows teams to navigate around the city answering a variety of questions and completing various challenges.
Teams will plot their route based on the location of on-screen 'hot-spots,' each of which hosts a different challenge. These might include general knowledge questions, location based questions, photo challenges and a list of items that your team has to retrieve.
You may also have to find a couple of our characters during your journey. Once found, these characters will give you additional tasks for bonus points. London is full of characters though so keep your wits about you!
Our iPads and software ensure the day is fun, interactive and challenging; but also mean that there’s no Googling the answers from the pub
Customised for Your Chosen Location
The Hidden Quest Treasure Hunt takes participants on a cryptic, interactive journey into the secret nooks and crannies of a location of your choice. Each team is provided with an iPad tablet featuring state-of-the-art Treasure Hunting software.
The route is mapped out with a series of GPS 'hotspots' that teams must visit in order to complete specific tasks and puzzles. They also meet costumed characters enroute who will give out bonus challenges.
Each Treasure Hunt is scripted to the location of your choice so is completely unique! The day will be themed on interesting quirks, unusual history and fun facts relating to the surrounding area.
The Parmesan Job Outdoor Team Building Event
A Thrilling Treasure Hunt in Fiat 500s
The Parmesan Job is frequently described by participants as the best team building event they have ever experienced and it doesn't take much to see why. The Parmesan Job is themed on the classic movie ‘The Italian Job’ except this time it’s you driving a fleet of Fiat 500s!
Your objective is to complete an elaborate treasure hunt hosted on iPads complete with twists and turns which all helps to add to the fun and drama of the day.
At the start of the event you will be met by one of our shady gang members who gives you an introduction to the mission ahead. You’ll then navigate your way to find clues, meet characters and complete challenges.
The event ends with a dramatic final scene featuring pyrotechnics where teams are “only supposed to blow the bloody doors off” and retrieve the gold
Spy School Team Building Event
Welcome to Spy School
You arrive at our top secret mobile spy training camp, which can be located at any suitable venue across the UK. You are greeted by our Director of Training who explains that in preparation for an international crisis, MI6 is recruiting operatives to act as ‘sleeper’ agents.
Teams from your organisation may be selected to undergo an intense one-day course, training you in the clandestine arts of the intelligence services. There are a wide variety of spy themed activities to select from, many of which include various forms of marksmanship and specialist driving challenges.
Please contact ‘Q Branch’ on 0800 975 0728 to discuss the most suitable training for the recruits you may have identified within your organisation.
Black Cab Treasure Hunt Outdoor Team Building Event
Explore London in a Fleet of Iconic Black Cabs
The legendary London Black Cabs are incorporated into our London Treasure Hunt – expanding the Treasure Hunt area and adding an exciting dimension to the event.
All Black Cab drivers have to pass ‘The Knowledge’, a stringent exam proving their incredible knowledge of London’s complicated roads. From these impressive masters of their trade we choose the friendliest and most fun drivers for our Treasure Hunt.
A matched fleet of smart Black Cabs will arrive at the chosen venue to take your teams around London. You will complete challenges using our iPads pre-loaded with a tailored Treasure Hunt that will guide you around the city whilst you undertake a variety of tasks.
The Rookie - The Apprentice themed Team Building
You’re Hired! . . . or Fired!
Based on the BBC's ‘The Apprentice’ this event has teams dashing around collecting weird and wonderful items in a mad scavenger hunt challenge.
Meet the shrewd Lord Sweetener, business-guru, media-mogul, captain of industry and tyrannical tycoon: listed in Forbes Top 100 Wealthiest Fictional People.
Lord Sweetener will give you a list of items, both mad and mundane, to scavenge in the immediate vicinity. You’ll need to blag, brag and barter to get the best deals and save your limited spending money. You don’t want to incur the wrath of Lord Sweetener!
This Apprentice style team building event can be run from almost any venue. All we need is a room to start and finish in. We script each Rookie event to you, no event is the same! Once you’ve chosen a venue we research the area and local shops to draw up a unique scavenger list of wild and whacky items for you to find and buy.
