Throw a Festive Party in Seattle Southside

Planning the Ultimate Holiday Party

Whether you view planning the company holiday party as a chore or a fun side project, chances are event planning isn't your full-time job. But even if it is, planning the biggest party of the year can be a huge undertaking.

Get Down the Basics

Find the Right Venue

Eats and Treats

Keep it Active

Get Them Home Safe

Get Down the Basics

Before you plan out the rest of your event, there are a few basics you'll need to get down in order to ensure you're planning the perfect event for your company

Budget

Your holiday party may have a pre-set budget that you don't have any say over, or you may be asked to come up with a budget for the party yourself. There are options that will work for every budget, but plan to spend about 30% of your budget on the venue, 50% on food and drink, 5% on activities, 5% on gifts or keepsakes, and 5% on decor, leaving the last 5% for contingencies or other expenses. Based on your choices, you may be able to be a little more flexible with your budget. For example, some venues provide their space for free with a certain dollar value spend in food and beverage.

Date & Time

The timing of your event is also crucial. According to the 2017 ERC Holiday Practices Survey, the 2nd week in December is the most commonly selected week for company holiday parties, with Friday the most common day of the week selected to throw parties. This may mean that trying to book your party for the second Friday in December is harder than, say, booking a party for the last Tuesday in November due to venue availability. A new trend in holiday parties is to host luncheons instead of evening events, which can make booking venues and providers much easier.

Know Your Audience

Going beyond an approximate headcount, you'll want to know a bit more about your partygoers. This may seem straightforward, given that they're your coworkers, but there are a few other considerations to take into account that may not come up in your day to day work life. First, what is the end goal of this holiday event? Is it a chance to celebrate your company's accomplishments over the past year? Is it a way to show your employees how much they mean to you? A chance for them to come together and grow as a team? Or is it just a chance to let your hair down and relax a bit? Knowing what the end goal of the party is will help you determine the best theme, activities, even the best menu! It's also important to take your coworkers' preferences into consideration. For example, if you have a coworker who doesn't drink alcohol, it might be fun to include a "mocktail" on the drink menu so they still have something festive to sip on. Do you have coworkers who celebrate a winter holiday other than Christmas? Making sure your party is inclusive of their traditions is an easy way to help them feel seen and recognized. Is this an event just for the employees, or are plus ones or children invited as well? You may need to plan to make your event family friendly, especially if you're planning to hold your event on a weekend.

Find the Right Venue

Getting the right place to host your event is an important building block to making sure you're set up for success. When selecting a venue, keep in mind the basics above. Depending on your budget, date, and your approximate guest count, you may have a few different options open to you.

Hotel Spaces

The ballroom is beyond basic, and it's a classic for a reason - many hotels will bundle deals for event space with food and beverage, making planning events in these spaces a cinch. Hotels throughout the region have a number of different room sizes available, making them a viable option no matter how big or small your company is. These spaces can run the gamut from the small and cozy to the large and formal, from feeling like a country retreat to feeling like a swanky club. Another bonus? If you're planning on having bar service at your event, it's a great way to make sure that all your coworkers have a safe place to stay if they get extra festive. One minor potential downside is that some hotels will not allow outside food and beverage service, so if you have a particular caterer or food option in mind, make sure your venue knows about it in advance so that you aren't caught by surprise.

Restaurant Spaces & Buyouts

Having your event at a restaurant is a great way to have food service built in to your event. Some restaurants have private or semi-private dining spaces, which allow you to host your party during normal service hours. Other restaurants may require a full or partial buyout in order to host your party, which may be an easy way to make sure you have all the space you need, especially for a smaller restaurant. Contact the restaurant you're interested in directly to discuss options for a buyout. Naturally, a restaurant would likely not want you to bring in outside food or drink, so be sure you're selecting a dining option that works for all of your guests.

Standalone Event Spaces

For the maximum flexibility in food and drink vendors, a standalone event space is usually the go-to, as these spaces are not attached to restaurants and so do not have the same restrictions that hotels and restaurants might have. These are usually large spaces such as community centers, auditoriums, and similar spaces, and can range from the beautiful log cabin aesthetics of the Des Moines Field House, to the epic and sporty, like the ShoWare Center.

