It could be the middle of August, yet the annual task of the Xmas do must be tackled – entertainment, food, venue, theme – with so much to organise there’s little wonder that you may need to get to work in the midst of the summer heat wave.
If you’re feeling less Ding Dong Merrily on High and well and truly Grinch-like, you may welcome our tips for a Christmas party theme made easy.
1. First Things First – Get the Venue Right: We can’t stress this enough – get your venue wrong, and almost every element that follows will through up a headache to rival your Boxing Day hangover. Wrong location? Mass RSVP turndowns. Too small? Health and safety nightmare. Too restrictive? Expensive catering and limited choices for your entertainment.
Here are four key tips to make sure you get your venue pick right…
· Ask for suggestions – Speak with your colleagues, friends and family who’ve previously faced the challenge of putting on a corporate party
· Always (always) research a venue’s reputation online
· Confirm whether you’re able to book the venue on its own, or whether you need to use their hospitality and entertainment
· Confirm the theme before you book the venue – Not every venue will play well with your chosen theme. Ideally the venue in question will have a gallery of images for you to view to see how the space can be transformed with backdrops and staging of varying styles.
· Book early! The best of venues will be booked a good six months in advance.
2. Forget winter wonderlands and red and gold colour schemes:
Think it’s all been done before? That a Christmas party must be winter based, feature a token Rudolf or demand a vat of mulled wine? Forget it. Rethink your upcoming festivities, with a Christmas party theme such as a Venetian Ball, Viva Las Vegas, Enchanted Forest Party, Back to School, Back to the 80’s or a German Beer Festival.
The ultimate Christmas party theme
3. Want to keep it traditional? Take the Winter Wonderland theme up a gear: Tinsel, onesie fancy dress and plastic trees sprayed with off-colour fake snow.Urgh.
If you’re opting for the winter wonderland theme, do it with stylish backdrops and accessories – go glittering, enchanting, and understated. Take a winter leaf out of our book – and draw inspiration from our Winter Christmas party theme. This classy theme welcomes your guests into a cool blue atmosphere with a sparkling dance floor, orb table centre pieces and an ice white illuminated bar.
4. Craft a Christmas cracker of a (correct) atmosphere: Casual? Formal? Somewhere in-between? Deciding upon this element of your party can help you in making your upcoming decisions – such as staging, food, entertainment and dress code. Your guests should be at the centre of this decision – will your event be open to your most valuable clients? If so, your party may benefit from being more on the formal side. Perhaps you’re organising an intimate knees up for your fun, feisty office team? If so then a relaxed atmosphere would be best, complete with fancy dress theme.
5. List the life out of your decorations: Think about the walls, stage backdrop, bar, seating and tables for the interior, as well as how you’ll decorate the entrance and outdoor areas. Head over to Pinterest for inspiration, and scour online party theme shops for ideas (then make your way to a website such as Amazon or eBay to cut the costs). You’ll need to confirm with the venue that they’ll accept your decorations however, and they may even have their own decorations either as a free added bonus, or as a premium add on. This also applies to asking whether they’ll accept that 10 foot Christmas tree, before you go ahead and buy it.
Well call us Rocky Robin and deck the halls – now you’re all filled in on filling your guests with festive cheer, it’s time to get your party shoes on and your corporate Christmas party organised. Then again, you may want to leave the Yuletide celebrations to the pros –which is right about where our team step in. Let’s talk about your Xmas corporate do.
Merrily call us on 0800 083 1172 – ding dong!
