6 ways to plan an unforgettable Christmas party

Christ­mas is a time to get togeth­er with friends and fam­i­ly to cel­e­brate. It’s an oppor­tu­ni­ty for event plan­ners to use their skills to plan par­ties with friends, friends of friends, col­leagues, or just about any­one. Whether your Christ­mas par­ty is planned for 10 or 1000 peo­ple, here are a few hol­i­day-spe­cif­ic rules to plan a mem­o­rable cel­e­bra­tion. Here are 6 ways to organ­ise an unfor­get­table Christ­mas par­ty!

Con­tents

1. Find a venue
2. Choose a for­mat
3. Plan a theme
4. Hire a DJ
5. Set a tick­et price
6. Think about your com­mu­ni­ca­tion

1. Find a venue

You’ll need to be flex­i­ble on the date when plan­ning a Christ­mas par­ty. Gen­er­al­ly, venues are booked far in advance and the key dates are rarely avail­able. Start plan­ning as ear­ly as pos­si­ble to increase your chances of book­ing a unique loca­tion, or use word of mouth to find THE rare gem fly­ing under the radar.

High on your selec­tion cri­te­ria should be easy access to your venue by pub­lic trans­port or car. Your guests need to be able to come and go to your event safe­ly.

You should also con­sid­er get­ting the fol­low­ing infor­ma­tion about the venue:

• Is the sound sys­tem and/or DJ includ­ed in the rental?
• Does the venue have a dance floor? An out­door ter­race?
• What is the max­i­mum capac­i­ty of the venue?
• Is the venue exclu­sive­ly for your par­ty?
• Will a rep from the venue be there to help you?
• Are there rooms to pro­vide accom­mo­da­tion for any guest wish­ing to stay overnight?

2. Choose a format

The for­mat of a Christ­mas par­ty will depend on your bud­get and, most of all, your guests. A 3‑course meal will cost a lot more than a buf­fet-style din­ner and will still pro­vide cater­ing for your atten­dees. It is up to you to strike the right bal­ance so that your guests are hap­py. You can even run a quick poll to know what the guests would like.

3. Plan a theme

Plan­ning a themed-Christ­mas par­ty will attract more peo­ple than a tra­di­tion­al par­ty. Many events are organ­ised at this time of year mean­ing that you’ll need to work hard to stand out. Plan some­thing that will attract and excite your tar­get atten­dees. Recent­ly, 90’s themed par­ties have been very suc­cess­ful but ear­ly 2000s themed par­ties are also increas­ing­ly pop­u­lar. You should pick a theme that will suit your audi­ence, not the oth­er way around!

4. Hire a DJ

Hir­ing a DJ for a Christ­mas par­ty can cost any­thing between £200 and £2,000, lead­ing many event plan­ners to give up and do with­out one. How­ev­er, a good DJ can com­plete­ly change the atmos­phere and be a strong asset to attract­ing peo­ple. We sug­gest you study your var­i­ous options care­ful­ly.

5. Set a ticket price

The tick­et price will depend on the for­mat of the event. If you decid­ed upon host­ing a 3‑course meal fol­lowed by a dance par­ty then around £80–100 per per­son is accept­able. Gen­er­al­ly speak­ing, char­i­ties or stu­dents organ­is­ing Christ­mas par­ties include a drink vouch­er with the tick­et to attract tick­et pur­chasers. It is a good deal for any event plan­ner! We have ded­i­cat­ed an arti­cle to help­ing you set your event’s tick­et price.

6. Think about your communication

The first thing to do when plan­ning a Christ­mas par­ty is to give it a catchy name! It is cru­cial to win the hearts of your guests as soon as you announce the par­ty. Next you’ll need to be active on social media to show how fan­tas­tic the par­ty will be. Post videos, team and back­stage pic­tures: any­thing that can entice your guests should be shared. It’s more about cre­at­ing a bond than about sales. Christ­mas is a spe­cial time of the year — your event and its com­mu­ni­ca­tion should be too!

You should start pro­mot­ing your Christ­mas par­ty as soon as pos­si­ble with a teas­er video and then put your tick­ets up for sale. Cre­ate a Face­book event to invite your friends, and your friends’ friends so that the cir­cle can slow­ly grow. Word of mouth is also very effec­tive, so feel free to get in touch with peo­ple one by one — they will then play the role of the pro­mot­er for you by telling their friends and reg­is­ter­ing as a group to your event. !

If you have already planned a par­ty with online tick­et­ing, you should send infor­ma­tion emails to the peo­ple who attend­ed in the past. The use of a mar­ket­ing tool, such as a CRM, is rel­e­vant to save you time and analyse the impact of your actions.

It is crit­i­cal to keep com­mu­ni­cat­ing and gain expo­sure until the day of the event. In the run-up to the hol­i­days peo­ple receive sev­er­al invi­ta­tions and wal­lets tend to emp­ty quick­ly. As a result poten­tial atten­dees may for­get one par­ty amongst a dozen oth­ers. This can be stress-induc­ing for the plan­ner, so you need to make sure you have a moti­vat­ed team so enlist the help of the venue man­ag­er for advice.

Christ­mas is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to plan a mem­o­rable par­ty! Don’t pan­ic if you think you’re late, every­thing usu­al­ly works out when it comes to cel­e­brat­ing. Pay atten­tion to what mat­ters, i.e. lis­ten­ing to and respond­ing to your guests — that’s all they real­ly want!

Christ­mas is get­ting clos­er, don’t wait to launch your online tick­et­ing! Using Weezevent and its many ser­vices, doing so will only take you a few min­utes. Find out more by click­ing on the but­ton below:

Plan­ning a par­ty