Planning the company Christmas party: timeline, music and five mistakes made every year
3 min read
The Christmas party is the one event of the year nearly the whole workforce turns up to – and the one most often planned at the last minute, even though it has been in the calendar since January. This guide walks through the planning in the order it comes up: date, running order, speeches, music.
The date: earlier than you think
The Fridays and Saturdays between late November and mid-December are the most sought-after dates of the year for venues, caterers and DJs. Start looking in October and you no longer choose where and with whom you celebrate – you take what is left.
A date in January is not a fallback. As a New Year reception or winter party you get the same celebration without competing for the room, and everyone has one evening less in an already packed December.
- By the summer – fix the date and settle the budget
- By September – book the venue and the DJ
- October – send the invitation, with a reply deadline
- Early November – give the venue and caterer the guest count
- One week before – go through the running order with venue and DJ one last time
The reply deadline is the step most often missing. Without it you plan for the number invited rather than the number coming – and a room for 120 with 70 people in it feels empty.
A timeline that works
A Christmas party nearly always runs in the same order. The times shift from company to company; the gaps between the points hardly do.
- 6:30 pm – arrival, drinks, music in the background
- 7:15 pm – welcome from management, ten minutes at most
- 7:30 pm – dinner
- 9:00 pm – the programme in one go: awards, long-service honours, raffle
- 9:30 pm – the dance floor opens
- 1:00 am – the end, or whatever the contract with the venue says
Anything that has to be said belongs before dinner or straight after it. A speech at half past ten pulls people off the dance floor, and many of them do not come back.
Speeches and programme: short and in one block
Several small programme points spread across the evening look varied on paper. In practice each one interrupts whatever had just got going. One block works better: awards, long-service honours, thanks, raffle – half an hour, and after that the evening belongs to the guests.
Speeches need a wireless microphone somebody has held before, and a spot from which the whole room can see the speaker. If you want to show photos or a video, check with the venue whether there is a screen and projector – and test the sound before the guests arrive, not while everyone is waiting.
The music: Christmas, yes – in small doses
Christmas songs belong in the evening: quietly in the background as people arrive, and later in a short block once the dance floor is already full. Build the whole night on them and after an hour you have a room that cannot face “Last Christmas” one more time.
These songs work reliably at a Christmas party because they are danceable and almost everyone can sing along:
After the Christmas block, do not move on to the next Christmas song – follow it with a track that would work in July as well. Otherwise the block turns into a theme.
The five mistakes made every year
- Booked too late – and then settling for a room that is really too big or too small
- No reply deadline – planned for 120, and 70 turned up
- A programme spread over the evening – every interruption costs dance floor
- Dinner music too loud – people who cannot talk leave early
- The end time never agreed – at midnight the venue is standing there with the keys, and nobody knew