Christmas catering is less about choosing dishes than about choosing a sequence. The events that run smoothly tend to be the ones where the host answered the structural questions first: how food will be served, what the venue can physically support, who is bringing tables and chairs, how beverages will work, and what number the kitchen should cook against. Menu selection, which feels like the hard part, is usually the easiest step once those answers exist.
What follows is the order that works, from first conversation through final headcount, written for Chicago and its suburbs where December logistics carry real weight.
Start a conversation about your Christmas event.
This article is your Christmas event-planning timeline: use it to sequence venue access, rentals, bar decisions, dietary needs, and final counts. For family meals, delivery, pickup, and current seasonal dishes, visit the Christmas catering menu page. For full-service office and social celebrations, visit the Chicago holiday-party catering page.
Step one: define the event before the menu
Four inputs shape everything downstream.
- Date and time of day. A 6:00 pm dinner and a 12:00 pm office lunch have different staffing, different food, and different equipment.
- Guest count range. A working number with a tolerance is enough to begin.
- Location. A private home, an office floor, or an outside venue each impose their own limits.
- The feeling you want. A relaxed open house, a formal seated dinner, and a cocktail reception with stations are three genuinely different events.
Availability for any given December date varies by date, venue, and event size, so treat these four answers as what you need in hand before asking whether a date can be held.
Step two: choose a service mode, because it decides almost everything
Service mode is the single most consequential decision in Christmas catering. It sets staffing, timing, equipment, and how the room is laid out.
- Passed hors d’oeuvres reception. Guests stand and circulate. Service staff move continuously. Works well when a space cannot seat everyone, and it keeps the room energized.
- Grazing and display stations. Styled displays that guests approach on their own. Strong visual impact, lighter service pressure, and forgiving of staggered arrivals.
- Buffet. Efficient at higher counts. Needs linear space, a clean traffic pattern, and a location that does not intersect the bar line.
- Chef stations. Interactive and memorable. Each station consumes floor space, power, and a person, so three stations is a different plan than one.
- Family style. Platters to the table. Warm and generous, and dependent on table count and seat count.
- Plated dinner. The most formal, the most staff-intensive, and the most reliant on a locked seating plan.
For corporate and office parties there is a second consideration. A seated dinner asks a hundred colleagues to stay in place for two hours. Stations let the same hundred move through in ninety minutes and actually talk to each other. Neither is better. They serve different goals.
Our Christmas catering page is the place to start on menus, and our full-service menus and delivery menus show the two service models side by side. Full-service catering is also distinct from delivery catering, and the two are planned and priced differently. If your event needs staff on site, plating, service ware handling, and breakdown, that is full service. If it needs food delivered ready to set out, that is delivery. Deciding which one you want early prevents a mismatch later.
Step three: audit venue access in writing
December is when venue constraints turn into surprises. Get written answers before the menu is finalized.
- Kitchen and warming access: a working kitchen, a warming area, or nothing at all
- Load-in and load-out windows: the earliest arrival time and the latest breakdown time
- Dock, freight elevator, and parking: many downtown Chicago buildings require reserved elevator time and have strict dock hours
- Power and water: station-heavy and chef-attended menus have specific electrical needs
- Furniture included: whether the venue supplies tables and chairs, and in what quantities
- Insurance and approved-vendor requirements: certificates of insurance and vendor approval processes are common
- Alcohol policy: whether outside beverage service is allowed, and under what terms
- End time and noise limits: these silently define your service schedule
Homes have a parallel list: winter driveway and door access, a staging area where plating can happen out of sight, and an honest assessment of what a residential kitchen can support alongside your own cooking.
Step four: rentals
Rentals are the second-largest budget variable after bar service, and they are entirely a function of what the venue does not provide.
Per-guest catering figures at Catering by Michaels include your custom menu, culinary and service staff, food service ware, and linens. They do not include tables, chairs, or beverage and bar service. That distinction matters when you compare quotes, because those items have to come from somewhere: either the venue provides them or they are rented.
Beyond furniture, rentals commonly include upgraded linens, specialty glassware, chargers, serving pieces, and any staging or lighting elements. December inventory across Chicagoland is finite, so once your count and layout are stable, lock the rental list.
Step five: bar direction
Beverage and bar service is typically the largest single addition to a catering budget. Decide direction early, because it affects glassware, ice, staffing, and floor plan.
- Beer and wine only is the simplest to staff and lay out.
- Beer, wine, and one or two signature cocktails gives a holiday event a distinct identity without a full bar operation.
- Full bar needs more staff, more glassware, and often more than one station to prevent a single line from dominating the room.
- Non-alcoholic program. Winter events benefit from a genuinely good non-alcoholic option, whether that is a spiced cider, a mocktail, or a proper coffee and hot beverage station near dessert.
