This Christmas party planning checklist is for the venue side: the hotel, restaurant or event space that sells shared party nights in December. On those nights several companies and groups book places at the same party: a three-course dinner, a drink on arrival, a DJ and dancing until late. They can fill a dozen Fridays and Saturdays in a row, and they bring more questions, menu changes and invoices than any other month.
It follows the season from the first planning step to the last night and covers what the office organizer on the other side needs from you, because that person decides where their team goes next year. Starting late? There is a four-week version further down.
Shared party nights or exclusive hire?
Most venues offer two products, and they plan differently:
- Shared party nights. You set the dates, the menu and the price per person. Groups from different companies book places, from a couple of colleagues to a whole department, and sit at their own or shared tables.
- Exclusive hire. One company takes the whole room for an evening. This is usually a contract with a minimum spend, not a ticket sale.
The rest of this checklist is about shared nights.
Three to four months before: set up the season
- Pick the dates. Typically every Friday and Saturday from late November until just before Christmas, plus a few Thursdays when demand is high.
- Fix capacity per night. Count seats with tables in party layout, not your normal restaurant layout.
- Decide the package. Arrival drink, three courses with a choice of main, coffee, DJ until a fixed time. Write down what is not included.
- Set the price per person. See the next section.
- Write your terms. Deposit or full payment, the deadline for final numbers and menu choices, what happens when a group shrinks. Publish them before the first booking.
In Event Ticket Hub, the ticketing app in KIMISUITE, a whole season is one event with a weekly series of dates (up to 120). Each night keeps its own number of places, its own attendee list and its own sales figures.
Price per person: work it out per night
Each party night has fixed costs (DJ, extra staff, decoration) and costs per guest (food, arrival drink). An example for one night:
- Fixed costs 900 EUR, food and drink 32 EUR per guest, 120 places
- You plan with 75 % of places sold, which is 90 guests
- 900 / 90 = 10 EUR of fixed costs per guest, plus 32 EUR: 42 EUR
- With an assumed 3 % payment fee, the break-even price is 42 / 0.97 = 43.30 EUR
- For 600 EUR profit per night: 50.17 EUR
- At a planned price of 49 EUR, you break even after 58 guests
This example has no VAT in it. Run your own numbers in the event ticket price calculator with your payment fee and the VAT rate for your tickets, and price quiet nights separately: a Thursday at 50 % needs a different price than a sold-out Saturday.
Over twelve nights, small fees per ticket add up. The ticket fee calculator shows what ticketing fees cost across the whole season.
Two to three months before: open sales
- Early-booking price. Give it a sales window that ends on a date you choose, so the normal price takes over by itself.
- Limit per order. Set a maximum per order so one firm cannot take every place on the busiest Saturday.
- Menu question per guest. A required selection question with your starters and mains turns into exact numbers per night. Add a second question for allergies and diets.
- Bank transfer. Many companies pay by transfer. With it switched on, your bank details go out with the booking and the places stay held until the payment is due.
- Company details. Organizers enter company name, address and VAT number at checkout, so the invoice is right the first time.
- Your past customers first. Email last year's organizers before you advertise. A voucher code can unlock a hidden early-booking ticket only for them.
What the office organizer needs from you
Think of the person in accounts or HR who was asked to "sort out the Christmas party." They need:
- One price per head they can put in a budget, with what is included
- One order for the whole team, not 14 separate payments
- An invoice in the company name
- Time to collect names and menu choices, and a clear deadline for final numbers
- A confirmation they can forward to colleagues
In Event Ticket Hub, the organizer books all places in one order and enters the menu choice for each ticket. With personalized tickets, names can be changed on the order page until the deadline you set, which helps when someone is out sick. The organizer finds the booking again at any time with the order number and email address.
One month before: keep the numbers clean
- Watch sales per night and push quiet nights in your marketing.
- Remind organizers of the menu deadline.
- Hand the kitchen a first count per night and plan staff from the real numbers.
- Take phone bookings by hand: you create the order yourself, paid or with payment still open, and the tickets go out by email.
Starting late: the four-week version
If the first party night is only a few weeks away, cut the list down to what protects the evening:
- Publish the dates, the package and one price per person. Skip the early-booking price.
- Make the menu and allergy questions required per ticket from the first booking.
- Set the menu deadline about ten days before each night and put it in your terms.
- Call last year's organizers yourself and enter their bookings as manual orders.
- Pair the door phones before the first night.
The party nights themselves
- Before each night: print the attendee list with tickets and menu choices, or export it to Excel for your table plan.
- At the door: groups arrive within minutes of each other. Your team scans tickets on their phones, searches by name when someone forgot theirs, and checks in a whole group at once.
- After each night: the sales report per date shows gross sales, refunds and check-ins, so you know which nights to repeat.
January: plan next year
- Note which nights sold out first and which needed discounts.
- Ask a few organizers what made booking easy or hard.
- Keep their contact details for next year's mailing. If Contacts is in your workspace, buyers from Event Ticket Hub land there without duplicates.
The checklist at a glance
- Dates, capacity, package and price per night fixed
- Terms with deposit, deadline and changes published
- Order limit set, menu and allergy questions required per ticket
- Bank transfer and company details at checkout switched on
- Last year's organizers contacted first
- Attendee list per night printed for kitchen and floor
- Door phones paired, guest search ready
