Corporate Christmas Party Checklist: Budget, Vendors and Run Sheet

A corporate Christmas party checklist comes down to five jobs: set the brief, build a per-head budget, book vendors in the right order, confirm the details a week out, and run the night from one shared run sheet. Here’s each step, with the templates we give our own corporate clients.

This post is the planning side. If you’re still deciding what kind of party to throw, start with our 30 work Christmas party ideas or our Christmas party themes guide, then come back here to make it happen.

Step 1: Set the brief

Before you call a single venue, write down answers to these. They decide your budget, your FBT position and which suppliers you need.

• Date and time. Working day or weekend? Lunch or evening?
• Headcount. Best guess now, final number two weeks out.
• Who’s invited. Current employees only, or partners and clients too?
• Where. Your office, or an external venue?
• Budget owner. Who signs off, and is there a per-head cap?
• Purpose. Thank-you, celebration, awards, client hospitality? One sentence is enough.
• Accessibility and inclusion. Dietary needs, alcohol-free options, finishing time for people with long commutes or families.

The “who’s invited” and “where” answers matter more than most planners expect, because they change the FBT treatment (see Step 3).

Step 2: Build a per-head budget

Finance teams and the FBT rules both think in cost per head, so build your budget that way from day one. Use this template and fill in your quotes as they arrive.

Line item	Quote (total)	Per head	Notes
Venue hire or minimum spend			Check what the minimum spend covers
Catering			Canapés vs seated, dietary options
Drinks package			Hours, inclusions, non-alcoholic options
Entertainment (DJ, band, MC)
Photo booth			Hours, branding, attendant
AV (mic, screens, lighting)			Often supplied by the venue
Decor and signage			Welcome sign, table numbers, menus
Transport home			Taxi travel can have its own FBT treatment
Gifts or awards			Assessed separately from the party for FBT
Contingency			We suggest holding back 5 to 10 per cent
Total

Per head = total cost ÷ number of attendees. Keep a copy of the final version with your invoices, because your accountant will want it at FBT time.

Step 3: Check the FBT basics

Fringe benefits tax catches out a lot of first-time party planners. Here’s what the ATO says about Christmas parties, in plain terms. Always run your plan past your accountant, because the details depend on your business.

According to the ATO’s page on common entertainment scenarios for business:

Your party	FBT on food and drink?
On your business premises, on a working day, current employees only	No FBT
Off your premises, or partners of employees attend	No FBT if it’s a minor benefit: under $300 per person and unreasonable to treat as a fringe benefit
Clients attend	No FBT on the costs relating to clients

Three more points from the ATO worth knowing:

• No FBT usually means no deduction. If the party isn’t subject to FBT, you can’t claim an income tax deduction for it. In the ATO’s worked example, the employer also can’t claim GST credits.
• Gifts are separate. A Christmas gift to employees doesn’t attract FBT if it’s under $300 per person and unreasonable to treat as a fringe benefit. The ATO’s minor benefits exemption page explains that the $300 threshold applies separately to each benefit.
• Taxis can be exempt. In the ATO’s example, taxi travel directly to or from the workplace is covered by a specific exemption.

This is why the brief in Step 1 matters. A party in your office on a Thursday for staff only is treated differently from a Saturday night at a venue with partners.

Step 4: Book vendors in the right order

Book in this order, because each booking depends on the one before it.

1. Venue. Locks the date, capacity, catering rules and bump-in times.
2. Catering and drinks. Often tied to the venue anyway.
3. Entertainment and photo booth. Peak Thursday and Friday nights in late November and early December book first, so enquire by the end of September for those dates.
4. AV. Confirm what the venue supplies before booking extra.
5. Decor and signage. Needs final branding and table plan.
6. Transport. Final numbers two weeks out.

Questions to ask every vendor

Ask	Why it matters
Can you send a certificate of currency for public liability?	Most venues require it before bump-in
Is your electrical equipment tagged and tested?	Another common venue requirement
How long do you need to set up, and when?	Goes straight into the venue’s bump-in schedule
What power and space do you need?	Avoids a last-minute scramble for a power point
What’s included, and what’s extra?	Travel, parking and venue access fees should be itemised
What happens if our numbers change?	Catering and drinks are often per head
When do you need final details?	Feeds your timeline

For our booth, the answers are simple. The open-air booth needs about 2 m by 2 m and a standard 10-amp power point within 10 metres. It fits through standard doorways and into a passenger lift. At a venue we set up 60 to 90 minutes before doors, and in an office it takes about 45 minutes. Certificates of currency are available on request.

