“Right, the Christmas party. Not my favourite night of the year, and your unhappy job to organise. Find a venue, over-order on the drinks and bulk-buy the guacamole.”
It may be over 20 years old, but we reckon this line from Harry in the Christmas classic ‘Love Actually’ pretty much sums up how most people feel about the responsibility of organising the office Christmas party…
So if, like Mia, the office Christmas party is your unhappy job to organise, here’s the ultimate party planning checklist to help you plan everyone’s favourite night of the year (guacamole optional).
#1 The brief
If you’re still in the Christmas party planning stages, here are some questions to help you nail your brief:
- What has your company done previously? Was it a success or a flop?
- Do you want to keep things simple but unexpected with games in the office? Or are you taking over an entire venue like a hotel?
- Is it staff only or are friends and family invited too?
- What kind of celebration do you want? A full-on knees-up or wholesome fun?
- Would staff prefer a daytime ‘do’ or an evening of entertainment?
- What are your guests like? Are they joyous joiner-inners or do they need a bit of encouragement?
- Do you want a formal feel or relaxed vibe?
- Will your event have a theme? E.g. winter wonderland, cosy après-ski
And possibly the most important question of all… how do you want your guests to feel? Because starting with that ‘feeling’ will help you make all your decisions from theming to timing.
#2 The budget
Asking ‘how much does a Christmas party cost?’ is like asking an event technician ‘how long is a piece of cable?’ and the answer is, of course “it depends!”
But we know that’s not particularly helpful. Because sometimes you just need an idea of how much something will cost. Without going through the whole proposal process.
So, here’s a budgeting starting point: If you have 100 or more guests, a healthy budget would be around £150 per head. But you can also book loads of cool stuff for between £3k and £10k too. In fact, our Christmas party packages start from £3,495.
The best advice we can give you is to build a bit of flexibility into your budget. Some Christmas party costs are fixed, but some will vary based on numbers. And not just the obvious ones like food and drink; depending on the size of your room and guest numbers, you might end up needing fewer games because increased guest numbers mean you have less space.
Top stress-reducing tip: Your budget will go further if you use one supplier for everything. Obviously, we’d love to be that supplier to be Clownfish, but if we’re not right for you, we’d still recommend choosing a supplier that can do everything. Not only will you save money, using a single supplier is better for the environment and gives you more flexibility if you need to make last-minute swaps or changes.
#3 The ‘big thing’ checklist
Making a decision on the ‘big things’ will help you feel more in control and less stressed. Here’s what’s on our party planning checklist:
✔️ Venue: Are you hiring a venue or having it in-house? More and more companies are having Christmas parties in-house because it’s less restrictive in terms of dates and the money you save on a venue, can be spent on fun stuff.
✔️ Guest profile: The best Christmas parties are planned around guests. What do they really want? And how can you immerse them in the event so fully, that they forget about work?
✔️ Timings: Timings (along with the venue and guest profile) will dictate food, drink, entertainment and atmosphere so it’s worth deciding on timings before you book anything else.
✔️ Food: Catering can take up a big part of your event (and budget) but you can choose to make it a much smaller part of your party. Think about whether you want a sit-down meal, stand-up bites or whether you just keep it simple with themed snacks like Christmas candyfloss or popcorn.
✔️ Drink: More and more people are choosing not to drink alcohol. Consider switching some of your alcohol budget onto party games – so guests are raving about a great night, not a great big hangover.
✔️ Speech or presentation: Is there an important speech or specific message to get across and if so, where does this fit in? Or is your party just for fun. Speaking of which…
✔️ Fun: Fun should really be at the top of the list (I mean, we are in the business of fun after all). It’s amazing how many people forget to plan in the fun and assume that over-ordering on the drinks will be the fun. Christmas games have a sneaky way of making people forget all about work. And a game that helps people shake off their corporate masks and turn up as themselves is guaranteed to bring your teams together.
✔️ Lighting: The right lighting can make a room completely unrecognisable. Use coloured uplighters for the fastest (and cheapest) way to transform your room.
Top stress-reducing tip: Keep your event information (to-do list, event schedule and a list of all your suppliers) centrally in one spot.
#4 The planning
In an ideal world (we can dream, right?), you’d have 6 months to plan your Christmas party, especially if you’re hiring an external venue or you have a fixed date in mind.
If you’re booking after August, date choices may be limited and, in our experience, most venues tend to get booked up by October.
But if your preferred venue isn’t available, or you only have a few months (or weeks) to sort a Christmas party, you DO have options:
- Focus on how you want guests to feel and base everything around that – a great venue isn’t everything. You can transform the most basic spaces with uplighters and a few great Christmas party games. If everyone’s had fun, that’s what they’ll remember.
- If you’re struggling to book caterers, you could explore a more casual dining option like street food suppliers.
- Think about what you could strip out from your event agenda to make things easier to organise.
- Get advice from people who plan events every day; they’ll tell you how to get maximum impact in the shortest timeframe and on the tightest budget (that’s us by the way 😉)
Top stress-reducing tip: Thursdays in December are peak Christmas party dates. If you haven’t booked a venue well in advance, save yourself the stress and the back-and-forth with venues, and strike Thursdays from your wish list.
#5 The timings
It might seem overkill to have a super strict schedule for an event that’s meant to be fun. Afterall, it’s just a party, right? Well, obviously you don’t want guests to know or feel like they’re on a schedule. But as the party planner, your timing plan is your secret stress-busting weapon. It’ll help you feel in control. And, if the worst happens and you’re ill, you can just hand the list to someone else (and they’ll LOVE you for it, forever. Well, maybe not forever, but until next year).
Top stress-reducing tip: Make sure your event schedule includes all the pre-event timings like event communications, deliveries and room setup. And always ask “what’s the earliest time I can access the event space?” Even if it’s taking place in your office.
