Prep for Christmas Events: Get Your UK Venue Ready for Christmas 2024
With less than three months until Christmas, now is the perfect time to promote your UK venue to corporate event planners and plan for Christmas events! The shorter days and brisk Autumn weather are upon us, and with demand for Festive Season get-togethers peaking, now’s the perfect time to target those lucrative corporate bookers.
How Christmas-ready is your venue? Corporate bookers are looking for the best options from food and drinks, to space and locations from their teams and are securing team diaries and getting venues booked. Don’t worry! We’ve compiled a list of five tips to ensure you’re ahead of the game and can turn enquiries into confirmed bookings this Silly Season!
1. Food for Christmas Events is the Showstopper
What’s your festive food offering this year? What trends or themes are you tapping into? Get creative and think through how classics and new twists can flow through your entire menu offering—from vol-au-vent canapés to the latest in food fusions. It’s also important to think about dietary requirements, including gluten-free and ensuring a good spread of vegetarian and vegan options. What are you leaning into? Traditional, grill, the best of British—pick a theme across your menu to stand out!
2. Christmas Party Pre-Orders Give Predictability and Minimise Food Waste
Pre-orders peak during the Festive Season streamlining the preparation and balancing food ordering and ensuring everyone is catered for and no one misses out. Pre-orders help you balance revenue, too, ensuring you know the spend ahead of time. Deciding on your pre-order options is critical for your success, it’ll position you favourably to corporate bookers – also, having a range of price point options available is key too. Great for up-selling before guests are on-premise, having a tiered menu option across foods, and especially drinks (upsell from Prosecco to Champagne) means you increase your revenue!
3. Festive Season Spaces for All Occasions and Sizes
Now it’s time to dress the space – dressing your space in its Christmas best is key to standing out and creating a unique experience. Of course, not every venue can create an Annabelle’s style stand display but think about what you can do and what’s manageable. Look at your private and event spaces and where you can carry the theme. Whether it be a decorated tree, painted pinecones, or a snowman display, these touches will help signal your venue is ready to celebrate! Ensuring you clearly signpost and define your spaces – including having flexible options, e.g., use of curtains to separate rooms and hiring AV equipment.
4. Christmas Cocktails and Mixology
Creating a bespoke seasonal drink menu will create a memorable experience and ensure your venue stands out, and it’s great for the bottom line too. From hot to chilled drinks, the Christmas theme works so well. Consider consulting with a mixologist to create a stand-out drinks menu and include non-alcoholic options. The drinks menu can be incorporated into your pre-order options, too and provide a great opportunity to upsell drinks packages. Consider a base and a premium tier of drinks packages to show a diversity of offerings and upsell opportunities. Beautiful cocktails are incredibly social media-friendly. Why not think of a signature over-the-top drink and engage with local influencers to get some attention behind it?
5. Holiday Event Insta-Worthy Photos
Really leaning into the power of social media to show off your venue is critical! From Reels to Lives, utilise these features and think about how you’re tapping into your audience. If you have the budget to spend on paid social or digital advertising, now is the time! Market your offering and target corporate bookers in your area. Jump on LinkedIn and explore the features that allow you to target businesses, employees, and groups in your area. How are you targeting your local catchment area, why not host a “taster” event for local businesses to sample your selection and offer a discount if they book in the next week, making it easier for corporate bookers to go from “enquiry” to “confirmed” event!
Ready to Streamline the Event Management Process for this Festive Season?
Cut down on admin and focus on the guest experience this Festive Season with Tripleseat. A recent survey we conducted where we spoke to 150 UK venues showed that using an automated system like Tripleseat saves 9+ hours per week, which is 30+ hours in admin time per month! Christmas events are made easy with Tripleseat, where anyone, anytime, can access the event and see the size, type, and pre-orders for any party.
Join leading UK venues like Corrigan Collection, which has been using Tripleseat since 2019. Kathyrn Williams, Head of Sales, said, “Since using Tripleseat, we have seen our bookings increase massively.” Book a demo to learn more about how Tripleseat will streamline your events and bring in more business this Christmas.
