If you’re in the events business, Christmas is the gift that keeps on giving. 

Why? According to researchers at YouGov, Christmas is America’s favorite day of the year. December is all about embracing the festive vibes, giving back, and celebrating with friends and family. 

That’s where you come in.

People are always looking for events to get in the holiday spirit, and organizing a Christmas party is the perfect way to deliver. There are just a few considerations to bear in mind — and that’s where we come in.

Just call Eventbrite your holiday HQ. 

Every year, we support over 800,000 event organizers put on a whopping 5m events. So, we definitely know a thing or two about what it takes to throw a memorable party. 

Read on to find out how to plan a Christmas party like a pro and take a look at our free party planning checklist.

Table of contents

Planning a Christmas party in 9 simple steps

Christmas party checklist

Christmas party essentials

How to host a Christmas party: 3 top tips

Illustration of button to download checklist

Planning a Christmas party in 9 simple steps

Many of us have hosted small, cozy holiday gatherings or festive dinner parties — they’re always cute and fun.

But if you’re aiming to host a professional, large-scale Christmas party that guests will never forget, you’ll need to get serious about the planning and attention to detail.

Don’t stress if you’re new to this. Just follow these nine simple steps:

1. Set your time and date

Before making big decisions, consider your attendees and choose a time and date that works best for them. 

A daytime Christmas party is perfect for younger children needing to go to bed early or older people wanting to get home, but not for college students and young adults. Timing is critical — it sets the tone for your event and establishes if it’s family-friendly or adult-only.

Start by checking what’s happening around your preferred date and be flexible. 

By keeping an eye on social media and speaking to people from your target audience, you can avoid dates when people are booked up. It’s better to change your date at this stage than to clash with another event. 

Choosing an earlier December date gets you ahead of the game and means you’ll have a wide range of venues to choose from.

Two party guests tangled in lights
GTFO / GTFO

2. Choose your venue

This should be one of the first considerations as you begin planning your Christmas party, as venues will be booked early. 

Need a stage for live music? An open space for a dance floor?

Also, consider what size space you need. Before you book a venue, you’ll need an estimated guest list to ensure the venue has capacity. You don’t want people to feel squeezed in, or too big a space for the size of your crowd.

Here are a few questions to keep in mind as you explore potential venues:

3. Decide on a Christmas party theme

Choosing a theme for your Christmas party generates excitement. A themed party also helps focus your event planning and inspires your invitations, event promotion materials, decorations, and entertainment.

Consider these Christmas party themes as you plan your event:

Looking for an event organizer who nails the theme every time? Check out Shannon Perry Events and their upcoming Christmas in the Country:

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A post shared by Shannon Dykes Perry (@shannon_perry_ministries)

They’ve gone all out by choosing a barn for the venue and setting a country dress code of boots and jeans, creating a truly authentic country party vibe. A hot chocolate bar and holiday concert are the icing on the Christmas cake.

4. Identify your target audience

Keep it simple, from the food to decorations and entertainment.

Think about the kids’ age range as you design activities they’ll enjoy. For younger ones, you could hire performers like magicians, balloon artists, or holiday-themed mascots (think Santa, Frosty, or Elves) to keep kids entertained throughout the event.

And for older kids? Plan a Christmas-themed scavenger hunt. Holiday crafts are popular with children of all ages. Ensure your venue has plenty of space for running around, too!

Want to focus your holiday party planning around a slightly older audience? Aim for more grown-up Christmas themes that will hit home with an 18+ target market.

For example, you could set up an ice bar or Christmas cocktail workshop, book a DJ to play cheesy festive hits from the 90s and 00s, or set up fun activities designed to get singles mingling.

That’s what PubCrawls.com is doing for their 5k-long Savannah Official Christmas Bar Crawl.

Their festive bar crawl includes exclusive drinks specials across 12 downtown bars, gifts from Santa, and a free t-shirt — not to mention access to a 21+ after-party. This is the sort of 5k we can totally get behind.

5. Set your budget

You can throw a big holiday party on a budget, but some essential expenses you can’t escape.

At the start of the Christmas party planning process, write a list of your event’s must-haves. Their cost will then form the basis of your event budget.

To give you a rough idea, here are some Christmas party basics you’ll likely need to budget for:

Don’t forget: these are just ballpark estimates. Your party costs may be higher or lower depending on variables like your location, the time and date of your event, or the type of party you’re planning — so make sure you do your homework and shop around.

6. Find Christmas party sponsors

Don’t like the numbers you see when you work out your event budget? One of the best ways to increase your Christmas party budget is to find a party sponsor.

