The holiday season is typically a time of great social activity and business obligations, which means you’re probably trying to meet a lot of deadlines around the time of your holiday party planning. To make sure that your holiday celebration is just as successful and stress-free as the rest of your year, you should plan early. By planning ahead you can secure the vendors of your choice and avoid last minute cramming and prevent burnout.

The following is a strategic guide to help you plan a successful and fun holiday celebration. Each section will describe in detail the steps to take when planning a particular aspect of your party. This guide will help you plan your Holiday Party Planning in a step by step fashion, leaving you to sit back and enjoy the time with your friends and family.

Step 1: Defining Your Event Goals and Theme

The foundation of any great holiday party planning is key to a successful event. Setting up the ‘why’ and ‘who’ of your party in the initial stages is crucial. Setting up the purpose of your event (i.e. whether it is a corporate gala or an intimate group of friends) will help with deciding on the logistics of the party, the tone and even the budget of the event.

Understanding the interests of the target audience will enable you to plan out every single element of the party from the food and beverages to the activities, speeches and even gifts. Once you have these two elements sorted it is time to think about a cohesive theme for the party such as a ‘Vintage Winter Wonderland’ to create a visual theme for the event which will enable you to make all the correct decisions to create a memorable and stress free event.

Step 2: The Budget Blueprint

Creating a budget for your party will help keep your costs down and allow you to make smart spending decisions to ensure that your party is of highest value to you. First, break down your costs by venue, food, decor and entertainment and establish a total spend for each. The greatest value for your guests will generally be established by a couple of areas or a single very high value area (e.g. excellent quality of food and/or entertainment for your guests).This is what your guests will remember.

When making your holiday party planning budget don’t make the mistake of making a ‘perfect world’ budget. A budget with a 10–15% contingency is always best. Last minute price hikes from suppliers are rife during the holiday period, and having some extra in the bank will be a godsend. There are also always hidden extra costs that can add to your bill that you never initially accounted for. 

Items such as service charges, gratuities, event insurance, and hire of items such as power generators and additional lighting. They are often small individual items, but have the potential to greatly impact your party budget and cause you unnecessary stress. The key to all of this is to track every deposit and payment against your initial budget whilst it is still up to date. By using a simple spreadsheet or an event management app, you will be able to easily keep an eye on your spending, avoiding any financial meltdown at the eleventh hour.

Step 3: Venue Selection and Logistics

The holiday party planning venue is the backdrop for your celebrations and ultimately influences your guests’ experience as well as that of the occasion itself. Access to individual function rooms and the venue in general is very important for finding the right event space. A good event space for your holiday celebration should be centrally located with ample parking space and good public transport connections.

After finding potential venues it is wise to have a thorough site inspection. It is easy to fall in love with a venue based on initial pictures but it is far more important to look at the flow of the room and other key features including restrooms and temperature.

During your inspection it is also wise to check into the venue’s technical specifications to ensure that there is Wi-Fi, that there are the correct audio-visual tools for your holiday occasion and that there is adequate power to support your chosen entertainment. When a venue matches your chosen theme perfectly and has the event management resources to back it up then your occasion is guaranteed to run smoothly allowing you to focus on the enjoyment of the celebrations.

Step 4: Catering and Entertainment

At the core of every great holiday party planning is the food and entertainment. First, choosing a great dining option is key. Try to make your option as inclusive as possible to vegetarians, vegans and those with a gluten intolerance. A plated, formal dinner could be just as well a buffet or food stations, depending on the formality of your event. In addition to your dining, choose entertainment that fits your theme. If you choose live jazz, it’s going to be a really formal soiree. 

Step 5: Invitations and Promotion

Your event invitation is usually your event’s first impression and sets the event’s ‘mood’. Providing guests with a ‘Save the Date’ 8-10 weeks prior to an event and formal event invitations 4-6 weeks prior to an event is crucial for giving your guests sufficient time to diary your event. Your guests need to know your RSVP date to provide you with adequate time to finalize arrangements for the numbers attending your event.

Build interest in your event in the weeks leading up to your event by releasing early peaks into your event menu and event theme. This will generate excitement amongst your guests as soon as they receive your formal event invitations and start looking forward to attending your event almost as soon as they receive your invitation.

Step 6: The Countdown (Timeline)

The execution of a party can be put into place in a very disciplined manner in weeks leading up to the event. Plan out your key milestones for the weeks leading up to the event to keep stress levels down. Four weeks prior to the event started to put the planning into place by confirming the final guest list and all the vendors. Two weeks prior to the event confirm the floor plan and any special dietary requirements with the caterer. 

One week prior to the event confirm the final head count with the caterer and do a full walk through of the event space with all of the key people involved. The day of the event we put together an ‘emergency kit’ with items such as tape, scissors, phone chargers etc. Arrive early at the event space to oversee the vendor setup so that everything runs smoothly on the day and your event is everything you had envisioned.

A holiday party planning is a spectacle that requires a lot of preparation and a clear focus to a high-quality guest experience. Follow this in-depth guide to become savvy in event planning. And – most important as a host – enjoy your own party. Start planning here.