Top 5 Tips for Planning Your Office Christmas Party

How can we be talking about planning your Office Christmas Party already we hear you scream! Believe me, we are not ready for the end of summer, but you cannot escape the fact that winter is coming. So as we know Christmas Parties take a few months to organise there is no better time to get started.

The Tipsy Pigs love nothing more than to make our client’s life easy, so here are our top 5 tips for organising an Office Christmas Party.

  1. The venue

The most important decision you’ll face is choosing the right venue.

Before you get on the old google web and search ‘Office Christmas Parties in Surrey’, it’s worth taking the time to get an idea of your numbers. You need to ensure the venue is large enough to accommodate everyone comfortably, but not too big that your party looks a bit lost!

When organising a large group of people travelling from multiple directions, we recommend you think convenience first, wow factor second. A venue that makes your eyes pop but has no reasonable transport links, can cause more pain than joy! Is it central to everyone, does it have parking, is it near a train station, and are there hotels nearby are all good questions that ultimately help your guests focus on the fun.

And then you want to think about the type of venue that suits your team. Do they offer private, exclusive spaces or is it open to other parties? Do they have the facilities for your needs? Do they have a stage for a band or DJ? What time does the music & alcohol licence finish? The right venue will have a team in place to guide you through all these.

  1. The menu

The food MUST be decent and varied. Most people love traditional Christmas dinners with all of the trimmings, but it’s important to realise that’s turkey isn’t for everyone.  So choosing a venue that offers your guests something different and has the flexibility to offer a varied selection of cuisine, as well as cater for individual dietary requirements and allergies is really important.

The Tipsy Pigs pride ourselves on delicious, home-made and fresh food but we are always happy to adapt and meet our clients needs. So whether that’s an entirely vegan dinner, allergies or any other dietary requirement, we will work with you to find a solution.

  1. The budget

Are you fortunate enough that your company is happy to foot the bill or are staff going to pay their way?  Either way, you’ll need to set a sensible budget together and then find the venue + menu that works for you.

And obviously, if you’re staff are paying their way, collecting cash is going to be one of the trickiest and drawn-out tasks ahead of you! Get your spread-sheets out and keep track right from the off. We’ve always tried to keep our costs very competitive and our Christmas packages start from as little as £25 per person.

It’s worth noting we charge a 25% deposit upfront with the balance payable in the week leading up to the party.

  1. What’s do you get?

This is where a great event team will hold your hand through the process. You need to understand exactly what you get for the price. Does the quote include everything you want? Do you want arrival drinks? Do you want table wine? Is bread and water included by the venue? What about canapés?

The best venues will throw in all the nice festive bits such as crackers for free whereas other may charge, but it’s worth checking and asking for those little extras to make your budget stretch.

  1. The date

Your Christmas party doesn’t have to be held on a Friday night in December!  Whilst that’s hugely popular it does make it more expensive. That dark, miserable month called January could be an excellent option to boost morale in the new-year whilst saving a few quid!

The Tipsy Pigs cater for two venues in Surrey.

Seasons @ Guildford Cathedral

Set on the grounds of the majestic Guildford Cathedral, Seasons is a unique and open-plan event space that sits 200.

Seasons @ The Lightbox, Woking

This prominent cultural venue boasts a number of room hire opportunities for Christmas Parties.

We’d love to hear from you, so do get in touch about planning your office Christmas Party and see how we can help make it very special.