'Head to Head' Tablet Based Treasure Hunt
In a seemingly normal meeting, your presentation is interrupted as our elite hacker takes control only to inform your group that they have uploaded a sophisticated virus dubbed ‘Psyclone 17’ to your company’s database. Once live, the virus will disperse itself throughout your company files wiping out everything in its path.
Midnight Deadline
However there’s a twist, the virus will only go live at the stroke of midnight… in the meantime the hacker has devised a ‘game’ to test your worth and give you a chance to stop the virus.
Find Agents and Solve Puzzles
In steps our event manager will brief your group on how our iPads work along with the state-of-the-art Treasure Hunt software. The tablets lead you on a trail to mystery locations where you will have to find covert field agents and solve fiendish puzzles.
Surveillance Challenge and Scavenger Hunt!
In addition to puzzles, your mission includes exciting surveillance challenges, such as photo missions, that will require your team to demonstrate resourcefulness and adaptability. You'll also need to collect scavenger items that hold the key to solving the mystery and preventing the virus from taking hold.
Don’t worry, we won’t be forcing you to sit around a table rolling dice to re-create ‘family games night’ with your co-workers. Instead we’ve created our very own spin on the classic game that requires clever planning, quick thinking and a good eye!
Our Monopoly Treasure Hunt is the perfect way to explore London, see the sights that the UK’s capital city has to offer as you race around earning points by completing location based challenges.
Welcome to our London Canal Treasure Hunt! Your team will cruise along iconic waterways, enjoying stunning views and discovering hidden gems. Our routes offer a blend of tranquillity and competitive excitement. Dig out your sailor’s cap and select your captain as you glide down one of London’s historic and charming waterways - unlocking and completing a series of bespoke challenges.
Each team will be allocated an eco-friendly boat with a relaxing top speed of up to 3.5 knots. The boats can accommodate up to 8 people and depart from Paddington or Canary Wharf. Each team is provided with lifejackets, an iPad featuring state-of-the-art treasure-hunting software, and a map outlining the permitted waters for your adventure. An experienced skipper will provide a safety brief and boat operation demo to ensure everyone feels confident.
Our Treasure Hunts are customised for the location you choose and can be tailored to your company or event, including incorporating logos and artwork on the iPads. With our comprehensive event management service, our team will take care of things from start to finish.
INDOOR EVENTS
Chocolate Making Team Building Event
Your Very Own Chocolate Factory
Everyone loves chocolate… but have you ever tried making it? Well you’ve won the golden ticket! The flexibility of our Chocolate Making event means that we can convert any room into a pop-up chocolate factory.
You’ll be shown how to create some delectable chocolate delights by our ‘Master Chocolatier’ before having a go at making your very own artisan delicacies.
You are spoilt for choice as you mix your own succulent truffle centres from our huge range of delicious flavourings and ingredients. For even naughtier treats, we have a wide selection of liquors and spirits to give your chocolates a little je ne sais quoi!
We’ll provide chef hats and aprons so you look and feel the part, and include specialist chocolate making equipment such as granite surfaces for tempering.
The F1 Challenge Formula 1 Themed Event
Race to Build
Stand alongside Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull as you create a winning team for our F1 Challenge. Design, build and then race your own F1 car in this riveting team building event.
Your team is supplied with a pre-designed chassis which is the starting block for the car. You then blueprint a bodywork design to build and brand your car, winning points for the best designs. Be careful to stay within the legal specifications - you don’t want to be disqualified…
Formula 1 is about more than just the cars though, you will also need to design a brand for your team. Team hats, overalls and the car must be branded with your logo and sponsors’ names after you have pitched your theme to our experts.
Finally the cars are lined up for a head to head race down the track into the pits where your pit team remove and replace the tyres as fast as possible before charging back to the start!
The Ultimate Challenge Team Building Event
Hundreds of Challenges to Compete Against the Clock!
