25 Oct
The stages of corporate holiday party planning in 2024
Series Note: The best holiday party planning pros know that getting started now can be the key to a successful office holiday party, family event, or anything in between. The sooner you start thinking through your event’s look and feel, the easier the entire holiday party planning process will be. Whether organizing your office holiday party or figuring out what to do with all of your crazy relatives for Thanksgiving or Christmas, we have you covered. Part 1 of our corporate holiday party planning series covers breaking down the event planning process into manageable stages.
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Whether your holiday party is personal or professional, it’s helpful to think about holiday party planning as a three-stage process. In each stage, you’ll have some important tasks to complete, but by dividing the planning process this way, you can both ensure that everything gets done and lessen the planning burden on yourself or your collaborators.
Early Stage (6-12 months in advance)
Estimate Your Guest List
Even a ballpark figure at this stage can help with creating your initial list of venue options (and the budget required for each). Remember that popular venues book up months and even years in advance with such a condensed holiday season calendar, so the sooner you can scheduled meetings with venues or better yet get a contract signed, the better.
Explore Potential Themes or Concept Designs
A holiday party theme impacts everything from decorations to menu options to swag ideas, which means you’ll want to brainstorm any thematic concepts early to allow for feedback from collaborators or stakeholders. Second to your guest list, your choice of theme will also be a determining factor for budget allocation once you’ve settled on a theme and know what it will require from vendor partners. Pro tip – you can always turn to ChatGPT or other AI tools to help with brainstorming thematic or aesthetic concepts, even just to create an initial idea list.
Solicit or Review Feedback on Past Holiday Events
While professional event planners make this a routine part of their preparations for annual holiday events, even those tasked with planning a holiday party by their boss should still incorporate feedback before diving too deeply into planning. This can be done via email request or by using a survey tool, but whatever method you choose, identifying what worked and what didn’t in previous years should be the third major determining factor in your early planning.
Develop a First Draft Budget + Planning Calendar
This can wait until Stage 2 if needed, but by the time you’ve walked through the elements above, you should already be developing a rough idea of the overall budget you’ll ideally want based on final venue options, estimated guest list, vendor quotes, and previous year budgets if you have them. Not only will this help with the more actionable planning steps coming up, but it is also necessary if you need to secure additional budget or approval from stakeholders before signing contracts and making deposits necessary to move forward.
Mid-Stage (3-6 months in advance)
It’s time to move into Stage 2 of holiday party planning, where you begin implementing all of your plans – and finding out where you might need to adapt and adjust!fellow stakeholders to get your holiday party budget approved, and with an updated guest list count, take another pass to make sure costs are still in line with expectations (and to identify where you still have room to spend on things like swag bags or vendor options).
Choose an Event Registration Platform
Whether you simply need to send holiday party invitations and collect RSVPs, or you need to sell tickets or check-in guests for a major client appreciation event, you will want to settle on an event planning software solution at this time. This is key because you’ll need to send out save the dates and email invites now to keep attendee calendars free for your event, and by the end of Stage 2 you’ll need a better idea of your actual guest list to update your venue and vendors. Consider what event planning tools you’ll need and find event management software that gives you the best feature suite for your budget.
Finalize Budget
You ideally have met with fellow stakeholders to get your holiday party budget approved, and with an updated guest list count, take another pass to make sure costs are still in line with expectations (and to identify where you still have room to spend on things like swag bags or vendor options).
Send Out Save-the-Date Invitations
Make sure to review your holiday party invitation wording before you send them out – you’ll want to make sure you get all the info you need from guests and communicate all the key info they need to make Stage 3 that much easier.
Final Stage (1-3 months in advance)
It’s time for Stage 3 of holiday party planning, otherwise known as – the final countdown:
Finalize Details + Logistics With Stakeholders
Now is the time to make sure your venue and vendors have everything they need (including any outstanding payments). You should also send a reminder email to your guest list with event details, FAQs, and any last-minute requests to make sure everyone is ready when the party starts.
Incorporate Last Minute Ideas + Flourishes
This is especially true for decorations or swag ideas. Now is the time to check out inspo sites like Pinterest, or browse Etsy for anything clever to get your guests to thank them for coming. This is especially true if you have some extra room left over in your budget – remember, a memorable office holiday event can help set a great tone for 2025 and thoughtful additions like this can be the kind of thing that make the difference.
Time to Party!
Yes, we’re adding this to your list because too often holiday party planners forget that after a stressful and drawn-out party planning experience, you should enjoy the fruits of your labor. Take pictures and video, talk to guests, and enjoy the experience.
