10 Free Event Planning Templates and Checklists to Get Ready for 2023

Haillie Parker

Writer

December 18, 2022

Max 8min read

What do work conferences, weddings, and your dog’s birthday party all have in common? 

They started with a flexible event planning template…probably!

Event planning is no small feat. Like managing any complex project, there are a ton of moving parts that must come together perfectly to pull off a successful event—even virtual ones! 

Whether it’s securing the venue, catering, managing the budget, forming the guest list, or sending invitations, you will need more than the average checklist to arrange it all without sprouting a few grey hairs in the process. 👴🏼

The best templates will help you execute all of these elements and then some. With multiple views, task statuses, and customizable features built right in, your perfect template will ease the pain during the planning process so you can simply enjoy the event when it arrives!

And we’re here to help! With 10 detailed event planning templates for everything from virtual happy hours to your next company-wide conference. 

Why is Event Planning Important? 

Well-planned events can do wonders for your reputation, company morale, community engagement, and more! 

And a poorly planned event? Well, that can do more harm than good for everyone involved.

Events are a great way to connect with your community, give back to your employees, encourage networking, and draw in more business. They are an extension of your company and every little detail reflects the core values and philosophies of your brand as a whole.

No pressure, right? 😅

This isn’t meant to scare you, though! It’s to remind you that the best events come from the heart, and as stressful as the planning process may be, events are supposed to be fun. Showing that you put time and effort into creating a meaningful experience for a group of people you appreciate is a really impactful gesture. 

It may be as big as a virtual conference or as small as a catered team lunch, but your next occasion will require a specific and thorough event project management process.

10 Event Planning Templates for ClickUp, Microsoft Office, and Excel

With guest lists, vendors, tickets, speakers, and seating arrangements to oversee, you’ll need powerful event planning software to manage your progress, stay on top of tasks, and visualize critical dates on a customizable calendar.

The perfect template will enhance your event planning tool’s features with pre-built and customizable elements like calendars, lists, task statuses, and workflow views. Not to mention, your ideal template will also be 100% free.

Here are 10 of our favorite event planning templates for ClickUp, Microsoft Office, and Excel that check every box. 📦

1. Event Planning Template by ClickUp

If you plan several events each year that vary in size, type, budget, and complexity—this is your template! 🙌🏼

From brainstorming to managing budgets, booking venues, and more, the Event Planning Template by ClickUp is loaded with every feature needed to execute multiple events flawlessly. 

This template creates a designated Space for all of your event tasks, Lists, Calendar, and communication with features like: 

• 29 custom task statuses 
• in-app Chat view for all conversations
• 13 ClickApps 
• Two pre-made Custom Fields
• Seven automations

And more. 😍

Like ClickUp itself, this template was designed to be customized by anyone. Using ClickUp’s Hierarchy infrastructure, the template’s Folders, Lists, and tasks are easily edited to reflect your event’s proper information for special guests, billing, sponsors, and requests.

No matter what type of event you’re planning or its scale, this jam-packed template ensures every detail is addressed with as little stress as possible—down to the last guest goodie bag. 🛍

2. Singular Event Planning Template by ClickUp

While the previous template is an excellent resource for event planners juggling multiple complex events, this Singular Event Planning Template by ClickUp is created for those planning stand-alone activities like holiday parties, special occasions, or birthdays. 🥳

With 16 custom task statuses and four project view types included, this template Folder has everything you need to execute mid-sized events with separate Lists for managing your overarching checklist, RSVPs, budget, and vendors. 

Plus, in true ClickUp fashion, this template automatically applies a Getting Started Guide to cover the ins, outs, and must-dos to make this template really shine.

3. Event Planning Budget Template by ClickUp

It’s almost spooky how easy it is to blow through your event budget. 👻🥲

Especially when you’re eager to give back to your team or planning several events at a time, the invoices just start flying! The Event Budget Template by ClickUp might sound like a buzz kill, but it’s actually an essential (and deeply satisfying) part of pulling off your next event.

This template helps you stay in control when it comes to your spending by establishing due dates, laying down key action items, and managing the venue selection process in pre-built Lists. 

You can also keep an eye on upcoming expenses with three custom statuses for purchases left To Do, In Progress, or Complete. 💸

4. Event Management Template by ClickUp

The Event Management Template by ClickUp is the stepping stone to its Event Planning template (see recommendation #1). 🤪

With separate event Lists, three custom statuses, Tags, and six workflow views included in this Folder, you can organize multiple events at a time—and deliver them within budget!