The open-air booth set up before doors. Its 2 m by 2 m footprint fits a break-out area or the corner of a function room.

Photo booth checklist

If a booth is on your list, these are the decisions to make when you book:

• Hours: three suits an office party, four to five suits a venue function with a paused window during dinner
• Prints: strips for speed with big groups, or 4x6 prints
• Print design: your logo, the year and a line your team will get
• Backdrop: black, gold geometric, marble or white, or a printed branded backdrop
• Sharing: guests text or email photos and GIFs from the touchscreen
• Gallery: who receives the link (it arrives within 24 hours)
• Extras: an audio guestbook for staff messages, or same-day social content

Strips for Left Bank Melbourne’s Oaks Day. A themed print design is the easiest way to make the booth feel like part of your party.

For more on what’s included and how pricing works, see our Christmas party photo booth page. Not sure how many hours you need? Read how long to hire a photo booth.

Step 5: The week-by-week timeline

Tick these off working back from the party date.

10 to 12 weeks out

• Brief signed off (Step 1)
• Budget template started (Step 2)
• FBT approach checked with your accountant (Step 3)
• Venue booked

8 weeks out

• Catering, drinks, entertainment and photo booth booked
• Save-the-date sent

6 weeks out

• Invitations sent with RSVP date and dietary question
• AV needs confirmed with the venue

4 weeks out

• Logo files and brand colours sent to the booth and signage suppliers
• Print design and backdrop proof approved
• Speeches confirmed: who, how long, in what order

2 weeks out

• Final numbers and dietary list to the venue
• Transport home arranged
• Seating plan (if seated) finalised

1 week out

• Run sheet sent to every supplier
• Bump-in window and power confirmed with the venue coordinator
• On-the-night contact list shared

Day after

• Gallery link to HR or the social team
• Invoices checked against quotes
• Final per-head cost recorded for FBT records

Step 6: Sample run sheet

One run sheet, shared with every supplier, stops most problems before they start. Here’s a template for a 6.30pm to 11.30pm venue party.

Time	What happens	Who	Notes
4.30pm	Venue access for suppliers	Venue coordinator	Loading dock details sent in advance
5.00pm	Photo booth and DJ setup	Booth attendant, DJ	Booth setup starts 60 to 90 minutes before doors
6.00pm	Final walkthrough	You and venue coordinator	Check signage, mic, power
6.30pm	Doors open, arrival drinks	All	Booth live, music low
7.30pm	Dinner service	Caterer	Booth paused
8.15pm	Welcome and CEO speech	MC, CEO	Five to ten minutes
8.30pm	Awards or thank-yous (optional)	MC	Keep to ten minutes
8.45pm	Booth reopens, whole-team photo	MC calls each department	The photo for the end-of-year email
9.00pm	Dance floor opens	DJ
11.00pm	Last drinks	Bar
11.30pm	Close, transport home	You	Pack-down after guests leave

Underneath the run sheet, list the on-the-night contacts: your phone number, the venue coordinator, each supplier’s on-site lead and the transport company. Print copies for the venue and the MC.

Branded strips fresh off the printer at Dermocosmetica’s 15th anniversary. Guests take theirs home, and the full gallery follows within 24 hours.

After the party

The job isn’t quite done when the lights come up:

• Share the gallery. It arrives within 24 hours, just in time for the Monday wrap-up post.
• Say thanks. A short note to the organising committee and suppliers goes a long way.
• Ask for feedback. Two questions are enough: what did you enjoy, and what should we change next year?
• File everything. Final invoices, per-head costs and headcount for your accountant.

If you’re planning an awards segment, our awards night entertainment ideas include a run sheet built around the ceremony.

Ready to tick off the photo booth? Send us your date, venue and guest count and we’ll return an itemised fixed-price proposal within 24 hours.

Christmas party checklist questions