If you’ve ever planned an event, Christmas should feel… weirdly familiar. In fact, we’d argue it’s basically THE event of the year except with more tinsel, more sugar, and significantly higher expectations from small children.
Here are the top transferable skills that prove event managers and Father Christmas are cut from the same (red velvet) cloth:
Lists. So. Many. Lists.
Event managers are professional list-makers. Need a production schedule? A supplier rundown? A risk assessment? A timeline that goes down to the second? We’ve got a list for that, and not your run of the mill scrappy bit of paper list, a fully digitised backed up editable list.
So when Christmas rolls around and Santa starts going on about “making a list and checking it twice,” we can’t help but smile. Twice? Wise up. We check ours roughly 183 times and still wake up ready to tick the next thing off the list.
Stakeholder management
Planning a big event? You’re basically negotiating with sponsors, caterers, AV teams, finance, marketing, and that one person that didn’t book, but turned up anyways.
Christmas? Replace all the above with excited children, extended relatives with conflicting dietary needs, and some smart comments that the tree “seems a little wonky”.
It’s giving the same energy.
The magic of budgeting
Event managers can turn £120.47 into an event experience and a surprisingly decent refreshment station.
But Christmas budgeting? That’s BOSS level.
Between presents, food, fairy lights, more fairy lights, “just one more” box of Celebrations, and that last-minute panic gift for someone you swear wasn’t on the list yesterday…let’s just say Excel has seen some things.
Time Management: The December Edition
In events, we thrive on deadlines…
Load in at 07:30.
Guests at 09:15.
Keynote at 10:00.
Clear at 17:30.
Debrief at 17:31 (because we live for efficiency).
Christmas follows the same intensity…
Shop early.
Wrap secretly.
Hide presents strategically.
Cook to a timeline that would impress a Michelin chef (excel comes in handy for this too, it’s just a big roast dinner, we promise).
We see you, multitasking festive legends.
Crisis? What Crisis?
If an event manager has a superpower, it’s staying calm when everything is on fire. Literally or metaphorically. So when Christmas throws curveballs:
- “The oven stopped working.”
- “Aunt Susan has started talking about politics”
- “The dog ate the advent calendar chocolate from 1st until the 24th”
We simply smile, adjust the plan, and carry on with steely resilience.
The Big Finale: Delivering The Moment
Events build towards one big moment, the reveal, the keynote, the launch.
Christmas builds toward THE morning.
The atmosphere.
The magic.
The months of planning that suddenly make sense in a single, joyful blur.
Event managers thrive here.
This is where we shine.
This is our natural habitat.
So yes, Christmas is essentially the biggest event of the year. And if you’re an event manager, well you’re absolutely qualified to run it. In fact, you might be overqualified.
Whether you’re planning a full-scale festive extravaganza or simply surviving the wrapping paper explosion, we’re cheering you on like the supportive event team we are.
Happy holidays from BeaconHouse Events, may your lists be ticked off, your timelines smooth, and your mince pies plentiful.