Custom Fields are where this template really hits its stride with eight categories for filtering, sorting, and grouping tasks by various budget-related items. You can even add data like progress percentages, payment statuses, and location to your workflow view for more information at every glance.

5. Events Planning Document Template by ClickUp

Repeat after me: This is your ultimate events checklist. 🗣

You’ve closed out your tasks, finalized the invoices, sent the invitations, and are now, you’re ready to attend the event you worked so hard for! This Events Planning Document Template by ClickUp is the day-of checklist that covers everything—seriously, everything.

In your Doc, you’ll find pages separated by categories including General Information, Setup Details, Invitation List, and Vendor List. Need an extra page? No problem! Easily copy pages, add new ones, or create subpages to customize your template even further in an organized visual hierarchy. 

On each page, formatting is automatically created to help you distribute and access must-have information as quickly as possible. With checklists that you can strike off when completed (even from your mobile device), pre-built tables for your guest list, and Slash Command tips, this ClickUp Doc is the ultimate guide to calm your event planning jitters. 

6. Event Planning Tracker Template by Microsoft Office

This Event Planning Tracker Template by Microsoft helps you stay on top of event information in an Excel workbook with different worksheets for your project parameters, project details, and project totals. Each worksheet has a modifiable table or chart to determine how many resources or how much of your budget you’ve already used per event. 

This is a great template for comparing the bottom line for multiple projects in the event that you need to present findings to stakeholders or reassess your budget. It’s less of a task management tool and more of a shortcut for quickly comparing grand totals to your initial planned costs including time, staff, overall budget, and logistics.

7. Event & Party Planner Template for Excel

If you prefer to see all of your event information organized in a spreadsheet format, this Event and Party Planner Template for Excel is right up your alley. Better for small to mid-sized events, this single spreadsheet template is divided into sections to add guest information, musical arrangements, decorations, supplies, notes, and more. Each section has a number of related columns to convey whether an item has been completed or not, as well as a cumulative breakdown of your budget and expected costs.

8. Word Event Planner Template by Microsoft Office

Not a spreadsheet girlie? No problem! This Event Planner Template for Microsoft Word will help you achieve the same amount of structure in a formatted document. This is an easy template to set up and edit for each event on your calendar and is best used for tracking milestones or key updates in the event planning process. When presenting event progress to managers or stakeholders, you can use this template to express where you are on your project timeline and the major tasks that are still yet to be completed. 

9. Event Marketing Template by ClickUp

This Event Marketing Template from ClickUp provides a clear overview of your event’s goals and objectives, as well as an organized structure for tracking event details like target audience, event timeline, budget management, and more. You can assign tasks to specific team members and monitor progress in one easy-to-navigate interface.

Plus, ClickUp’s event planning template comes with features like reminders, tags and custom fields to ensure that your event goes off without a hitch. With all the essential event-planning details in one place, you can rest assured that your event will be successful.

10. Five-Day Event Schedule Template for Excel

This Five-Day Event Schedule Template by Microsoft is as helpful for the guests as it is for the event planner. Conferences and networking events are often several days long and can feature dozens of speakers, scheduled lunches, activities—and minimal breaks. 

This single spreadsheet itinerary can be kept on hand during the event and used by the event organizers to ensure each element is starting and ending as expected. And for guests, this template can be edited throughout the event or used ahead of time to plan each day around their most anticipated speakers or sessions.

How to Utilize an Event Planning Template

Efficient event planning starts with event project management software that can keep up with your process, establish your event’s important details, and help you communicate updates to everyone involved. 

Think of your ideal event planning template as a structure to layer on top of your project management tool to give you and the team a clear starting point from the get-go. 

Templates are more than just a plug-and-play resource for double-checking your work. To make the most of them, your event planning templates should offer support during every event-related task with dynamic features like workflow automation, customizable task statuses, and flexible project views.

Plus, event planning is a collaborative job. So a template that can’t sync across multiple devices or be shared with contributors outside of your workspace will cause a few obstacles along the way. 

TL;DR, event planning can be stressful. But with the right template? There is hope. 💜

The best templates are customizable, completely free, and attached to an event management software that’s designed to centralize your work, bring the team together, and keep things moving. 

Like ClickUp. 🙂

ClickUp is the all-in-one productivity platform for event planners, teams, and stakeholders to brainstorm, act on their ideas, and bring events to life using a single collaborative Workspace. With a rich set of completely customizable features, 15 unique workflow views, and over 1,000 integrations, ClickUp helps teams access work across apps and streamline any process.

Sign up for ClickUp’s Free Forever Plan today to access hundreds of pre-built templates for every use case—including dozens created specifically for planning your next event. 🪩