Renting rooms for holiday parties in December

Office and family holiday parties want the same six Saturday nights. A December package, alcohol rules, longer setup, music, and money up front.

Nov 5, 2026 · 5 min read

Early November, and the requests come in threes. An office of 40 wants a Friday in mid-December. A family wants a Sunday afternoon for the cousins. A hockey team wants "any Saturday, evening, with music." All of them want one of the same handful of nights, and most of them will ask the room down the street too.

December is the one month when your rooms are worth more than you charge for them, and when a renter who cancels late can't be replaced. Both are reasons to rent it differently from the rest of the year.

Count your December first

Before you answer anyone, take out the calendar and count what you really have:

• Friday and Saturday evenings between December 1 and the last weekend before Christmas: usually six or seven, the most wanted.
• Thursday evenings, popular with offices that couldn't get a Friday.
• Saturday and Sunday afternoons, for family parties and kids' gatherings.

Then cross out what's yours: the recital, the last week of classes, the holiday show, your own staff party. What's left is what you sell. If you have six evenings and twelve requests, you can be choosy, about the price and about the kind of party.

Sell an evening, not hours

In December, a two-hour booking from 7 to 9 on a Saturday is a loss: it uses the night and stops you selling the whole of it. Sell evenings as a package instead.

Say your hall rents at $60 an hour. A holiday party really needs it from 5 PM to midnight: an hour and a half to set up and decorate, four hours of party, an hour and a half to clear. That's seven hours, $420 at your usual rate.

Holiday evening, Friday or Saturday: 5 PM to midnight, $450. Includes 60 chairs, 8 tables, the sound system and cleaning. Sundays 11 AM to 5 PM, $300.

A little above the hourly price is fair for the most wanted nights of the year, and one price is easier for an office committee to approve than an hourly rate and a list of fees. Keep the hourly rate for weekday daytimes, when a shorter booking costs you nothing.

Add what people ask for as extras with prices: a projector for the slideshow, extra tables, a coat rack, the kitchen.

Two kinds of holiday renters

Office parties pay with a company card or ask for an invoice, need a receipt with tax shown, and decide by committee, which means slowly. They're often less price-sensitive than you'd expect and more particular about the date. Give them a written quote they can forward, with the date held for a few days.

Family parties watch the price, bring their own food, come with children and grandparents, and usually want afternoons. A Sunday package that fits a family's budget fills a time an office would never want.

Alcohol, decorations and music

Holiday parties are where your rules get tested. Decide each one before the first booking.

Alcohol. Either it's not allowed in your building, which is a perfectly good answer for a dance studio or a play centre, or it's allowed only the way your province or state says. A private event serving alcohol in a space like yours usually needs a permit for the day. In Ontario, for example, it's a special occasion permit, and other provinces and states have their own versions and rules about trained servers. Make getting the permit the renter's job, ask for a copy two weeks before, and check with your insurer, because some policies change when alcohol is served.

Decorations. December brings tinsel, glitter, candles and the occasional real tree. Write the rules down:

Battery candles only. No glitter, confetti or loose tinsel. No real trees or greenery. Nothing taped to walls, mirrors or the floor.

Glitter in a sprung dance floor is still there at the June recital.

Music. DJs and Bluetooth speakers both. Say when the music goes down and when it goes off: "Music lowered at 11, off at 11:30, everyone out by midnight." Playing recorded music at an event can need a licence in Canada and the US; ask the DJ whether they hold one, and ask someone who knows the rules where you are whether you need your own.

Money up front, and a December cancellation rule

A holiday party cancelled on December 10 can't be rebooked. Your usual cancellation rule, free until 48 hours before, doesn't fit December.

Two ways to protect the night:

• Paid in full when booked. Simplest, and normal for a room this wanted.
• A deposit of half when booked, the rest two weeks before. Easier for a family on a budget.

Then a rule that matches the month:

Holiday bookings can be cancelled with a full refund until November 15. After that, we keep the full price unless we can rebook the night.

Put it in writing before they pay, along with the rest of your rental agreement.

A timeline that fills December

• Early October: decide the nights and the packages, and put them on your website. Email last year's holiday renters first, with their same date offered.
• Through November: answer requests quickly. Holiday renters go to whoever replies first.
• Two weeks before each party: the alcohol permit, the final numbers, the setup plan.
• The week before: a reminder with the times, parking, decoration rules and your closing checklist.
• The week after: a thank-you, and the same date next year held for them until a set day in September.

The renters who come back every December are worth more than any new one. They know the room, follow the rules, and book before anyone else asks.

Where Caletan fits

With Caletan's room rental booking software, a holiday evening can be a block at one flat price, such as Saturday from 5 PM to midnight, beside your usual hourly rates. Extra tables or a projector are offered only when they're free that night, and a rental can't take a room your recital or last classes already hold. Rooms can book instantly or on your approval, so you can answer each December request yourself. See blocks at a flat price, or Caletan's community centre booking software.