Planning a corporate dinner party can be a fun and strategic way to gather colleagues or clients around a table to enjoy food, drinks, and conversation. To keep the focus more on entertaining the guests and less on the stress of planning the event, we wanted to give you a few tips and tricks on how to plan a dinner party.

Steps to Organize a Dinner Party

1. Set Your Goals

When it comes to planning a dinner party checklist, the very first box you’ll want to check is setting your goals. What is the point of this dinner? Is it to discuss business strategy? Is it to celebrate employees or a team on reaching a milestone or goal? Are you trying to network with a new client? All of these goals could make for a very different tone at dinner so planning this out ahead of time will help you navigate.

2. Dinner Party Venues

Next, you’ll want to choose a dinner party rental space for your event. Are you looking for intimate dinner party venues? Something fun with activities for guests to partake in? A dinner that includes live entertainment. Having an idea in mind will help you navigate your choices. Hosting a corporate dinner at a public venue like this also reduces cleanup and stress.

3. Date and Time

You’ll also want to set a date and time to make sure that the timeslot you’re looking at also works for the restaurant. This way you can plan and coordinate with them to make sure everything runs smoothly and accordingly.

4. Guest List

Next, you’ll create a guest list of who you want to invite. The guest list should directly correlate with the goals of your event. Deciding on how many guests you want to invite also helps with sending out invitations and finalizing your reservation at a venue.

5. Invitations

We always suggest sending out formal invitations for a business dinner party. This makes the event feel more official and is also a tasteful and polite way to inform your guests. Invitations can be simple and classy, so don’t overthink them.

6. Plan the Menu

We suggest visiting the venue before the day of the event to make sure everything feels right to you. This is also where you can start planning the menu with the restaurant and we suggest going all out with appetizers, cocktails, main entrees, and desserts. If you search private dinner party venues near me, that will make it easy to visit the event space beforehand.

7. Attention to Detail

Make sure you have everything coordinated ahead of time like name cards and a seating chart, table décor, printed menus and a great table at the restaurant with a nice view. Having all your details buttoned up will make for a very successful dinner party.

8. Arrive Early

Make sure you arrive early. We suggest 45 minutes ahead of time to scope things out and make sure everything looks exactly as you would like it. This also leaves time to prepare for any last-minute emergencies if you need to run to the store or coordinate more with the venue.

9. Greet Guests

Finally, make sure you greet every single one of your guests. You want them to know you appreciate them coming and after all, the whole point of this dinner is for them. When you greet guests individually, it makes them feel more comfortable for the evening and connected with you as a whole.

At Ovation Square, we host a wide range of different events and would love to discuss your next business dinner party with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How far ahead of time should I call a venue?
A: That would depend on how busy the venue gets but to be safe, we would say 4 weeks ahead of time is a safe bet.

Q: Do you think there is an ideal venue for something like this?
A: It really depends on your wants and what your goals are. However, once we set those, we can help you decide from there.

Q: How far in advance should I send out invitations?
A: We suggest once you have the venue booked, sending the invites out ASAP. You want to give guests as much time as possible to clear their calendars.