Tips To Reduce Employee Holiday Party Expenses

It’s that time of the year again! Employers are figuring out how, where, and when to put together holiday parties for their employees in the most cost effective way. Here are some tips to help you keep the tradition of throwing a great holiday party without breaking the company’s bank:

Schedule the party during the day – lunch menus are always more cost effective than dinner menus. This helps eliminate the need to use personal time for a company event and also increase the number of venue options available to consider.

Manage catering choices – small changes in the catering selections may be made that can result in measurable savings. It’s relatively easy to manage costs at the point of selecting catering. Most of the time venues and caterers usually offer packaged options based on price.

Hire a DJ instead of a band – Survey says band members typically get paid a minimum of $1200 – $1600 for three hours, four performers. On the other hand, a DJ charges about half that price. This will definitely help you increase the variety of music and also reduce expenses associated with entertainment.

Control decorating expenses – person in charge must incorporate decorations that are sensitive to all guests. Try to save money by using complimentary linens, and opt to replace flower centerpieces with colorful candles and bowls of candy when possible. Not only these subtle changes often go unrecognized by guests, company themes can also be easily incorporated into decorations which makes the party even more unique.

Eliminate employee gifts at the party – the holiday party is already considered as the employee gift, it is not necessary to include party favors and other small appreciation gifts. This helps minimize the company’s budget as well as reduce set-up time needed to showcase presents.

Hold the party on Monday – events spaces quickly fill up in the month of December and the most popular days are usually Tuesday through Thursday. Little value may be gained by holding the event on a Friday or Saturday because those days are quickly booked up with social events at venues. Best option is to consider a Monday. Venues often offer additional discount for Monday events as well.

Host departmental parties instead – they way to reduce expenses is to shift the responsibility to each individual department. Smaller gathering with always be more cost effective than larger once. Fewer details are needed, the individuals within a department are more likely to do all the planning, and require less organization resources.

Send e-vite invitations – not everybody has a Facebook or Myspace account, but almost all of them has an email account. An invitation can be easily set up through eVite and delivered to employees’ email accounts at no cost.

Plan ahead – when you have the time to think of ways to save money, you will save money. Start planning for it early in the year, create a budget for it, and put a dollar amount for how much you want to spend on this event. It’s always a lot easier to keep track of the expenses when there is a set budget.

Go for heavy appetizers – by offering a lounge style event instead of a formal sit down dinner, a lot of money could be saved from the reduction of staff needed for bussing and set up. Finger foods are fun to eat and only require a napkin or at most a small plate, either disposable or china.