How to sell Christmas party tickets

1. Pick the format before the price

The format decides what the ticket includes, how many you can sell and what you need at the door. Common ticketed Christmas and holiday party ideas:

• Christmas dinner party. A set menu, tables for groups and often a band or a DJ after dinner. The ticket includes the meal, so the count must match the kitchen. Work out portions and catering cost with the event food calculator.
• Open holiday party. A party for small companies, teams or friends groups who don't want to plan their own. Sell single tickets and table tickets side by side.
• Christmas fundraiser or charity gala. Higher prices, sponsors, a raffle and often a donation on top of the ticket. Build sponsor tiers with the sponsorship package builder and print numbered tickets with the raffle ticket generator.
• Ugly sweater party or club night. General admission and a later start. The ticket is entry, so the door and the capacity limit matter most.
• Christmas market or craft fair. Free or low-cost entry. Free tickets are still worth issuing: you get a guest count and know who is coming.
• Family party or Santa visit. An afternoon slot with adult and child tickets. If you run it on several days, one event can have more than one date.

Write down what each ticket includes: entry, food, drinks, a table, a gift for children. Every line you promise is a cost you need to cover.

2. Set up early bird, regular, VIP and table tickets

Each ticket in Swarmtix is its own ticket type, with its own name, description, price and quantity. Most Christmas parties need three or four.

• Early bird. A lower price for a limited number of tickets or a limited time. Give the ticket type a sales end date, or a small quantity, so it ends on its own. Early sales also pay the venue and catering deposits.
• Regular. The main price. Start its sales when early bird ends, and end it at the caterer's final-count deadline if the ticket includes food.
• VIP. Only worth it if it includes something real: a reserved table near the stage, a drinks package or a welcome glass. Describe the extras in the ticket description so nobody argues at the door.
• Table tickets. For groups and small companies. Set a minimum per order so a table is sold as a group, and a maximum so one buyer can't take half the room.

Other settings that help in December:

• Checkout questions. Add a custom question at checkout, such as dietary needs or which table a guest is with, so the answers reach you before the caterer's deadline.
• Access codes for company groups. Hide a ticket type until a buyer enters a code, then send that code to one company or group. A direct checkout link takes them straight to checkout with the ticket picked.
• Promo codes. A percent or fixed discount, with a usage limit and start and end dates, for all tickets or only some. Use one for last year's guests. See the promo codes guide.
• Reserved seating. For a seated dinner or a holiday concert, a seat map with tables lets guests pick their seats or a whole table. Sketch the room first with the seating chart generator.
• Donations. For a fundraiser, add a donation ticket type next to the paid tickets, so guests can give more than the ticket price.

Not sure what to charge? The ticket pricing calculator and the break-even calculator work out a price from your costs and expected attendance.

3. Plan the timing backwards from the party date

Christmas parties spread across December, and the Friday and Saturday nights before Christmas go first. Pick your date, then count back:

• 10 or more weeks out: book the venue, the band or DJ, and the catering. December dates are the first to go. Put the numbers into the event budget calculator.
• 6 to 8 weeks out: publish the event page and open early bird tickets. Companies and friends groups decide on their party in November.
• 3 to 4 weeks out: end early bird and promote the regular tier and the table tickets.
• Final 1 to 2 weeks: give the caterer and the venue a final count, with the dietary answers from checkout. Stop selling food-inclusive tickets at the kitchen deadline.
• On the night: close online sales at a set time, then sell the last entry tickets at the door.

Plan the evening itself with the run of show generator (dinner, speeches, raffle draw, music), and build the full to-do list with the event checklist generator.

4. Set capacity you can actually hold

The ticket quantity is your promise. Start from the venue's legal capacity, then take away staff, performers and guest list places. A seated dinner holds fewer guests than a standing party in the same room. Split what is left across your ticket types, so the total of all quantities never goes above the room.

The venue capacity planner works out how many guests fit for standing, seated or mixed layouts.

5. Do the fee math before you set prices

Swarmtix charges $0.99 + 1.5% per paid ticket. Free tickets are free. Stripe's card processing fee is extra and depends on your Stripe account. You choose who pays the Swarmtix fee: absorb it, or add it at checkout so you keep the full ticket price.

An example with three tiers, when you absorb the fee:

The same numbers apply in euros, pounds, Canadian dollars and Australian dollars. A €50 ticket pays €0.99 + €0.75 = €1.74. A donation is not a paid ticket, so it adds no Swarmtix fee. Check the card fee for your country with the Stripe fee calculator, and see Swarmtix pricing for the full details.

Ticket money goes to your own Stripe account. Swarmtix never holds your revenue, which helps when the venue and catering deposits are due before the party.

6. Get the door ready for a winter crowd

Guests arrive in coats, often in the cold, and most of them in the same half hour before dinner. A slow door means a queue outside.

• Scan tickets on phones. Every ticket has a QR code. Door staff scan it with the Swarmtix check-in app for iOS and Android. A scan count shows if a ticket was already used.
• Use more than one entrance. Add door staff as team members. Check-ins sync across devices, so two lanes see the same list. Put the coat check after the scan, not before it.
• Plan for weak signal. Check-in needs an internet connection and has no offline mode. Test the signal at the venue, and keep a printed attendee list as a backup. Each ticket also has a security code for manual lookup.
• Sell the last tickets at the door. Door sales mode lets your staff sell and record tickets on the night.

The check-in guide covers scanning, manual lookup and multi-device check-in in detail.

7. Write an event page that answers questions

Guests and company organizers compare several Christmas parties before they buy. Put the date, the start and end time, what each ticket includes, the menu and dietary options, the dress code, the age limit and the refund policy on the page. Use the event description template to write it. If you print tickets for sponsors or guest list places, the ticket maker makes a printable ticket.

The party comes back every year. Next December, duplicate the event from your events list, then set the new date and check each ticket type before you publish.