One of the keys to successful event planning is allowing plenty of advance time for adequate planning. That means, for instance, that you might find yourself thinking about Christmas events even before you’ve started your personal Christmas shopping. But professional events planner Tammie Hawkins says that it comes with the territory, and after a few years you get used to it.

She says that it happens to her every year: long before she feels anything remotely resembling the Christmas spirit, she finds herself contracted to plan a major Christmas-themed event. “Christmas is a busy time for everyone and people’s schedules fill up quickly,” she says. “So it’s important to set the date for an event like a big company Christmas party as early as possible.” Some companies like to get the input of their employees, and will send around possible dates for everyone to vote on.

As with any major event, she wants to know the budget she’s got to work with as soon as possible. “Christmas parties are usually considered a ‘thank you’ to all the company’s employees. They’re the people you want to please. You need to know early on whether you’re planning a smaller event at the actual workplace, or a larger event at a venue you’ll need to rent. Usually when someone is contracting with my company it’s a bigger event – for smaller events, they like to do it themselves. But you need to find out, because that isn’t always the case.” Not surprisingly, the best venues are booked up well in advance, so getting these details squared away as early as possible is important.

Assuming that it’s an off-site venue then you need to determine what is available to you that is already there, and what you’ll need to hire in. It could be anything from extra staff to holiday decorations to entertainers and their equipment. “No matter what you do,” Tammie Hawkins advises, “remember that no prices are ever set in stone. Always try to negotiate the cost. You don’t get what you don’t ask for.”

Tammie Hawkins is the founder and CEO of Hawkins Events, LLC, a Los Angeles based special events planning company.

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