In-House Office Christmas Party, Done Right | London Edition
While you might be tempted to book a venue for your office Christmas party, London-based businesses will have a tricky time finding options that aren’t booked and still within budget.
As an experienced London events agency, we think it’s worth considering the advantages of hosting a high-impact, in-house Christmas party directly within your office space.
If you’re an office manager or event planner in London, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to keep things low-key just because you’re in the office.
We’re talking about an entire transformation of your existing workplace filled with Christmas magic and spectacular theming.
At Julia Charles Event Management, our approach focuses on rapid setup and minimal disruption, making it ideal for busy London teams.
For example, our results at Fresha’s Christmas office party showcase exactly how an office can become the perfect setting for a premium celebration.
Moreover, we also serve any major city office from Milton Keynes to Manchester for your office Christmas party needs.
Table of Contents:
- Office Christmas Parties in London: Why Host Parties In-House?
- Transforming Your Office Into a Festive Venue
- Case Study: How Fresha Hosted a High-End Party in Their London HQ
- Quick Setups That Minimise Office Disruption
- Checklist: What You’ll Need to Host In-House
- Host Your Own: Christmas Event Planners in London
Office Christmas Parties in London: Why Host Parties In-House?
There are a lot of reasons to consider planning and hosting your office Christmas party in-house, making it well-worth the consideration for event planners in London.
Cost
To begin with, office Christmas parties in London can quickly get expensive during one of the year’s biggest holidays.
Venues will be considerably more expensive, and your options will be limited as time draws nearer to Christmas.
In contrast, hosting in-office covers the costs for you, as well as keeping things convenient for guests and giving you full control.
What’s more, you can keep your budget for the things that matter most – catering, entertainment and decor.
Zero Travel For Teams
Hosting your office Christmas Party in your London office is a great way to limit travel for your teams, giving them a location they already easily have access to.
With that in mind, turn-out is already guaranteed to be higher, and attendees will love witnessing the magic of their everyday office turned Christmas wonderland.
Full Control
If you chose to host your office Christmas party at a London venue, you’d have to tackle other branding elements, themes and schedules of others.
Yet when things are kept in-house, you have full control over your business’s branding and promotion, the themes and even the entire schedule.
You can even prioritise things like sustainability much more carefully, if that’s of big importance to your brand.
Avoids Interrupting Work Hours With Good Planning
Hosting your office Christmas parties in London at a venue can seem like a great idea, but your employees will likely be thrown off of work with the logistics of travel and the need to dress up.
It’s hard to factor that time into a busy work day, and still attend an event on-time without interrupting working hours.
Alternatively, in-office events cut out the transitional period in-between.
Everyone can work efficiently, and already be at the venue for the evening without any hassle.
Good set-up teams and planning will eliminate any disruption to work, making use of our rapid set-up ideas.
Transforming Your Office Into a Festive Venue
When it comes to venue transformation,every office has the potential to be turned into a spectacular office Christmas party if it’s done right, but there’s one key thing to remember.
If you want an incredible end result, you absolutely need to use the existing space creatively.
No matter how big or small your office is, you’ll need to make every area count, carefully considering the placement of everything from a bar to catering to entertainment or even decor.
Furthermore, in a smaller space you’ll want to be even more conscious of elements like lighting as they can make or break the entire atmosphere.
The best lighting will make your office feel bigger while still tying into the theme, such as blue tinted lighting for Winter Wonderland theming.
Next, when it comes to decor, you’ll want to consider a range of themes first, whether it be traditional or unique, such as Classic Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Christmas circus, Victorian Christmas or even an elegant Christmas theme like Great Gatsby.
This is important, as your selection will dictate the entire colour palette, props and decor throughout the office, creating a cohesive and luxurious look.
Office Christmas parties in London will also want to touch on some of the hottest ideas and trends to stand out from other parties, making an experience that really blows your employees’ minds.
All in all, transforming your office might seem daunting, but when you plan it all out in advance, you’ll be prepared for the big day months in advance.