Specialty Spaces

To really wow your guests, have your holiday party someplace where half the fun is in where the party is. For example, at the Museum of Flight, your event could be held beneath planes or even a 1:1 reproduction of a Space Shuttle used to train actual astronauts! Or, rent out the event space at SyKart to get some friendly races between coworkers going. Tap in to your company's inner kids and make the holiday party more family-friendly by renting out the Family Fun Center for arcade games, bowling and more. There are a ton of options available outside of the traditional event space.

Is all this a little overwhelming? Don't worry - our experts in the region can also help you narrow down your choices. Reach out to us at meetings@seattlesouthside.com for help in finding just the right place to host your event!

Eats and Treats

Let's be honest - half the fun of a party is the food. Without good eats and treats, your guests are sure to be feeling a bit less festive. If you've selected a venue that has catering as a part of the deal, you're all set. If not, there are plenty of other options. Local company Act3 Catering is a fantastic option for full catering service, including serving staff. Many local restaurants will also provide catering or bulk food orders.

Consider whether you want a full plated meal, buffet, or just appetizers. The atmosphere of the party will help make that determination for you. Planning a fun holiday happy hour where there's drinking and dancing? Probably best to stick to appetizers. Family friendly event with lots of kids running around? Plated service might be tough, so a buffet would likely be your best bet. When you're planning your menu, make sure you remember to have good options available for all of your guests. Make sure a vegetarian option is available, and be mindful of other dietary needs, such as kosher or halal, gluten-free, or potential food allergies. After all, you'd hate for one of your guests to go hungry while everyone else is eating!

It's also important to consider your bar options: Your venue may or may not allow alcohol service, so be sure you're signing on with a venue that allows for a bar, if that's what you want. Some venues may even offer bar service for you, as either a cash bar (where guests pay for their own drinks) or a hosted bar (where the host pays for the drinks). Some venues allow for a hybrid, where some drinks are paid for and others are on the host's tab, such as with a drink ticket system or with only certain types of drinks paid for. Be sure to discuss your bar options with your venue to find one that works well for your budget and needs.

Speaking of eats and treats, don't forget about favors for your partygoers! Edible gifts are often more appreciated that tchochkes and small items - after all, many people have lots of stuff, and food is an easy thing to re-gift if it doesn't fit in with their dietary needs. Seattle Chocolate offers great festive gifts that are sure to help your coworkers feel the sweetness of the season, and you can easily print out custom labels for your party to add onto the bars to make them a little more special. If you need more gift ideas, check out our local gift guide!

Keep it Active

Having fun activities at holiday parties is a great way to improve morale and make the party more enjoyable for everyone. While there's always classic gift-giving games like Secret Santa exchanges and white elephant gift swaps, one neat way to celebrate gift-giving as a company could be to pool donations for charity. Have your attendees bring in non-perishable foods instead of a gift to swap, and try to fill up a food bank barrel before the night is done, or have them make cash donations for charity in exchange for raffle tickets for prizes.

Of course, music and a dance floor is a great way to help people let loose, but you might find you have even more fun if you have your employees make the music - that's right, karaoke! In fact, you can even host an event in a private karaoke room at Round1 in Tukwila in case your singers only want to perform for their coworkers and not the general public.

Get Them Home Safe

Perhaps most importantly, you want to make sure all of your coworkers get home safely at the end of the party. If you're hosting your event at a hotel, this one's easy - just get a room block set aside for your partygoers to crash after they get too festive to drive. Many Seattle Southside spaces are located close to Link Light Rail, which can be used to safely get attendees closer to home before they take a rideshare service home. Speaking of rideshare services, companies like Lyft and Uber offer discounts on buying trips in bulk, and these can be used to help your employees get home safely. You may also offer a special raffle just for those acting as designated drivers - which is a great way to incentivize people to stay sober so that their coworkers get home safe.

No matter how you celebrate the season, we hope you have a fun and safe party with your coworkers! And don't forget, if you need help connecting with the right venues and vendors, don't be afraid to reach out to us at meetings@seattlesouthside.com - we've got a ton of experience in putting together events in our area.