New Year's Eve is the busiest single hire date of the year. Round tables for dinner, champagne flutes for the midnight toast, a poseur bar area for after midnight, and tight delivery logistics on the 31st all need planning from November. This guide covers what to order, in what quantities, and when to book.
New Year's Eve is the busiest single hire date of the year. Round tables for dinner, champagne flutes for the midnight toast, a poseur bar area for after midnight, and tight delivery logistics on the 31st all need planning from November. This guide covers what to order, in what quantities, and when to book.
Most New Year's Eve events follow a dinner-then-dancing format. Guests sit for a meal from 7 or 8pm, then tables are cleared and the dance floor opens around midnight. A 5ft round table seats 8 guests; a 6ft round seats 10. For 100 guests, twelve 5ft rounds with banqueting chairs covers the room with no wasted seats.
The post-dinner room changeover takes 30 to 45 minutes when tables need to move to create a dance floor. Build this into the event timeline. Where tables cannot move, guests stay at the table through the countdown, which round tables handle better than trestle rows because they face inward rather than toward a single direction.
Champagne flutes are the standard NYE glass. Allow two per head: one for wine service at dinner, one for the midnight toast. Coupe glasses hold the same volume as flutes but have a wider bowl and a more relaxed profile. Both types hire from 50 upward and both work for the toast.
Wine glasses for the dinner service: two glasses per guest (one red, one white) with a 15 to 20 percent reserve for refills. For 100 guests, order 240 wine glasses at minimum. Add tumblers or highballs if you are running a bar after midnight.
A bar area for the post-dinner portion of the evening needs poseur tables and bar stools for guests to gather around. Allow one poseur table per four to five guests in the bar zone. For a 100-person event with 60 guests using the bar at any one time, 12 to 15 poseur tables and 24 to 30 bar stools is the right range.
Ice buckets on poseur tables keep bottled wine and sparkling water cold. One ice bucket per two tables, replenished at 11pm for the midnight rush. A bar counter with two to three straight sections gives the bar team a structured service point separate from the dining area.
Most venues want equipment delivered on the afternoon of the 31st and collected on the morning of the 1st. Confirm your delivery window when you book: afternoon delivery on the 31st is the most popular slot and fills fast. A 9am or 10am collection on January 1st is the standard option; some venues need collection by 8am.
Early collection on New Year's Day requires a driver working on a bank holiday. This is often reflected in the hire rate. Confirm all logistics, including collection timing and any surcharges, when you place the order in November or early December.
NYE is the busiest hire date of the year. Place orders six weeks ahead at minimum; eight to ten weeks is better. Champagne glasses, poseur tables and round tables are the first items to book out. Bar counter sections, ice buckets and table linen follow. By mid-December, choice is limited. A November booking gives full availability and the strongest pricing.
Browse champagne glass hire for flutes and coupes in event quantities, and the full furniture hire range for round tables, banqueting chairs and bar setups.
Choose from our vast range of catering hire, furniture hire and exhibition hire products. Select from the categories listed below or use our great search function above.