Case Study: How Fresha Hosted a High-End Party in Their London HQ
At Julia Charles Event Management, we’re no strangers to putting on a brilliant office Christmas party.
In fact, we transformed the Fresha Offices in London with a stylish Winter Wonderland theming for their corporate Christmas celebration.
Working With The Office Space
Given their preference to stay in-house, we got to work planning out how their modern two-floor space could be turned into the perfect party location.
As a result, our event design team had to maximise the office space as much as possible, making use of each available area without wasting anything.
The final result included using both floors, turning the dinner space into a party space within a 40-minute time frame mid-event, and using the upper floor as a themed intermission space for guests with Winter Wonderland theming and entertainment.
Fresha had a lot of other requirements for us to keep in mind too, such as:
- Venue styling over two levels to fit their modern office space
- Luxury dining experience for 140 guests with unique theming and menu
- Christmas-themed entertainment
- Service staff
- Event management and logistics, including navigating quick turnarounds
- Bespoke Fresha branding for their LED display
- Dance floor, AV and music
- Working within their budget
A Last-Minute Turnaround
Despite a tight three-week window for us to plan and host this last-minute successful event, the Julia Charles team went above and beyond.
We utilised transitional theming and archways to disguise levels, a fine dining Northern lights-themed dinner experience for 140 guests and pulled together a range of Christmas entertainers, including LED sax players, an interactive Polar Bear and more.
Regardless of the short notice, Fresha’s event remained a resounding success with overwhelmingly positive feedback and praise for our customer service and execution of the event.
If you’re looking for Christmas party ideas in London, or indeed elsewhere, it’s never too late to pull something together if you have the right team to bring your vision to life.
We have transformed many venues for corporate Christmas parties. Why not take a look at this behind-the-scenes event production featuring GYMSHARK’s Christmas event?
Quick Setups That Minimise Office Disruption
When hosting an office Christmas party in-house, you’ll want to minimise disruption as much as possible.
To avoid disruptions, it’s important to focus on your logical efficiency.
Pre-plan everything with a clear timeline, layout, and checklist to avoid last-minute issues arising.
It’s important to opt for pre-decorated setups, pre-built decor, pre-catered food, or mobile bars that require little on-site effort wherever you can, to make set-up as rapid as possible.
You’ll also want these elements to be easy to break down and clean up, making the office clear for work the next day. Professional event organisers can ensure the seamless setup of your event from day to night.
Checklist: What You’ll Need to Host In-House
Office managers or event organisers in London will want to put together a checklist before getting started on their in-house Christmas celebrations.
While that might seem daunting alone, don’t worry, we’re here to help with the key details you need to consider in your initial planning stage:
- Decor and theming: Step one for a Christmas Party in London should be finding your theme and decor, allowing you to choose a colour palette, props and an overall guide for everything else.
- Catering: Step two needs to be catering, ensuring you consider all your employees tolerances and needs.
- Entertainment: Once you’ve established a theme, you can move onto step three and choose suitable entertainment for your needs. Do you have space for a big show, or are walkabout performers more suited to your event?
- Lighting/sound: With your colour palette and theme in mind, you can choose complimentary lighting in step four to elevate any bold event areas like the bar, or highlight entertainment acts.
- Office reconfiguration (if needed): Once your plans are in place, you’ll need to consider if any office reconfiguration is necessary. Do you have the space for your plans or will things need to be moved? If yes, you’ll also need to work out if you have the time for all these changes as well as the set-up.
Host Your Own: Christmas Event Planners in London
With proper planning, your office Christmas Parties in London don’t have to be a hassle, with the right planning and event management team, they can flow with ease.
At Julia Charles Event Management, we pride ourselves on our rapid set-up and non-disruptive planning so your work day can remain unaffected, while your event still shines.
From spectacular theming to decor, we can handle everything so you have no stress on the day of your big office Christmas party.
So, if you’re ready to plan a memorable event, get in touch today!
Related Services:
- Themed Events
- Lighting and AV
- Set and Stage Design
- Venue Styling
- Event Production
- Event Management
- Event Design
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