Corporate sponsors can support your event in many ways, including:

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The right event sponsor can work with you to create a special experience your guests will love. 

To attract sponsors, create tailored sponsorship packages that provide high-value perks, such as prime logo placement, on-stage mentions, and complimentary VIP passes for key decision-makers to experience the event firsthand.

Want to see how it’s done? Take a look at Mer Events and their British Christmas Luncheon. To help fund their event, organizers are offering three packages to choose from — with perks ranging from raffle tickets and holiday gifts to a table of up to 10 guests.

7. Select your events partner

Next, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to create your event pages, get the word out, and deal with ticketing. That’s where event management software comes in — and if you’re looking for an all-in-one solution, it’s worth checking out Eventbrite.

Eventbrite allows you to create custom party pages and multiple ticket classes. This allows you to create VIP packages and early-bird tickets for your party.

That’s what Bar Crawl Events did for their 4th Annual 12 Bars of Christmas Crawl® – St Louis. By using Eventbrite to offer an early-bird discount, organizers can kick-start sales and get the ball rolling with plenty of time to spare.

Meanwhile, Eventbrite enables you to sell tickets directly through Facebook and TikTok, helping maximize your chances of landing new sales with a smooth checkout process.

Finally, Eventbrite’s AI-powered marketing tools offer useful content suggestions for social media ads, let you plan and schedule posts, A/B test, and optimize your marketing efforts based on advanced reporting.

There are a few different event registration software options out there. But if you want a solution that will support your event from inception to clean-up, Eventbrite is your best bet.

Ready to learn more?

Try Eventbrite today
Three people at a Christmas party

8. Design and send out your party invites

You’ve booked the venue and chosen the theme. Now it’s time to invite guests. After all, it’s not a party without a crowd.

With the theme now set, the invitation design should follow. An on-theme design will clue guests into the spirit of your Christmas party. 

Include key party details: date and time, location, RSVP information, dress code, and ticket price (if applicable). Share information about transportation and parking, and include any gift exchange details. Don’t forget to ask about dietary restrictions if you’re serving food.

The next step on your Christmas party checklist is to send your invitations. 

You can use Eventbrite to create online invitations to share key event details. Invitations can feature your design choice and be delivered right to potential attendees’ inboxes.

Thanks to Eventbrite’s seamless integration with Mailchimp, you can create dynamic and attractive emails at lightning speed using in-built audiences from past Eventbrite lists.

You’ll also benefit from automated reminders to the guests who have bought tickets — ensuring nobody forgets and you can pack the house when the big day comes.

9. Promote your Christmas party

This step is crucial. After all, nobody will show up to your Christmas party if you don’t tell them it’s happening.

Your first step is to take stock of your target audience and the best places to reach them. After that, develop a content marketing plan based around those platforms.

That would ordinarily include a schedule of organic social media posts, email bursts, and even analog ads (yes, paper) in relevant community spaces.

Carefully consider your promo content to nudge people toward your event page. That’s where Eventbrite’s AI suggestions can help tweak your messaging to make sure it fits in with your event goals.

You can also collaborate with social media influencers who are big in your community. Influencers can drastically expand your reach and lend credibility to your Christmas party because they’re online personalities that people trust.

Log all of your efforts on a wider content marketing schedule, and review it regularly. If some of your content performs poorly, you might need to optimize your messaging or where you’re advertising.

Planning a large-scale holiday bash is no small feat. We’ve already covered quite a lot, and there’s a lot to remember. That’s why we’ve created this handy checklist to guide your efforts in the run-up to your big event.

Screenshot of downloadable Christmas Party Checklist

Christmas party checklist

3–4 months before your Christmas party

At this point, you should be laying the groundwork for your Christmas party and carrying out a lot of the important tasks we’ve just covered.

Here’s what you should do:

1–2 months before your Christmas party

With a month or two to go, it’s time to consider a few of the finer details. Specifically, you need to:

1 week before your Christmas party

This is getting down to the wire. With a week to go, reach out to guests and vendors and complete these key tasks:

1–2 days before your Christmas party

It’s almost the big day! It’s time to build excitement and focus on the event details. These tasks will help you stay on track.

Party guests sit on couch
GTFO / UGLY SWEATERS

Christmas party essentials

Chances are, everybody on your guestlist has been to a few Christmas parties before. As a result, your attendees are going to have certain expectations about what you’ve got at your party.

To make sure you don’t miss a beat, here’s a list of the essentials you need to include:

Illustrated checklist of Christmas party essentials

Food and beverages

Consider your target audience before shortlisting food and beverage ideas. 