The Ultimate Challenge is one of our most competitive events. This fast paced, fiddly and fun event has teams frantically completing short, sharp challenges against the clock.
Each team is given an Ultimate Challenge Chest filled with a veritable smorgasbord of finickity puzzles, fiendish challenges and funny activities. You’ll get a few minutes to sort through the contents and plan your strategy to best use your team’s skills.
Then the competition begins and you complete as many of the challenges as possible in five minute bursts, between chances to showcase your successes. The tempo is fast, the completion zealous and the room fills with energy in our Ultimate Challenge!
iPad Movie Making Team Building Event
Welcome Aspiring Directors, Actors & Actresses
A team building event that brings out your creative flair and gives you a chance to enjoy the thrill of filming – from both sides of the camera...
Our iPads have 8 megapixel, 1080p HD cameras with an eye-watering 2448 x 3264 resolution. You’ll be able to shoot stunning slow-motion at 120 frames per second for all-important action shots.
Using the impressive iPad Movie Maker, our professional film equipment, props and costumes, you’ll film and act in your own high-quality short film – which you’ll then cut, edit and polish before screening to the group.
Rollercoaster Indoor Team Building Event
Thrills, Spills and Teambuilds…
The challenge is for teams to work together to design and build a rollercoaster which transports a football along its entire length propelled only by gravity!
The ball must roll unaided from the start to the end of your rollercoaster. Bonus points for unnecessary engineering jumps, twists or even a loop the loop into the crazy structure.
Our Rollercoaster challenge is a great team building event for groups of all sizes but with a huge group the event becomes quite a spectacle.
You will need plenty of space; it is surprising how quickly the structure grows. This event quickly combines the logical and creative strengths of participants in a massive coordinated team building challenge that is fantastic fun.
Indoor Crystal Challenge Team Building
Team Challenges to Test the Mind
Paying tribute to the famous TV show ‘Crystal Maze’, the Crystal Challenge event pitches your group into an exciting and unique team building experience with ingenious cerebral and spatial challenges.
Just like on TV, the successful completion of each task is rewarded with crystals that will be tallied at the end to find the winning team. This event combines competition and teamwork in an enthralling set of team building challenges.
Usually outdoors, we have adapted this most popular of events to move inside. Perfect for winter teambuilding, we will run this day from your offices, a hotel or conference centre. We have an awesome suite of custom built kit developed and perfected over the last 25 years.
The day can be used to reflect any number of relevant key values including communication, trust, leadership and planning. The Indoor Crystal Challenge is one of our less physically demanding events, exercising the mind rather than the muscles. More than anything though, the activities are great fun!
Beat the Box Team Building Event
Fast paced and fun challenges to test the team
Taking inspiration from the hit TV game show ‘The Cube’, our Beat the Box team building event requires teams to complete a series of bespoke challenges expertly designed to promote communication, collaboration, and problem-solving.
Containing an equal number of individual and team activities, this highly inclusive and competitive event has been custom designed to be enjoyable for all participants whilst promoting the team dynamic.
This electrifying event combines timed box challenges completed at tables and pressure-packed showcase challenges - inspired by the heart-stopping gameshow - in our Beat the Box Arena. The room will be brought back together throughout the event to participate in head-to-head team activities
Crime Scene Investigation - Indoor Team Building Event
There’s been a murder!
And you need to find the culprit... A body has been found and you’re the first CSI team on the scene! Will you demonstrate a detective’s intuition and prove yourself CID material?
Piece together the evidence to solve the case. Using genuine techniques including fingerprint analysis, chromatography, fibre identification and ultra-violet lighting, you’ll comb the scene for clues.
Kitted up in forensic suits, dust for fingerprints to compare with prints from the suspects before interviewing the witnesses. You will need to build a fool proof case before interrogating the accused.
The CSI event encourages team bonding; it is a great fun, mentally stimulating and a chillingly convincing challenge... We’ll have your team scratching their heads as they piece together the puzzle, before experiencing the thrill of solving a realistic murder mystery.
