Three weeks ago I wrote about the 72 hours before an event, everything that happens behind the scenes before a single guest walks through the door. Here’s the number nobody expects: the good dates for December are already nearly gone.

I say this every year and every year someone’s surprised. If you’re the one who’ll be asked to sort the Christmas party this year, August and September are when you actually need to start.

Why the timeline’s tighter than it feels

December has two, maybe three good weekends, if the day falls right, before everyone disappears for the holidays. Every other company in London is trying to book the same two Fridays. Venues with private rooms get taken first. Good staff get booked first. The caterers people actually want get booked first.

Wait until November and you’re not choosing anymore. You’re taking whatever’s left.

That’s the bit that catches people out. Nobody plans to leave it late. It just happens, because in August a December party feels like it’s ages away. It isn’t. By the time you’ve had the conversation with your MD about budget, checked a few venues, and actually made a decision, you’ve lost three or four weeks without realising it.

What “sorted” actually means in August

You don’t need a final headcount in September. You don’t need a theme, a budget signed off, or a menu decided. All of that can wait.

What you do need locked is three things:

• The date. Even a provisional one, held against the calendar before someone else takes it.
• The venue, or the decision that you’re doing it privately instead.
• Who’s cooking.

Everything else, canapés vs. sit-down, dietary requirements, final numbers, can follow in October and November without anyone panicking. Get those three things locked and the rest of the planning becomes a lot less stressful, because you’re not racing the clock on top of everything else.

Restaurant vs. catering at a venue

This is the decision most people don’t think to question. A restaurant private room feels like the obvious, easy choice, so it’s usually the first thing booked. But if you’re weighing up a restaurant private room against a private catering setup this year, get a quote before you assume it’s out of budget.

Many times you’ll find private catering is actually more cost effective, and you get the whole evening built around you instead of squeezed in around someone else’s Tuesday night birthday. No shared kitchen, no competing tables, no explaining to a stranger why they can’t sit there tonight. The room is yours, the timing is yours, and the team is working for your evening and nobody else’s.

The conversation worth having now

If you’re the one who’ll end up organising this year’s party, have the conversation now rather than in the second week of November, when the good dates are gone and you’re explaining to your MD why you’re squeezing 100 people into a small room and having to pop to M&S for beers and nibbles.

Nobody wants to be the person who leaves it too late. And the truth is, leaving it late doesn’t just mean a worse venue or a smaller room. It means less choice on the food, less flexibility on the format, and a lot more stress landing on you in December when everyone’s already stretched thin.

Sort it now, while there’s still room to choose properly, and December takes care of itself.

If you’d like a hand thinking it through, or just want to know what a private option would actually cost this year, get in touch at londonfinedining.com. No pressure, just a conversation while there’s still time to have it.