Annual dinner ideas

Annual dinner games that work in a ballroom

Games for a company dinner with 300 guests at round tables. These ones work, with how to run each.

What makes a dinner game work

A ballroom is not a team-building camp. Guests are seated, dressed up and eating, and many of them only know the people at their own table. The games that work share four things:

  • Guests can play from their seat, without walking to the stage.
  • The whole room can see what is happening, on the big screen.
  • One round takes five minutes or less, so it fits between courses.
  • Nobody has to perform alone unless they want to.

1. Lucky draw

The one everyone waits for. Every guest is in it, the tension builds prize by prize, and the grand prize is the moment people remember.

  • Put your staff list in before the night, or let guests enter with a QR code at their table.
  • Draw small prizes during dinner and keep the big ones for the end, so people stay until the last course.
  • Show the name rolling on the big screen. A name read out from a slip of paper is over in a second; a name that rolls, slows and lands is a moment.
  • Have a plan for winners who are not in the room: redraw on the spot and move on.

2. Best Dressed voting

If your dinner has a theme, this is the second-biggest moment of the night. Guests vote for their favourite outfit from their phones while the nominees walk the stage.

  • Shortlist the nominees during the cocktail hour, with a photo of each.
  • Open voting for two or three minutes only, with the live race on the screen.
  • Reveal the top three with a countdown, not just a winner's name.
  • Use one vote per person (staff ID or a code), or the loudest table wins.

3. Table quiz

Ten quick questions on the screen, answered on phones, with a leaderboard between questions. Tables compete as teams, which suits a dinner perfectly.

  • Mix company questions (when the first office opened, who has been here longest) with general ones.
  • Keep it to 10–15 questions, with 20 seconds each.
  • Give the winning table one shared prize, such as a round of desserts or vouchers for everyone at it.

4. Bingo

Every guest gets their own card on their phone. Instead of numbers, use things that will happen during the night: "the CEO mentions growth", "someone sings a ballad", "the emcee says 'give it up'". The first full line shouts BINGO.

  • Write 25–40 items so cards are all different.
  • Call items as they happen, or spin a wheel to call them.
  • It runs quietly in the background all night, so it suits a long programme.

5. Prize Rain

For a few seconds, prizes rain down on every phone and guests tap to catch them. It is short, loud and fair, and it gets the whole room tapping at once.

  • Good straight after the CEO's speech, when energy dips.
  • Use small prizes (vouchers, merchandise) with set chances, and a prize counter where winners collect.

6. Photo and greetings wall

Guests send photos and wishes from their phones, and they appear on the big screen as a slideshow. It fills the time while guests arrive and between items, and it gives you photos for the company newsletter.

  • Turn on approval so you see every post before it shows.
  • Put the QR code on every table card.

7. Spin the wheel

A prize wheel on the big screen with names, departments or prizes. Use it for a department challenge ("which department sings next?") or a quick extra prize round.

8. Truth or dare cards for the table

A deck of cards where the emcee picks a guest and only their phone shows the card. Keep the dares light: sing one line, do your best impression of the boss, share your first-day story.

A sample running order

For a three-hour dinner with about 300 guests:

  1. Guests arrive: the photo and greetings wall on the screen.
  2. Welcome speech, then the first course: bingo starts.
  3. Between courses: a 10-question table quiz.
  4. Best Dressed: nominees walk the stage, then three minutes of voting and the reveal.
  5. CEO's speech, then Prize Rain to lift the room.
  6. Dessert: small lucky draw prizes.
  7. The grand prize draw to close the night.

What you need on the night

  • A laptop connected to the projector or LED screen, with its own internet connection (not the venue Wi-Fi if you can avoid it).
  • Your phone to run the games from your seat or the side of the stage.
  • Guests use their own phones and mobile data. Nothing to install: they scan a QR code.
  • One person on your team who has run through every game once before the night.

Try it before the night

You can set up every game above in one Yaypick event and try it free with up to 20 people. Run it once with your committee a week before the dinner, so nothing on the night is a surprise.

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