The Christmas party season is fast approaching with multiple events booked in from November and January, for many the party season can turn into a bit of a blur.

Here we offer a few pointers to help you get through the party season and succeed in making the most of the festive period!

Be Unit Wise: 

• It can be very easy to lose track of how many drinks you are consuming especially at a party.  The common pitfalls include large wine glasses (which could contain as much as a third of a bottle of wine), strong and unfamiliar cocktails and friendly waiters topping up your glass.

• Many people can be tempted to overindulge during the festive season and it is important to remember to stay within the Government’s sensible drinking guidelines.

• The current advice is that most men should not drink more than three to four units and for women to keep to two to three units per day. Find out more about units and how many are in your favourite drinks by visiting http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/

Getting Home:

• If you are going to drink leave the car at home. Your body’s ability to process alcohol depends on various things, like your age, weight and gender. Your body breaks down alcohol at a rate of about one unit per hour - and no, there’s no way you can speed this up!

• If you aren’t taking a car, make sure you know how you’re getting home by planning with your friends or colleagues how you will get back from the event at the start of your night out.

• Make sure you have phone numbers for reliable (licensed) taxi firms to hand or find out about public transport. You can look up what time the last underground leaves or which night bus you will need to take and where it leaves from on www.journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk

  If you do have to walk home, avoid walking alone and don’t walk through unlit or unsafe areas.

To stay within the guidelines and to maximise your enjoyment throughout the party season here are a few additional tips from Diageo, the world’s leading premium drinks business:

• Ensure you drink plenty of water before, during and after the party.  This will help you stay refreshed and re-hydrated. 
• Pace yourself.  Take a break from alcoholic drinks by drinking fruit juice, non-alcoholic cocktails or other soft drinks as spacers.
• Make sure you eat some of the canapés or if you know there won’t be food served at the event make sure you eat something before you arrive.
• Beware of cocktails or the office party punch.  They can be quite strong and more than one can easily push you past the recommended daily unit allowance.
• Look out for friends and colleagues, if you suspect they may have had a bit too much encourage them to have a soft drink or fruit cocktail with you.
• Don’t leave your drink unattended or accept drinks from strangers.

Above all enjoy yourself, the key to having a memorable party season is planning ahead and drinking in moderation. For more hints on how to make the most of your Christmas party visit www.drinkaware.co.uk

If you have been entrusted with the task of organising your companies Christmas party, this can be an excellent opportunity to impress your superiors and peers alike with the best party your company has every seen, on the other hand a Christmas party disaster could lead to some funny looks at work the next day. So how do you make sure that you are the toast of the party?

Pick the perfect venue

First and foremost find the right venue for you, bear in mind the location, not just to your office, but also a location that is convenient for guests to make their way home from. The Grand Hall in St Pancras is situated just yards from the tube, British rail, taxi’s, and buses. There are also plenty of hotels in the vicinity. Check the venues license, if you are a big ‘party’ crowd, you do not want to be turfed out of the venue onto the street at midnight. Perhaps try a London nightclub venue? Also check what the maximum number of guests is for the venue, if you book a party for 200 guests and the response is excellent, you don’t want to contact the venue two weeks before informing them that your numbers have gone up to 220 to be told that the venue cannot cater for the extra guests!

Buy an all-inclusive package

All inclusive packages are now available at the majority of London venues. By buying one of these packages, you ensure that there are no nasty shocks when the bill arrives the day after the party. Beware that an estimated bar bill is just that, and is not a guarantee of what you will spend. With drinks packages make sure that the package lasts for the duration of your party, there is no point buying a 5 hour drinks package if your event lasts for 7 hours!!!

Quality of the Food

When choosing a Christmas party in London, bear in mind that we live in a city with some of the finest restaurants in the world. Guests that are regularly entertained at Gordon Ramsay restaurants or have dined Nobu, Cecconi’s and the like, will not be satisfied with food that could have been prepared in a school canteen! Insist on a food tasting, and find out who is actually preparing the food. At Impulse we only work with top caterers such as Mint and Tamarind.

Motivate your staff to attend

The majority of Christmas party packages now cost in excess of £100 per person, so when staff/guests do not attend this is a huge waste of money, guests should be motivated to attend, let them know in advance what a fabulous evening you have planned for them. Some companies have started imposing financial penalties on those that RSVP, but do not attend. One of our clients last year told staff if they did not attend they would be charged the full price of their ticket, another charged guests £20, but they were refunded in full if they attended! However, make sure you keep an accurate count of those you expect to attend. At one of our Christmas parties at Lord’s Cricket Ground last year, 100 extra guests turned up unannounced at the event, it was extremely fortunate that the wonderful head chef at Lord’s managed to cater for them.

Know your audience

Make sure you book the right event for your company. If you have a young ‘up for it’ crowd, why not consider a night club? For a more mature audience a seated meal is normally expected, and if you have a mix of ages, a more informal event usually works well. Think about the entertainment carefully, would you boss really appreciate the semi-nude burlesque act you have booked, or the ‘blue’ comedian you have had recommended? In conclusion, you know your audience best, so don’t be sold something that someone else thinks that you would like. If you plan ahead to get the right venue, consider the meal carefully, and arrange the right entertainment, you can look forward to the best Christmas party your company has ever seen, and the adulation from your peers that you so rightly deserve! Check out our range of exclusive London Christmas Party venues