The most common Christmas event mistakes are not hard to avoid—if only we knew about them. During this season, there's a certain amount of pressure to HR professionals as the point person for company Christmas events. With Christmas happening only once a year, organizing a Christmas party becomes a huge task.
At this point in Christmas time, event preparations have already started for many companies in the Philippines. So, to help you in your Christmas event preparations, we listed 5 of the common Christmas event mistakes you should avoid:
1. Poor Budget Allocation
Whether you have the budget to afford a grand Christmas party or just enough for a simple celebration, it’s important to know where your money’s worth goes.
There are three major things that Christmas party planners spend their budget on: venue, food, and entertainment. These things are equally important in adding value to your event. One of the most common Christmas event mistakes happens when you allot too much to one of these things and forget about the others.
How to Avoid This:
Plan accordingly based on the given budget. As a rule of thumb, you should allocate the majority of your budget on food. It’s hard to have a grand vision and be disappointed afterward when you realize that you don’t have enough money to achieve it. But you can never go wrong with a good meal on Christmas.
It will be helpful to set an objective for the event. If you have a million to spend and your goal is to reward your employees, it will be ridiculous to waste it on an entertainment artist that covers more than half of your budget. As cliché as it sounds, you should spend your money wisely and create workarounds if needed.
2. Christmas Party Venue Problems
Event venues become fully booked as early as the ‘ber’ months start. And if planning for company Christmas events is a new thing for you, you should know that finding a venue is more than just about its availability on your preferred date.
Does it fit your Christmas theme? Is it accessible for most of your attendees? Is the place big enough for your activities? Can it accommodate all your members? One of the most common Christmas event mistakes for party planners is not being able to answer these questions. Booking event venues just to get over the task is a big no-no.
How to Avoid This:
There are already online sites like Venuerific that lets you find ideal venues based on your event type or location. Choose a venue that's approximately one to three kilometers away from your office. Employees are already used to traveling there daily, and they won't mind an additional few kilometers for the Christmas party. Anything beyond that can be tough for them unless you have a convenient transportation option ready for them.
Keep a list of ideal Christmas party venues, their details, and rates. This way, you can easily trim down your options and save yourself a lot of research time. If it’s too late for you to use your list now, you’ll still find it useful next year. Remember, aside from the relief of having booked a venue earlier, you also get to score ideal rates before the peak season.
3. Boring Program Flow
Since having office Christmas parties are already a part of the Filipino tradition, employees expect something different every year. Of course, staple activities like raffle draws, games, and presentations make creating the program flow easier. But it all boils down to the implementation on the day itself.
As an event planner, you’d want to make sure that everyone is having a great time. After all, Christmas parties are always getting the employees to loosen up. Having a long and dragging Christmas party is probably one of the worst mistakes that you can do.
How to Avoid This:
There is no secret to making a great Christmas party program.
But the key here is to choose an appealing event host. It can be your office's Mr. or Ms. Famous Employee, or an outsourced professional host. It will entirely depend on the demographics of your employees. The important thing to remember here is that they can carry your event from the beginning until the end.
Create a program that is 20% formal and 80% fun. You don’t want to be remembered as the organizer who gave them the most boring Christmas party ever.
4. Failed Event Execution
Sometimes, no matter how perfect you think everything is on the planning stage, your event still blows off on the day itself.
The anxiety and panic brought about by such an awaited event can happen to everybody. Once it attacks, you can easily forget all that you planned for. It might be triggered by last-minute cancellations of your host, faulty sound system, or late arrival of your expected deliveries. Either way, you can't let panic get to you. Not on the day itself or ever.
How to Avoid This:
Before things get out of hand, it's important that you always prepare yourself for moments of panic. Create a Plan B for the things you're not sure about in case things go wrong. And don't rely on your Plan B! It's just there as it is: a Plan B.
Also, keep a handy list of the things you need to do during the event. If possible, do a step-by-step guide. It's a good thing if you have trusted team members who can help you during the event. But since HR departments are usually just composed of three people or sometimes even less, it's important that you don't lose your way during the event as an event planner.
5. Last-Minute Christmas Event Planning
If you’re thinking about asking when to start your Christmas event preparations, the answer should have been last month. In a country where Christmas is a three-month-long festivity, planning for Christmas events are done as early as the ‘ber’ months start.
It becomes more difficult to sort out event details as Christmas nears. While an event can still be successful with limited prep time, it poses a lot of challenges that can be avoided. Choosing a theme, booking an event host, testing out sound systems, or food-tasting are ‘little details’ that can add element to your party. Without ample time, it’s easy to overlook the specifics as you rush through the bigger things.
How to Avoid This:
A lot of the most common Christmas event mistakes will be resolved with early Christmas planning.
Stop being complacent and start planning for your event as early as you can. It’s not like Christmas comes unannounced every year, anyway.
