Christmas Party Bands for Hire

Hiring a covers band or professional DJ for your UK Christmas party is a great way to reward your staff for all their hard work throughout the year. Christmas balls at hotels are particularly popular in througout the UK and a live function band can really bring the party to life!

The UK is home to numerous superb party bands and DJs, and we’ve invited the best to join FixTheMusic. They all have vast experience at office parties and corporate functions and will happily tailor their set list to include festive songs for your Christmas event.

All of the musicians are of the highest quality and available to be booked securely through FixTheMusic for your Xmas-themed company bash.

Looking for live music for your Christmas party in the UK can be a time-consuming task so let us do the hard work!

Submit an enquiry to receive offers directly from our hand-picked professional bands and DJs. FixTheMusic is not an agency – you are always in direct contact with bands via our messaging system. When you've made your choice, you can book and pay securely on FixTheMusic.

Christmas party bands on FixTheMusic have public liability insurance and PAT tested equipment.

The average price of a Christmas party band for an event in the UK is £1,895. This is for a 5-piece function band hired for a Christmas event. The exact price will vary depending on a number of factors, such as the location of the Christmas party, how large the band is (e.g. a 10-piece band will be more expensive than a 3-piece rock band), how long the band performs for, and any specific song requests.

Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year for our bands and musicians. In this blog post, we’ll provide a few handy tips to ensure you get the best live entertainment for your festive bash...even if you’re on a budget.

1. Book your band early!

At FixTheMusic, we receive numerous requests in November and December from clients looking for live music for their corporate Christmas party. By this time, there will likely only be a handful of professional bands still free – reducing the options available to you and meaning you’ll be less likely to receive a range of prices.

Our best bands are booked for Christmas events a year or more in advance, often for repeat clients who rely on hiring the same band each year.

We recommend enquiring during summer at the latest to ensure you have a good range of live musicians to choose from.

2. Consider a solo singer or duo

Many of our solo singer-guitarists and duos use clever technology (such as looping pedals) to create a sound as large as a 4- or 5-piece band. As there are fewer band members, this can reduce the overall fee drastically.

They still perform the usual pop, rock, indie and classic Christmas tunes, so you’re still going to have guests on the dance floor.

Check out The Tonics for one of our most popular pop duos. They can also add a cajon player or percussionist who doubles up as a DJ for the evening, creating a powerful small band.

3. Hire a local band for your Christmas party

Bands generally require their travel expenses covered by clients when they are booked for weddings or events. Big savings can be made when you hire a local musician rather than one from hundreds of miles away. It also means they are less likely to be caught in Christmas traffic or delayed by bad winter weather.

If your event is taking place at a venue in a small town or village, search for bands based in the nearest large town or city, as that is where most professional musicians tend to work.

The London Orleans Band is a unique ensemble that plays current and classic pop hits as well as New Orleans Mardi Gras music and Christmas songs and carols...

View more videos and read verified reviews of The London Orleans Band ➡️

4. Finish your party by midnight

Most bands perform 2 x 45 minute sets of live music with a pre-recorded DJ service in between and after their sets until midnight. If they are asked to provide their services until later into the night (e.g. to 1am), then there is usually an additional charge for this.

Ready to find a band or DJ for your own Christmas party? Give us a few details about the event and you’ll have musicians sending you their quotes in a few hours.

Book early!

You might think that because your Christmas party is on a Tuesday in December that you'll be able to hire your band for the evening at the last minute. But we've noticed that each year, there are certain dates in December that always become especially popular – which means that demand for bands is exceptionally high on these dates.

Establish your budget first

During the festive season, you can usually expect to pay a little bit extra for a function band when compared to their normal prices.

Watch videos and read reviews of the party bands

It's not usually possible to see function bands performing live, as they mostly perform at weddings and other private events. So it's best to check out their videos. Most bands will have a mix of professional promo videos, as well as live footage from real Christmas parties they've been booked for in the past. Bands should also be able to provide you with reviews and testimonials from previous clients, whether from last year's Christmas parties or other corporate events.

Think about what music you want played in between and after the party band's live sets

Most Christmas party bands will provide 2 x 60 minutes of live music. You'll normally be able to request a mixture of pop covers and festive Christmas tunes. In between these live sets and afterwards until the end of the party, most bands will provide a laptop playlist service, where they will use the band's PA system (speakers) to play pre-recorded music. You might want to build your own playlist and provide this to the band in advance of the event, maybe by consulting with colleagues or friends about any particular Xmas favourites they want to hear on the night.

