How to Plan a Casino Night for Your Office Christmas Party
The office Christmas party is the event that HR managers, PAs, and office managers dread most. Too formal and people don’t enjoy themselves. Too loose and something regrettable happens. A DJ and a dance floor works for some of the team and leaves others standing around wondering when they can go home. Food is fine but it’s not entertainment.
Casino hire solves the structural problem that most Christmas parties have: it gives people something to do that’s genuinely engaging, competitive, and social, without requiring anyone to dance.
Here’s how to plan it well.
Why Casino Works for Christmas Parties Specifically
The office Christmas party is unique in one important respect: it brings together people with very different relationships to each other, the MD and the graduate, the finance team and the sales floor, the long-serving staff and the new joiners, and asks them to have a good time together. For two to three hours.
Casino tables are one of the few entertainment formats that genuinely level this playing field. Nobody has a professional advantage at a blackjack table. The rules are the same for everyone. And the shared experience of winning or losing a hand creates natural conversation and laughter in a way that small talk over a prawn cocktail simply doesn’t.
It also works for non-drinkers, people who don’t dance, people who are a bit shy, and people who just want to enjoy themselves without committing to a big night out. The tables are participatory but not compulsory, guests can join in as much or as little as they like.
Book Early, Seriously
This is the single most important piece of practical advice I can give for a December casino booking: do not leave it until autumn.
Our December calendar fills up every year, typically from September onwards, and Fridays and Saturdays in December are gone first. The companies that book in July or August get their preferred date, preferred venue, and enough time to plan properly. The companies that enquire in November are often choosing between the dates that are left.
Three to four months in advance is the minimum I’d recommend for a December event. Six months is better. If you already know your Christmas party date, get a quote now even if your venue isn’t confirmed yet, we can hold a date while you finalise the details.
How Many Tables for Your Team
| Team Size | Tables Recommended | Collection |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 40 | 2 tables | The Pair |
| 40–60 | 3 tables | The Flush |
| 60–100 | 4 tables | The Full House |
| 100–150 | 5 tables | The Straight Flush |
| 150+ | 6+ tables | The Royale |
For most corporate Christmas parties, the ratio of one table per twenty-five to thirty guests works well. Not every team member will be at the tables simultaneously, some will be at the bar, eating, or chatting. You need enough tables to avoid long queues, not a table for every person.
If you have a very large team, 300, 400, 500 people, talk to us about The Royale. We have experience running full casino rooms for large corporate events, with multiple table types and a coordinating croupier team.
Which Games Work Best for Corporate Christmas Parties
Blackjack is my top recommendation for every corporate Christmas party. It’s the fastest game, the easiest to learn, and it creates genuine energy at the table, wins and losses happen every two to three minutes, which keeps the pace up. Multiple players at one table, all involved in every round.
Roulette is the most visually striking. If you want one table to act as the centrepiece, the thing that draws people in when they walk into the room, roulette is it. The wheel, the layout, the theatre of it all. For a larger Christmas party with multiple tables, I’d make one of them roulette.
Poker: specifically three-card poker or Texas Hold’em, adds a competitive dimension that works well if you have teams or departments you want to pit against each other. It takes slightly longer to learn than blackjack, so have the croupier available to teach, but the format rewards skill slightly more than the other games, which some guests appreciate.
Craps: for a high-energy group that wants the most theatrical game on the floor. Craps gets loud in the best possible way, and the communal nature of the game (players playing together rather than against each other) creates a genuine group moment. Not for every corporate Christmas party, but brilliant when the energy is right.
Customisation for Christmas
The standard Royale Casino Hire setup looks great as it is, but there are a few things you can do to personalise it for a Christmas party specifically.
Branded fun money: Custom fun money with your company name and the year. Guests often keep these. It’s a small detail that makes the event feel designed specifically for your company rather than hired-in generically.
Festive table cloths: We can swap our standard green felt for deep red or navy to match a Christmas colour scheme.
Prize draw: Use fun money as prize draw tickets at the end of the evening. Announce a small number of prizes, a bottle of champagne, a hamper, a gift voucher, and draw the winners from the night’s top earners. It adds a moment of ceremony to the close of the casino session that works particularly well for corporate events.
Competitive leaderboard: For larger teams or companies who want an inter-departmental competition, we can track fun money totals across the evening and announce a winning team. It adds a layer of competition that suits corporate culture.
Timing Advice
For most Christmas parties, the casino runs best in a defined window during the evening rather than as the sole entertainment throughout.
A typical structure: arrival drinks (45 minutes), dinner (90 minutes), casino and dancing (2–3 hours). The casino either runs alongside the dancing, with tables in a separate area, or before the dancing in the transition from dinner.
If your party is a standing event rather than a seated dinner, the casino can run throughout with guests dipping in and out. This works particularly well for larger teams where a formal dinner isn’t practical.
Internal Links
- Corporate Casino Hire, dedicated page for all corporate events
- Casino Hire Packages, full collection range
- 10 Ways to Make Your Corporate Event Stand Out, broader ideas for corporate casino hire
Ready to book? Get a free quote, tell us your team size, preferred December date, and venue location and we’ll confirm availability and pricing within 24 hours. Don’t leave it, December books up fast.
Frequently Asked Questions
How early should I book a casino for a December Christmas party? Three to four months in advance is the minimum, and earlier is better. Fridays and Saturdays in December fill up from September onwards. If you have a date in mind, even tentatively, get in touch now to secure it. We can hold a date while you finalise other arrangements.
Can casino hire work for a very large company Christmas party? Yes. We’ve run casino evenings for corporate clients with 300, 400, and 500+ attendees. For very large events, we typically create a dedicated casino room with multiple table types and a coordinating croupier team. Talk to us about your numbers and we’ll propose the right setup.
What if some of my team don’t want to play at the tables? That’s completely fine, participation is never compulsory. The tables work best as one activity among several in the evening, alongside a DJ or band, a bar, and food. Some team members will be at the tables all evening; others will drift in and out; others will watch from the edges. Everyone gets something out of the evening without anyone being put on the spot.