Christmas Parties, Without the CBD Tax

 Wood & Bone is a Christmas function venue in Melbourne's south-east, with exclusive hire available Sunday, Monday and Tuesday through November and December. Wood-fired steak and smokehouse menus, free on-site parking in Moorabbin, and dates that begin filling from September.

   

Book earlier than feels reasonable

The work Christmas party is almost always organised by someone who was handed the job in October and needed it done in September. Bayside venues offering exclusive hire are gone by mid-October most years.

If you are reading this in spring, you are on time. If it is already November, call rather than email — we can sometimes make something work that the calendar says we cannot.

A rough timeline, if it helps

September is when the good dates go. Anyone booking exclusive hire for a Friday-adjacent evening in December is doing it now, and the venues that fill first are the ones with parking and a single-group policy.

October is still workable but the choice narrows quickly, particularly for the first two weeks of December. By November you are choosing from what is left, which usually means a Sunday or a Monday — no bad thing here, since those are our function days anyway.

December enquiries are worth making regardless. Cancellations happen, and a group of thirty can sometimes slot into a gap that a group of eighty cannot.

Why a Moorabbin venue beats a city one in December

Because half your staff live south-east and none of them want to drive into the city, pay December parking rates, and then negotiate a taxi home at eleven. Work Christmas party ideas in Melbourne almost always start with the CBD and almost always end with someone complaining about the commute.

Free parking at the door, a straightforward run down the highway, and a venue not charging a seasonal premium for the privilege of a function room. The money that would have gone on city surcharges and cabs goes into the food and the wine instead.

The food is the food, not a Christmas version of it

A lot of venues run a reduced festive menu built for volume — three choices, everything plated in advance, out by nine. We serve what we serve the rest of the year: wood-fired porterhouse and Sher Wagyu, brisket off the smoker, seafood that is actually fresh.

Menus are built with your group rather than chosen from a tier. Shared boards if you want the room moving and talking, plated service if there are speeches and a seating plan. Dietary requirements are planned in at the enquiry stage rather than handled as an exception on the night.

What exclusive hire gets you

The entire restaurant on a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Your own music and run sheet. Room for speeches without shouting over another company's Christmas party three metres away — which, if you have ever tried to thank a team in a shared function room, you will know is worth a great deal.

You can decorate the room, bring your own playlist, and run the evening at your own pace. There is no second sitting waiting for the table, so nobody is moved along at the ninety-minute mark.

We talk through drinks options, timings and dietary requirements at the enquiry stage, and we do not demand final numbers weeks in advance.

If December is already gone

Consider January or February. A significant number of teams have quietly moved the annual celebration into the new year — the venues are available, the staff are not exhausted, and nobody is competing with three other parties for a taxi at midnight.

End-of-financial-year functions in June work on the same principle, and we run them on the same three days.

Getting the numbers right

The most common planning error is over-ordering drinks and under-ordering food. A room that has eaten well stays longer, talks more and spends less on taxis home at ten because someone needed to leave early.

The second is leaving dietary requirements until the week of. Ask your team in October — a vegetarian, a coeliac and someone avoiding dairy are all straightforward with notice and all awkward on the day.

Enquire

Call 0477 099 177 or email info@woodandbone.com.au with your preferred date and rough headcount. We will confirm availability and send menu options.

For anything outside the Christmas season, our year-round function hire runs on the same three days.

For a festive booking specifically, this page covers it — for the rest of the year, see year-round function hire, including corporate dinners. The kitchen serves the same wood-fired steak menu and brisket off the smoker you would get any other night. For a fuller look at the options across the south-east, read our guide to Christmas venues in the south-east — or simply check a date.