Corporate
Planning a staff Christmas party that people turn up to
5 min read · Published July 24, 2026
The short answer
Book by early October for a December date, and by September if you want a Friday — the four December Fridays are the most contested dates of the year outside summer Saturdays. A weeknight in December is usually still available in November and costs $500 against $1,250 for a Saturday.
There are four Fridays in December and everybody wants one. That single fact drives most of what follows.
The booking calendar
| If you want | Book by |
|---|---|
| A December Friday | September |
| A December Saturday | early October |
| A December weeknight | November is usually fine |
| Mid-January instead | four weeks, and nearly any date |
The January option is worth more thought than it usually gets. Staff attendance in mid-January is often better than mid-December, because nobody is competing with three other parties, a school concert and a shopping weekend. The venue is cheaper and so is everyone you would hire.
What it costs, per head, honestly
The venue is the small number. Here is a realistic 60-person party on a December Friday:
| Friday hall rental, 7 AM to midnight | $1,000 |
| Bar, one day | $80 |
| Projector, screen and PA | $125 |
| Late-Night Extension to 1 AM | $200 |
| After-Event Cleaning | $250 |
| Coffee and tea, 60 × $2.75 | $165 |
| Late-night coffee and squares, 60 × $4.50 | $270 |
| Venue subtotal | $2,090 |
| GST 5% | $104.50 |
| Venue total | $2,194.50 |
| Per head, venue only | about $37 |
Food and drink are on top and are yours to arrange — there is no in-house caterer and no food-and-beverage minimum here. At a typical catered supper that lands the all-in figure somewhere between eighty and a hundred and twenty a head.
The decorating is on top as well, and it is not a cost we can quote you: we do not set the room, we do not decorate, and we have no tree, no lights and no table centres to rent. Whoever organises the party organises that too. The building is open from 7 AM on the day, so there is a working morning to do it in and nobody is hanging anything at five o'clock.
The four decisions that decide attendance
1. Which night
Friday beats Saturday for a work party, every time. People will give you a Friday evening that was half-gone anyway; a Saturday competes with their own family's December.
2. Whether partners are invited
Decide it early and say it clearly on the invitation. Attendance is materially higher when partners come and materially lower when the policy is ambiguous and people guess wrong.
3. How people get home
If there is alcohol, this is a real duty and not a formality. Options that actually work: a bus from town, a taxi fund agreed in advance, or leaving the cars where they are — parking here is free and vehicles can stay overnight, collected in the morning. Say which one you are doing on the invitation.
4. How long the speeches are
Shorter than you think. The room gets set for dinner and dancing, and the floor gets cleared once. If the speaking runs past fifteen minutes the room does not come back. If the speeches have to carry to the back of a full room, add the stage at $80 a day and use the microphone that comes with the $125 projector and PA line.
The alcohol question
If you are serving it — and if guests are paying anything for it, even a toonie for late-night drinks — you need a Social Occasion Liquor Permit.
Two details that catch companies specifically:
- A corporation is capped at two permits per year, and the permit year runs 1 April to 31 March. A summer golf day and a Christmas party are in the same permit year.
- A corporation selling drinks pays $100; other sale permits are $250.
Apply at least four weeks out. In practice, apply when you book the room.
Put your headcount and your date in and you will have the venue side of the budget in about two minutes — the part you have to take to whoever signs it off.
A timeline that works
- September — pick the date and hold it. This is the whole game.
- October — caterer booked, headcount estimate, permit applied for.
- Early November — invitations with the date, the partner policy, and the getting-home plan on them.
- Late November — final numbers to the caterer and the venue.
- Week of — seating, speeches confirmed and shortened, someone assigned to the music.
- The night — the building is yours from 7 AM, so the room is finished long before anyone arrives, and it is held to 1 AM with the extension.
- The morning after — we clean it, if you took the $250.