Charity Events
Pedal for Purpose Charity Bike Build Event
Pedal to Make a Difference!
Welcome to “Pedal for Purpose,” a unique charity focused event where your team will build bikes that make a real difference. Working together, your group will construct new bicycles to be donated to local charities, giving the gift of mobility to those in need. This inspiring activity combines collaboration, creativity, and the joy of giving back, making it an unforgettable experience for everyone involved.
This versatile event can take place both indoors and outdoors, allowing it to take place all year round. The day will be split between two sessions consisting of a number of head-to-head challenges, giving participants a chance to earn points for their team, before moving onto the bike build.
Skate to Donate Charity Skateboard Build Event
Build, Bond, and Give Back
Welcome to “Skate to Donate” - a charity event where your team builds and customises skateboards that will be donated to local youth charities. This hands on, creative experience brings your team together with a shared goal, blending teamwork with the fulfilment of giving back. Not only will participants construct high quality skateboards, but they’ll also add unique, personalised designs, making each board a symbol of their collective creativity and spirit.
Purpose with a Positive Impact
What makes “Skate to Donate” special is its impact on the community. Each skateboard built is donated to charitable organisations, providing a source of joy and mobility to children and teens who may not have access to skateboards. This initiative brings a meaningful layer to the event, leaving your team with a sense of accomplishment, knowing their work will make a real difference.
Bake a Difference Charity Baking Event
Bake, Bond, and Make a Difference!
Welcome to “Bake a Difference,” a hands-on team event that combines friendly competition with a heartwarming purpose. Your team will work together to bake and decorate an array of delicious sweet and savoury treats. The twist? These creations aren’t just for fun - they’ll be donated to local charities, shelters, or community centres, spreading joy to those in need. With the help of a professional chef, your team will learn new skills, enjoy a friendly bake-off, and experience the power of giving back through the simple act of baking.
Purpose with Heart
What makes “Bake a Difference” unique is its impact on the community. Every treat baked during the event is donated to a local charity, helping to support those who could use a little extra comfort and nourishment. Teams leave the day knowing their teamwork has contributed to a meaningful cause, turning a fun activity into a gesture of goodwill.
Karts for Kids Charity Kart-Building Event
Build, Race, and Give Back
Get ready to roll with “Karts for Kids” - a high energy team building activity where your team designs, builds, and races their own wooden karts. This unique event combines teamwork, creativity, and friendly competition as teams assemble, decorate, and race their karts in an exciting finale. The best part? All karts will be donated to local schools or charities, spreading joy to children in the community. It’s a memorable day that blends team bonding with a rewarding charitable impact.
Design, Build, and Brand
Each team starts with a sturdy, pre-made chassis, serving as the foundation for their kart. Armed with materials, tools, and a bit of imagination, teams set to work designing their kart’s body. From sleek racing styles to playful themes, every team can add personal touches with the equipment provided, transforming their kart into a unique reflection of their team spirit.
Thrift for a Gift Charity Care Package Challenge
Scavenge, Assemble, and Give Back
In “Thrift for a Gift,” teams take on an exhilarating scavenger hunt with a heartwarming mission - to create care packages for those in need. Guided by a “wish list,” your team will scour the area to find essential and comforting items that will go directly to local charities or shelters. This unique event combines the excitement of a competitive scavenger hunt with the satisfaction of giving back, as teams gather items to create thoughtfully curated packages that will bring warmth and support to the community.
The Thrill of the Hunt with a Purpose
Instead of just gathering quirky items, each team works to secure useful and meaningful goods for their care packages. From warm socks and hygiene essentials to blankets and treats, each item has a purpose, adding to the day’s sense of accomplishment and compassion. Teams will need to be creative, resourceful, and savvy as they barter, budget, and make the most of their spending money to ensure their care packages contain as many helpful items as possible. It’s a powerful reminder that teamwork can make a direct difference in people’s lives.