Consider what other kinds of Christmas entertainment you want for the party

As well as live music and a party band for your Christmas event, you might want to hire other types of Christmas entertainment. For example, many of our bands can also provide photo booths, magic mirrors, live karaoke, or a DJ and sax set.

Do you want background music or music for your guests to dance to?

Most of the enquiries we receive are for live function bands to perform at the evening Christmas party. However, we also provide live bands for earlier in the day, for example during the Christmas dinner or champagne drinks reception, you might want some background jazz music.

The annual company staff Christmas party doesn’t have to resemble something from The Office, the mockumentary sitcom featuring anti-hero management guru David Brent.

What is the purpose of an office Christmas party? Surely the answer is to bring staff together, to give them space to let their hair down, to encourage bonding that might not be possible during the working week, and to reward their hard work done throughout the year.

Browse Party Bands

Those of you that work in a corporate environment will know that office parties can often be dull and uninspiring.

Good music can bring people closer together. It gets people out of their chairs and onto the dance floor – ok, alcohol also helps in this regard!

But truly great live music at your Christmas party can elevate your event from damp squib to something that will be talked about fondly for the following months until the next yuletide bash.

The trend for live music at weddings and events in recent years is shifting towards the more unusual and unique, which lends itself well to themed events. A couple of ideas for Christmas party entertainment could be a Mariachi band for a festive Mexican themed event, or a vintage jazz band for a 1920s Great Gatsby themed winter wonderland party.

So without further ado, here are our three unusual live music ideas for your Christmas party...

1. Hire a Mariachi band

Acoustic musicians who wander amongst your guests whilst performing an eclectic mix of pop songs in a traditional Mexican style. Check out Sonora Mariachi Band who perform a wide mix of Mexican-inspired pop covers.

Mariachi bands can really add a colourful and festive twist to an office Christmas party. Most are able to perform some of the famous Christmas pop covers, as well as Feliz Navidad, the beautiful Latin Christmas song written by Puerto Rican singer & songwriter José Feliciano.

2. Book a Saxophonist & DJ

From background (jazz/lounge) to upbeat pop & house music, this is usually a saxophonist improvising alongside a DJ. Our most popular sax, DJ and percussion option is Fusion Girls, whose house beats and interactive sax player are guaranteed to fill your dance floor.

The saxophone is the ideal accompaniment to most styles of music performed by our DJs, from Motown, funk, soul, jazz and disco, right through to classic and current house.

A roaming saxophonist performing alongside a DJ creates a huge amount of energy drawing your guests onto the dance floor and recreating the good vibes of an Ibiza party.

Our DJs and sax players are all consummate professionals who have been performing for several years on the UK and international club scene.

3. Go back in time with a vintage act

A fun, vintage-­style act can bring a unique twist to a large repertoire, from rock 'n' roll and R&B to skiffle classics from the ’50s and ’60s. Hot Swing tick all the boxes – with a wide repertoire of vintage-twinged jazz, swing and pop hits from throughout the ages.

The core element of their music is based on the 1920s swing style, including classic swing songs such as the Charleston, "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" and "Is you is or is you ain't my baby".

However, they also cater for a larger audience by performing up to date chart songs by artists such as George Ezra, Beyonce, Pharrell Williams, Daft Punk and many more.

Of course, hiring a top-quality cover band or party band is also a good choice for your office Christmas party. The classic male-fronted indie rock covers band is a popular choice at present – they can usually perform anything from the Foo Fighters to Ed Sheeran.

Cover bands are able to blast out the Christmas pop classics from “Fairytale of New York” and Wham’s “Last Christmas” to Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody” and Wizzard’s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday”.

On FixTheMusic, we have an incredible selection of unique and interesting hand-picked acts who are in great demand to entertain at festive parties.

You can submit an enquiry to receive offers directly from available bands in your local area. FixTheMusic is free to use – the price you agree with musicians is the price you pay.

So if you’re looking for live music to really entertain your staff this December, and to create a truly memorable evening for all, go for something a bit different and unusual to take the humble office Christmas party to the next level!