Bargain venues for your Christmas party!

Planning a Christmas meal with your friends or family but on a budget? Then find out how to get a 2 course meal including a glass of wine from just £7.99 per person.

Christmas is on its way, whether you like it or not and with all the usual festivities. Yes, it'll soon be time for the office parties (and the embarrassing office party photos!).

But what if you also fancy celebrating the festivities with a meal with your friends?

Cook your own Christmas lunch

The cheapest (and probably best) solution is for someone (or everyone) to cook a fabulous Christmas-type lunch - but this does mean quite a bit of cooking, washing up, as well as requiring a home that's big enough to accommodate everyone.

Take advantage of Christmas Party menus

The easier option of course is to go out for a meal - leaving the preparation and clearing up in capable hands.

And the good news is, holding your Christmas do at many venues can be surprisingly inexpensive. Most of the chain restaurants and pubs are offering some kind of Christmas party menu which work out to be far cheaper than ordering off the standard menu and will happily accommodate groups of four to twenty - or even more.

I've been doing a bit of research into how much two and three course meals at various venues will cost over the festive season to find out which offers the best value for money. Let's take a look at what's on offer:

Christmas party venues

As you can see there are some great deals available with prices for a two course meal starting at an amazing £7.99 at Wetherpoons, which includes a drink (which can be beer or wine). What a bargain!

What's the food like?

But what do you get for your money? If you're after your mum's roast turkey with all the trimmings you may be disappointed when booking a Christmas party with a chain restaurant.

Looking at the individual menus it's clear to see that in general venues tend to offer a scaled down version of their usual fare, possibly with the addition of a roast turkey option and occasionally Christmas pudding. Not very traditional - but then for many of us this won't really matter.

For example, pizza and pasta restaurants such as Zizzis and Pizza Express offer just that on their Christmas menu. TGI Fridays has steaks and burgers while Loch Fyne has a seafood based set menu.

The best plan is therefore to choose the kind of food your group enjoys and book a venue that suits.

And from the menus alone it appears you get what you pay for, at least where ingredients are concerned at many of the restaurants - for example, pick a £22/head venue and you might be offered lobster risotto as a starter, as opposed to tomato soup at a £12/head place.

2 course meals

If money is tight, you can see that cheaper two course meals are available although this tends to be at lunchtime only (ending at 6pm at the latest) with 3 courses being the minimum for evening diners.

Which is the most fun?

Finally, the question we'd all like the answer to - which of these venues offers the best party experience?

Obviously that depends on what you're looking for - if your group craves a pub atmosphere, Wetherpoons could be the answer. Fancy a raucous evening with lively staff that will probably sing? Then TGI Fridays could be right up your street.

A more relaxed and sedate evening? Then Strada, Ask or Loch Fyne could suit your needs best. The choice is yours!

Top tips for booking your Christmas party

So if you're planning a Christmas meal out with your friends, check out these top tips and make your party run as smoothly as possible:

• Try and arrange for one person to be the organiser - with everyone else agreeing to be as prompt and efficient with their deposits and choices as possible.
• You'll need to book in advance - very few venues will let you turn up on the day.
• You'll also usually need to lay down a deposit and pre-order food, so make sure the organiser keeps track of what everyone chose to prevent problems on the day.
• If you're late you could find your table won't be held.
• To save money hold your party as early as possible - some venues offer a discount or freebies for parties held in November, for example.
• But check the costs carefully. Many 2 for 1 vouchers are available in November, for example that could work out cheaper than using a set menu. Take a look at the 2 for 1 vouchers currently available.
• Many restaurants will offer a free place for the person organising the party - if not then ask!
• Most venues will charge 10% service for groups of 6 or more.
• If you know your group will wish to order wine or beer, ask how much you'd save by pre-ordering - it can be significant.

Happy partying!

Get help from lovemoney.com

But remember, you don't need a big group to have a Christmas party - a meal with just a few friends can be just as festive. Why not adopt our goal: Cut the costs of going out? Or ask for hints and tips from other lovemoney.com readers on how to save money via our funky new Q&A tool?

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