Confirm the venue’s alcohol rules before you settle any of this. Some sites restrict outside beverage service entirely.
Step six: guest details and dietary needs
Once mode, venue, rentals, and bar are set, the menu conversation gets fast. Bring specifics:
- Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-conscious counts, not just a note that some exist
- Allergen needs, especially nut and shellfish, since holiday menus lean on both
- Whether children are attending and whether they need a separate approach
- Any dish your group expects every year, and any dish they are tired of
- Whether guests are staff, clients, family, or a mix, which changes formality
Seasonal Chicago menus have real range: roasts and glazed centerpieces, winter salads and root vegetables, seafood displays, and a dessert program that can run from a passed sweets tray to a full station with coffee service. Confirm current holiday menu offerings with the team, since menus are updated by season and specific dishes are not guaranteed year to year.
Step seven: final counts and the run of show
Guest counts move most in the last two weeks. That is normal and it is manageable if it is communicated. What a kitchen needs is the number you will stand behind, plus early notice of additions, so food quantities and staffing are built against reality.
Then write the run of show. One page, naming:
- Staff arrival and setup start
- When passed items or displays begin
- When the bar opens
- When stations, buffet, or dinner service starts
- When speeches, gift exchanges, or programs happen
- When dessert and coffee appear
- When breakdown begins and when the room must be clear
Share it with the venue as well as the caterer. Almost every day-of problem traces back to a missing line on this page.
Planning ranges, so the budget conversation starts in the right place
Each figure below is labeled exactly as the published budget page labels it, as a starting price and an average. Neither is a quote. Final pricing depends on guest count, menu, event duration, venue requirements, staffing, rentals, and service style.
- Buffet: starts at $120 per guest, with an average of $165 per guest
- Plated: starts at $125 per guest, with an average of $170 per guest
- Chef stations: starts at $125 per guest, with an average of $175 per guest
- Family style: starts at $130 per guest, with an average of $170 per guest
- Cocktail reception, passed: starts at $65 per guest, with an average of $80 per guest
- Cocktail reception, grazing station: starts at $55 per guest, with an average of $75 per guest
Each figure includes your custom menu, culinary and wait staff, food service ware, and linens. Each excludes tables, chairs, and beverages or bar service. A starting price is a floor, not a typical price. Treat these as planning ranges and let a custom proposal do the real work.
Why the Chicago detail matters
Catering by Michaels has been a full-service special event catering company since 1980, operating from 6203 Park Ave in Morton Grove and serving Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. December here means snow-affected load-ins, guests arriving in waves rather than at once, downtown buildings running on dock schedules, and suburban venues with firm end times. A plan that accounts for those things is not more cautious. It is simply more likely to happen the way you pictured it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the right service style for a Chicago office Christmas party?
It depends on your headcount, your space, and how much you want people circulating. Stations and passed receptions move large groups through efficiently and encourage mixing. Seated dinners suit smaller groups, award programs, or client-facing events. Call (847) 966-6555 and describe the room and headcount, and the format question usually answers itself.
Does Christmas catering pricing include tables and chairs?
No. Per-guest figures include the custom menu, culinary and service staff, food service ware, and linens. Tables, chairs, and beverage or bar service are separate. Confirm what your venue supplies before building a rental list.
How much do dietary restrictions change a holiday menu?
Less than most hosts expect, if they are known early. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-conscious, and allergen-aware options can be built into the same menu rather than bolted on. Counts help more than a general note.
What should I ask my Chicago venue before finalizing the menu?
Kitchen or warming access, load-in and load-out times, dock and freight elevator rules, available power, whether tables and chairs are included, insurance and approved-vendor requirements, alcohol policy, and the hard end time.
When do I need to give a final guest count?
Counts typically firm up in the final two weeks, and a proposal can be built earlier on a range. What matters is giving the kitchen a number you will stand behind and flagging additions as soon as they happen.
Are the holiday menu items the same every year?
Menus are seasonal and change. Rather than assume a specific dish from a previous year is available, confirm current holiday menu offerings with the team when you plan.
Can you cater Christmas at a private home in the northern suburbs?
Home events are common and workable. The variables are winter access to the driveway and entry, a staging area where plating can happen out of sight, and what the kitchen can support. Those three answers drive the menu more than anything else.
What is the difference between full-service and delivery catering for a Christmas party?
Full service brings staff, service, service ware handling, and breakdown to your site. Delivery brings food ready for you to set out. They are planned and priced differently, so decide which one your event actually needs before comparing options.
Plan your Christmas event
Call Catering by Michaels at (847) 966-6555, email events@cateringbymichaels.com, or reach us through our contact page. We are at 6203 Park Ave, Morton Grove, IL 60053, producing full-service events since 1980.