For less formal parties, think finger foods or self-service food stations so your guests can graze. You may also want to welcome guests with a drinks voucher to grab a free cocktail at the bar.  Meanwhile, outdoor events are the perfect opportunity for catering companies to line up a few food trucks.

But you also need to consider food allergies and preferences. Make sure you get this information from your guests beforehand and build your catering menu around it.

Talk to your venue about vendors. Some venues provide food and drink services on-site and may insist you use their in-house caterers. Others require you to book your own. If so, all the more reason to start planning early.

Event organizer creates Christmas wreathes
Shop Made DC / Washington, DC

Decorations for your Christmas party

Party decorations add to the event’s ambiance and excitement — but they come at a price. Do you want to DIY your décor, hire professionals, or use a combination? 

Use your theme as inspiration for the colors and patterns of your Christmas party decorations. If you already have a color scheme in mind, use that to guide your decor and incorporate it into your festive decorations. Funny props for photo booths or to welcome your guests won’t go amiss, either.

Plan ahead for items that need securing through a vendor, such as lighting. Depending on your venue, you might need overhead lights, fairy lights, or signage to make the space perfect for your party.

Just make sure you review your budget and stick to it as you progress with your venue prep.

Christmas party games and entertainment

Organized activities create a smooth event and encourage interaction between guests. Align your games and entertainment with your party’s theme. 

For inspiration, here are party games and activities that work for Christmas parties of any shape or size. For larger events, create stations for guests to rotate around with:

Want to see bingo done a bit differently? 

Take a look at the Russian River Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and their upcoming Not Another Zombie Christmas Bingo event. With drag, a costume contest, and prizes to boot, this is one festive bingo fundraiser unlike any other.

In terms of party entertainment, you could take so many directions on this. For starters, we love:

If you opt for professional entertainers, book them early — their holiday season schedules fill quickly.

Gift exchange

Gifts are a major part of the Christmas season but aren’t necessarily expected at a holiday party. However, a gift exchange generates goodwill and can add humor to an event.

One option is a Secret Santa exchange. Guests draw names before the event and purchase a gift for the person they draw. This works best when all the guests know each other. 

Another option? A White Elephant exchange. Each guest brings one gift to the party, but they don’t know who will receive it. 

White Elephant gifts are often silly, reasonably priced gifts that add fun to the party. No matter what type of gift exchange you do, set a price range. This keeps it equitable and makes guests more comfortable.

People dressed as santa pose for photo
SantaCon / SantaCon 2014 / New York, NY

How to host a Christmas party: 3 top tips

OK: You’ve got the Christmas party checklist, and you know what essentials you need to succeed. But if you’re looking for a few expert party planning tips, we’ve got you covered there, too.

1. Start planning early

Like it or not, diaries fill up fast. You’ve got to plan your party early and get the word out ASAP to ensure potential attendees can pencil you in.

Likewise, remember that competition is fierce this time of year. There will be many holiday party events in December, and event spaces will fill up fast. 

By locking in your date and location in advance, you can secure your preferred venue, caterer, and entertainment before other event planners do.

2. Create a VIP experience

Take your party to the next level by creating special experiences within experiences. For example, you could create a unique VIP experience with more immersive add-ons and perks.

This will add a sense of FOMO (“fear of missing out”) to your event and give it an exclusivity that makes people want to buy tickets.

As we’ve already mentioned, creating multiple ticket types is fast and simple with Eventbrite. That means you can create VIP experiences and sell tickets directly to your audience:

3. Give the people what they want

If you want people to love your holiday party, it’s worth asking them for party ideas ahead of time that you can incorporate into your event. That’ll give them more ownership over the festivities and make them feel more connected.

Try using pre-event surveys via email and social to let followers vote on playlists or entertainment line-ups. You can then use those preferences to adapt your plans accordingly.

Afterward, you can use post-event surveys to figure out what went well at your Christmas party and what your team could do better in 2025.

Let’s deck the halls

If you plan and promote it correctly, a Christmas party should be a hole-in-one. You’ve just got to know your audience, build a unique experience for them, and market that experience in the right places.

That’s where Eventbrite comes in.

With Eventbrite, you can create and sell multiple ticket types to create unique VIP party experiences and sell them directly to your social followers thanks to our integrations with Facebook and TikTok. 

Add our AI-powered content suggestions, automated email reminders, and handy Eventbrite Organizer app for paperless ticketing, and you’ll have a next-level Christmas party without the extra effort.

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