The work Christmas party is being reinvented to avoid festive legal trouble

The days of unlimited bar tabs at work Christmas parties are coming to an end with a new era of end-of-year celebrations emerging as employers look to dial down the risk factor. Take our poll

Chris Herde

@ChrisHerde

3 min read

November 28, 2025 - 11:24AM

The Australian Business Network

Staff are being reminded that their work Christmas parties are an extension of the workplace which means behaviour needs to reflect what’s appropriate.

Work Christmas party season is about to kick into high gear with employers increasingly opting to scrap booze-fuelled late night parties for less risky celebrations.

The days of unlimited bar tabs are ending and staff have been put on notice for bad behaviour with businesses thinking up new ways to celebrate without dialling up the risk factor.

Breakfasts, family picnics, adult adventure centres, sport venues, escape rooms, VR gaming, scavenger hunts, week night parties and earlier finishing times are all gaining popularity this festive season.

My Perfect Party owner Alison Barrett, who has been providing full service Christmas events for 15 years across Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne, said corporate inquiries have been “drying up”.

The Sydney-based company - which specialises in events under 200 people - said the pull back has been noticed across all of their markets.

“The bookings we get don’t seem to have big budgets. I’ve doing this for 15 years and this has been our quietest year for corporates,” she said.

“They are liking more intimate sit down settings with groups of 20 and 30 and there seems to be a trend towards having events at the bosses or board members homes.”

HopgoodGanmin Lawyers Partner (Workplace and Employment) Matt Wichlinski said employers have learnt to be more conscious of the risk involved in hosting big events like Christmas parties.

“I think there’s always concerns about staff behaving badly and nowadays there’s an onus on employers to make sure they’re acting appropriately,” he said.

“I think they’re all more conscious or reticent to put on the big bar tabs, open bars and free cocktails, and pre-event drinks are pretty much non-existent these days.”

HopgoodGanmin Lawyers Partner (Workplace and Employment) Matt Wichlinski.

He said the workplace extends to the work Christmas party and that needed to be understood, particularly around legislative changes that include sexual harassment.

Employers have implemented a raft measures including designating people to monitor alcohol consumption, offering cab charges to get staff home safely, limiting the event to one venue to avoid the inevitable kick on and emailing staff ahead of time highlighting their responsibilities to act appropriately.

With bosses jumping on experience-based celebrations, venues like TopGolf on the Gold Coast and Brisbane’s Gold Central which offer high tech driving ranges mixed with food and drinks are becoming hot locations.

Places like TopGolf on the Gold Coast offer a different type of staff Christmas party.

A TopGolf spokesman said there was a significant increase in its parties and events business at this time of year.

“The majority of our parties and events business throughout November and December are for work Christmas parties ranging from smaller (under 30 guests) right up to larger (full level) events,” he said.

“The beauty of our venue is that across the 90 bays, three levels, with over 10 unique game formats and multiple private event spaces, we can cater to a range of events as well as our normal walk-in trade.”

But while the so-called fun police may be out in force for some, many companies are still opting for the traditional end-of-year blow out with corporate party planners reporting wild west-meets-disco themes among the most popular.

The next four weeks are shaping up as a busier Christmas party period than last year for Prop House Collective founder and director Jano Kotzas.

Prop House Collective owner Jano Kotzas inside the store in Coorparoo.

Her stylist business, which started 30 years ago, has styled most of the big corporate Christmas parties around Brisbane over the years, and Ms Kotzas said demand had ramped up in 2025 with many of the big companies celebrating a big year with a bigger Christmas party.

“It’s really strong. Far busier than last year,” Ms Kotzas said.

“Companies are going all out and in many cases partners are being invited as well.”

Ms Kotzas said there had been a surge in demand for wild west themed parties this year.

“For whatever reason western themes are huge,” she said from her Coorparoo-based business.

“Our western props are going crazy – with a bit of cowboy and a bit of disco mixed in together. It’s a bit different but wild west themes are really hot this year.”