Dinner Party Activities for a Business Dinner

Large and small businesses alike host business dinners to bring together clients and colleagues, to celebrate the company's success, employee promotions or to finalize a business deal. Often held in restaurants, it is important to use ice breakers that encourage conversations and prevent awkward silence among guests that might not know each other well. In addition, dinner games help maintain team spirit after hours.

Divide the guests into pairs and ask them to interview each other for about three minutes. Each interviewer must find three interesting facts about their partner. Then gather the guests at the dinner table and ask them to present three facts about their partner to the other guests. Give the participants one minute to present their facts, then keep moving until each guest has said something. Ideally, this game is played before dinner, as it encourages conversation.

Provide each guest with pen and paper, and ask each guest to write three things about themselves that other group members would not know. Two would be true statements and one must be false. Each guest will read aloud the three facts, asking which statement is false. This activity generates conviviality and helps guests and leaders know each other better. However, guests should refrain from revealing intimate details about their lives, to prevent embarrassment in the office.

To stimulate conversations, give each guest a piece of paper with a series of questions to ask other guests. Questions can include who has the most unusual hobby, the most embarrassing experience, the favorite meal a guest has ever had and where it was or which holiday destination they found interesting. This game may be played before dinner, since it helps the guest to mix, as each guest talks to the other guests.

The phrase game involves printing an interesting phrase or phrases on a business card and placing it under each dinner plate. Phrases such as, "I wish I could go to the moon" or "If I knew then what I know now" or "To the victor go the spoils" are commonly used. Before dinner, ask each participant to memorize the phases under their plates without sharing it with anyone else. Each guest mentions the phrases in a sentence while other guests try to figure out the phrase from the conversation. This game livens up the table and opens up conversations between guests.