December 9th 2022
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Companies across the globe are gearing up for their yearly office Christmas party. Some may love them, others may hate them, but they seem to be a tradition for many modern businesses.
If you’re currently looking into throwing an office Christmas party for your employees, you might have realised just how stressful planning it can be – despite being at a time of year that’s meant to be joyous. You may also realise that you seriously need to boost your time management skills.
Well, don’t worry because we’ve put together a very handy checklist that’ll help you in your efforts to put on a memorable shindig.
1. Start Your Planning Early
There’s no time like yesterday. That’s probably when you should’ve started planning, but we’ll forgive you seeing as you’re here now.
Planning an office Christmas party is just like planning a great team event. Getting your planning started as early as possible will set you in good stead to ensure your party goes off without a hitch. You’ll need time to book music acts (or a DJ), find a suitable venue, and to get the word out to your employees too. Try to gauge what headcount you’re looking at, to make the early stages of planning much, much easier.
2. Decide on a Budget
A party can’t happen without a little starter capital. Your budget will decide the scale of your office Christmas party, so have a chat with those in charge of the purse strings to see what you’re able to make happen.
The budget will need to account for the entire party, not just the decorations, remember. You’ll need to pay for what we’ve mentioned above (DJ/music acts, the venue itself), as well as things such as food and drink or travel expenses.
Once the budget is decided, you’re now free to put your party ideas to paper.
3. Decide the Theme and Style of Your Party
Are you one for fancy dress? Or a fancy dress? The theme of your party will dictate how you decorate the venue, the invitations you prepare for your employees and maybe even the food on offer.
If you’re going for a novelty theme, where everyone is required to dress up, make sure to give everyone ample time to plan their outfit/clothes to match it – or you risk people not turning up because they didn’t have a spare pirate costume lying around.
You can, however, set no specific theme and just ask employees to turn up looking their best. This is typically the easiest option – but who doesn’t love a fun theme?
4. Set a Date and Time
This one is critical. Knowing exactly when your party is happening gets the ball rolling for everything you need to plan. After all, you’ll need the DJ to turn up to the right place, on the right day, otherwise you’re looking at a silent disco.
The start time of your party is also important, you’ll want the Goldilocks of times – not too early but not too late. Make sure to account for people with small children back at home, who’s 3AM escapades are sadly behind them. Once you know the date and time, you can then look for venues to accommodate it.
5. Book Your Venue
So, you know the exact date you want to hold your office Christmas party. Now you can get looking for a suitable venue which can hold the capacity you need. It may be a good idea to look for venues close to your office, so each employee will only have to follow a similar route to their daily commute to get there. If you look further afield, communicate this to your employees beforehand, so if they are unable to attend, you have the option to change it.
It goes without saying that you’ll need a place with at least a dancefloor and a bar – a match made in heaven!
6. Schedule Activities, Acts and Music
When people arrive at the office Christmas party, they might not know what to expect. This is where you can use your thorough planning to book some exciting special guests for the night. This could be a music act, a comedian or something interactive that everyone can get involved in.
If you don’t like the idea of a live act, you can get everyone playing some fun party games, or dare I say it, karaoke. Whichever way you go, ensure it’s something that the majority of attendees will enjoy.
7. Plan for Travel and Accommodation (if needed!)
If you’re looking to go out of town for your office Christmas party, then you’ll need thoroughly plan how you will get everyone there, and where they’ll be staying for the night. This means checking that hotels have enough accommodation for the amount of people attending, as well as booking minibuses/taxis for each person too.
Asking your employees to pay for their own transport and accommodation may dissuade people from going altogether, so we’d suggest putting this on the company account. After all, Christmas does only come around once a year – consider it an extra gift to them!
8. Recruit and Delegate Responsibilities to Your Staff
So, you know where and when you’re going to have the party. Now you need a little help. Ask some of your employees to help with the logistics of the party by assigning some roles to them. Who’s going to book the DJ? Who’s a dab-hand at interior design? Who’s designing the invitations and scheduling them to go out on time?
All of these tasks need to be done, and it’d be a big job for just one person. So, lighten the load, and ask for a little help from your employees to really make it a smooth ride.
9. Send Out the Invitations
The time has come for you to finally get those invitations out. After they’ve been designed by your delegated-invitation-designer (who’s middle name is Photoshop), they’ll be flying into the hands of every employee at breakneck speed.
Sending out the invitations stamps the seal on the party. It’s happening, and there’s no backing out now. All you need to ensure now, is that everyone has fun.
10. Leave Time for Last Minute Changes
We’d be silly not to mention that you need to leave a little time just in case something goes horribly wrong. Did the live act have to pull out? Is the DJ sick and can’t provide the beats? Well, thank the heavens that you had already planned for this.
Just like we mentioned at the beginning, early planning truly does make or break a great party, so always make sure to leave a little extra room so you can fix things in the nick of time.
Throwing an office Christmas party doesn’t have to be a stressful endeavour. It’s supposed to bring lots of people together to enjoy themselves during the festive time of the year. So don’t fret and follow the simple steps we’ve laid out for you here, and we’re sure that yours will be one to remember!
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