#01
PLAN AHEAD
Form a planning committee from a broad range of staff members. That way you can blame someone else if the gathering's not a success.
#02
INVITE WISELY
Invite other halves if you want to keep your employees in line, but do you really want your guests to feel inhibited? As to inviting clients, don't. Unless you think that business development will best be served by Jemima from the postroom doing a technicolour yawn over the shoes of the marketing director of your biggest-spending customer.
#03
DON'T STAGE IT IN THE OFFICE CANTEEN
Avoid collateral damage by hiring an outside venue rather than staging your event inhouse. If you have the budget, make it memorable by choosing an unusual location. Go for an art gallery, museum, a river cruiser, even an aquarium. But bear in mind that many people are going to get tired and emotional and may require a chauffeur-driven ride home so make sure that there's a taxi rank within stumbling distance. (That said, there's nothing you can do about the commuters from the greenbelt. They must resign themselves to the possibility of dropping off on the InterCity Express and ending up in Inverness.)
#04
CHOOSE YOUR MUSIC
This is one of the trickier tasks. When you're catering for an audience that may range in age from 16 to 64, everyone wants to hear something from their era and so there's no point in restricting the playlist to obscure hip-hop acts of the 90s. One way round this is to email everyone asking them to nominate two songs they'd like to hear on the night. That way the greying finance manager gets his blast of the Beach Boys while the teenage receptionist gets her Pixie Lott. Hire an eclectic DJ. And make it loud!
#05
PICK YOUR THEME - OR NOT
Fancy dress smacks of compulsory jollification but if that's what it takes to get your people in the mood then go ahead. Dish out prizes for home-made costumes so that staff are rewarded for ingenuity rather than expenditure.
#06
BE AWARE OF PITFALLS
Secret Santa present-giving is an opportunity for staff to show their cute and thoughtful sides by buying modestly priced gifts to be delivered anonymously to a randomly selected colleague. Unfortunately, there can be a downside. Some see it as the chance to humiliate their worst enemy by investing in something truly naff or pointed. Lay down some ground rules regarding price and sauce factor.
#07
DON'T STINT ON DRINK
There's nothing worse than a party running dry, so lay on lots of alcohol. Don't be tempted to blow the budget on Champagne because you want to go for quantity not quality. But keep a weather eye out for the office lightweights. And make sure there are plenty of soft drinks, too.
#08
...OR FOOD
Feed people plentifully. Apart from the fact that people eating are cheaper than people drinking, carbs soak up excess alcohol and are therefore a useful form of damage limitation. Forget salty snacks - they'll only make guests thirsty. Oh, and a buffet rather than a sit-down meal is the answer.
#09
BE AS GENEROUS AS YOUR BUDGET ALLOWS
Employees have worked hard for you all year and will be looking for a show of appreciation. Consider starting your party with a brief 'awards' ceremony (see #05) that can be as straight or, even better, as humorous as you dare.
#10
LEAVE EARLY
Management should never stay until the bitter end. Apart from the danger of having one too many, your presence will inhibit everyone else. Mingle like crazy and then leave.
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