Plan your Christmas party seating chart in minutes
A 2D floor plan you arrange by hand. Set up round or long tables, drop each guest into a seat, keep teams and families together, then print the plan or export a PDF for the venue.
Three Christmas parties, three ways to seat them
The layout follows who is coming and what the evening is for.
Office or company party
Rounds of eight to ten keep conversation going and make it easy to mix departments. Seat most people with their own team, spread a few managers and new joiners across tables, and put the table with the speeches or awards where everyone can see it.
Family Christmas dinner
Long tables suit big families, and the two end seats belong to the hosts. Put children together or near the kitchen, and seat relatives who clash at opposite ends instead of across from each other.
Team or department party
A small group can share one long banquet table or two. Use the evening to mix people who rarely work together, and leave the head of the table to whoever is hosting.
Christmas party seating rules that prevent an awkward evening
A short checklist to run through before you place the first name.
Start with the hard constraints
Write down who has to sit together (partners, carers, a guest who uses a wheelchair) and who must not. Place those guests first, then fill in everyone else.
Mix on purpose
Left alone, people sit with the colleagues they already know. Put two or three people from different teams at each table and the room feels like one party.
Think about the room, not just the table
Keep guests who need step-free access close to the entrance, and keep the quietest guests away from the speakers and the bar.
Seat dietary needs together
Vegetarian, vegan and allergy guests on neighbouring tables mean the kitchen does not have to search the room with plates.
Leave a few seats unassigned
Someone will cancel and someone will bring a plus one. Plan two or three spare seats rather than redoing the plan the night before.
Office Christmas party ideas that start with the seating plan
Most of the ideas people search for are really seating decisions in disguise.
Draw table numbers instead of names
A table number on each invitation, or a lucky dip at the door, mixes teams without anyone choosing who sits with whom.
Make the speeches table a stage, not a throne
Seat whoever gives speeches or awards where the room can see them, on the end seats so they can step up without climbing over chairs.
Give the Secret Santa group a spare table
Keep a table free near the tree or one end of the room for the gift swap, so presents are not passed across a crowded aisle.
Plan a quiet corner
Not everyone wants the dance floor. One table away from the speakers gives colleagues who prefer calm somewhere to sit and talk.
How many people fit at a Christmas party table?
Standard venue planning figures, which you can set straight in the builder.
8–10
60 in (152 cm) round
Seats eight comfortably. Ten is the limit.
10–12
72 in (183 cm) round
Seats ten comfortably. Twelve is the limit.
24 in · 60 cm
Long banquet table
Allow about 24 in (60 cm) of table edge per person. 20 in (50 cm) is the practical minimum before elbows collide.
60 in · 152 cm
Space between tables
Leave about 60 in (152 cm) between table edges so people can pass behind chairs and servers can reach every seat.
What this does not do
SeatPlanning draws a 2D floor plan that you arrange yourself. There is no 3D view, and nothing decides who should sit together.
It does not choose seats for you. You decide who sits where, which is the point when seating is really about relationships.
It does not connect to your HR system. Type or paste names, or import a guest list from Excel.
It does not book the venue or the caterer. It is the seating plan, plus RSVPs and QR check-in if you want them.
Christmas party seating questions
The questions organisers ask most often before they lay out the room.
Open the builder, add or resize tables to match your venue, then drag each guest into a seat. Start from the 40-guest Christmas template if you want the tables already placed. When it looks right, print it or export a PDF for the venue.
Seat most people with their own team, then spread a few managers and new joiners so every table has someone from outside the group. Put the table with the speeches or awards where everyone can see it, and keep guests who need step-free access close to the entrance.
A 60 in (152 cm) round seats eight comfortably and ten at the limit. A 72 in (183 cm) round seats ten comfortably and twelve at the limit. Leave about 60 in (152 cm) between tables so people can pass behind chairs.
About 24 in (60 cm) of table edge per person is comfortable. 20 in (50 cm) is the practical minimum, below which neighbours' elbows collide.
Put them at different tables, or at opposite ends of a long one, rather than directly across from each other. Moving a guest is a single drag in the builder, so you can try a few arrangements before you print.
Yes. Move a guest and print or export the plan again. Two or three spare seats make late changes much easier.
You can build a plan without signing up. A free chart holds up to five tables and 40 seats, which covers a small team party. A bigger party needs a paid plan, or a one-off Event Pass if it is a single event. Free PDF exports carry a small watermark; paid plans remove it.
In the UK, a table plan or seating plan is the same thing as a seating chart: the page that says who sits at which table. SeatPlanning works the same way whichever name you use.
Open the builder and place your first table
No account needed to try it. Your plan stays in this browser until you save it.