When is the Best Time to Book Your Holiday Party?

    

    The mere thought of starting to plan a holiday party in January or February makes most peoples’ skin crawl.   Since the average person needs a long break after the holidays, this is the last thing that they want to think about.   For that reason, it is also the best time to secure a venue – because very few others have it on their minds!  If you wait much longer, spring rolls around, then summer – and who is thinking about snow, cold and holiday shopping in the middle of the hot summer?  So all of a sudden, autumn is here, the leaves start changing, it’s getting chillier outside, and you’ve just realized that the holiday season is right around the corner. Whoa, better get on the ball and start calling venues…just like everyone else on the planet, vying for the same weekend as hundreds of others! 

 

     The majority of companies want to hold their holiday party on a Friday or Saturday in, of course, December.  A lot of them prefer not to hold it on the weekend just prior to Christmas, because many of their employees go out of town, therefore missing the party.  So for most people that leaves two weekends in December to choose from, unless they’re open to a weeknight. Speaking of weeknights, most venues offer significant discounts during the week as apposed to the more busy weekends. Another alternative if your company is on a budget is to move the party back to November or forward to January, again most venues offer discounts in these months because they are considered “off season”. No matter what date you choose you don’t have to finalize all the little details at the time of booking, although you should at least have all the pertinent questions answered i.e. what is included in the price, capacity, menu options, etc. Finally, and this is the most important step – sign the contract!  Once it is signed and the venue has the required deposit/fee you don’t have to worry about it again until later in the year, i.e. autumn, when most other companies are just starting to scramble to secure a venue!  Now you’re ahead of the game and have one less thing to stress about during the already hectic holiday season.