Small Party Venues for Hire in Melbourne
Small function rooms and private bars for up to 70 guests
Small function rooms and private bars for up to 70 guests
Planning a party for 20 to 50 guests? Every space on this page holds 70 or fewer, so you are not scrolling past ballrooms to find a room that suits your group. We list small function rooms and private bars right across Melbourne, from South Yarra and Prahran to St Kilda, Abbotsford and Camberwell. Most have no hire charge and set a minimum spend instead. Most also add a bonus $100 bar tab when your first enquiry comes through Partystar.
A Saturday function in Melbourne typically has a minimum spend of $1,500, which is the midpoint across the 30 spaces here that set one. The average works out at $1,750. About 20% of them also carry a hire charge, and where there is one it usually brings the minimum spend down rather than adding to it.
| Saturday | Lowest | Midpoint | Highest | Spaces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum spend | $500 | $1,500 | $6,000 | 30 |
| Hire charge | $200 | $300 | $1,500 | 9 |
| Capacity | Charge | Lowest | Midpoint | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small rooms Up to 70 guests, 33 spaces | Minimum spend | $500 | $1,500 | $6,000 |
| Hire charge | $200 | $300 | $1,500 |
| Day | Typical hours | Usual start | Usual finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | 5 | 6pm | 12am |
| Saturday | 5 | 6pm | 11pm |
Ranges from 3 hours at the short end to 10 at the long end. Going past the guaranteed finish usually costs extra.
Security guard charges apply at some venues here and are shown on each listing. 20 of the 34 will let you meet the minimum spend with a beverage package. 32 of them accept a bar tab. Costs outside the venue quote usually include DJ hire, entertainment, specialised catering and decorations.
We treat a small party venue as a space that holds up to 70 guests. About half of the rooms on this page top out between 50 and 60, with a handful sized for 30 or 40.
A room built for 150 people will happily take your booking of 25, but you and your guests will spend the night in one corner of an empty space. Filtering by the size of the room, not just by whether the venue will accept you, is the difference between an intimate party and a quiet one.
Small rooms suit a particular set of occasions. Thirtieths and fortieths, engagement parties, baby showers, christenings, work drinks, farewells and milestone birthdays where you want everyone in one conversation rather than split across a hall. If you are planning an 18th or a 21st, you will usually want a larger room and a dance floor.
Almost every small venue in Melbourne sets a minimum guest number, and for the great majority of the venues on this page that number is 20. A few will go down to 10. Very few venues will hold a space on a Friday or Saturday night for a group of 12.
If your guest list is under 20, you have three realistic options. Look for the small number of venues that list a lower minimum, book a weekday or a Sunday when venues are far more flexible, or book a table or a semi-private area rather than an exclusive room. Partystar lists the minimum guest number on every space so you can check before you enquire.
The typical small venue on this page comes to about $1,500 on a Saturday, counting hire charge and minimum spend together. Across all Melbourne function spaces the typical figure is closer to $2,000.
So a small room is cheaper, but not by as much as you might expect. Halving the size of the room does not halve the cost. A venue still has to staff the bar, open the kitchen and give up a section of its floor for the night, and those costs barely move with your guest count.
Roughly three quarters of the small venues here charge nothing for the room and set a minimum spend instead, usually starting around $500. A smaller group charge a flat hire charge of $200 to $1,500 with no minimum spend at all, which often works out best for groups at the lower end of the range.
To narrow it down further:
Small rooms are less likely to have their own bar than large ones, not more. Fewer than half the spaces on this page have a private bar, compared with about four in five across all Melbourne function spaces.
If having your own bar staff and your own tab in the room matters to you, filter for it or ask before you enquire. If you mainly want a space that is yours for the night, the shared bar arrangement is rarely a problem and often keeps the cost down.
Small spaces are spread right across the city, but they cluster in a few areas.
The inner south east has the deepest supply, with South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor, Malvern and Glen Iris all well represented. Bayside adds St Kilda and Port Melbourne. The CBD and Southbank carry a handful of smaller upstairs rooms and cocktail bars, though usually at the higher end of the price range.
Further out, Camberwell, Surrey Hills, Abbotsford, Richmond and Footscray all list small rooms, and the outer east and south east reach as far as Wheelers Hill, Rowville and Keysborough. As with venue hire generally, moving a few suburbs out from the centre buys you a lower minimum spend and easier parking.
Partystar treats a small party venue as a space holding up to 70 guests. In practice most small Melbourne function rooms are sized for 50 to 60, and the smallest hold about 30. Anything above 70 tends to feel empty with a group of 20 or 30, which is why we cap the listings on this page there.
Most Melbourne venues set a minimum of 20 guests for an exclusive small function room. A small number will take bookings from 10. Below 20 guests on a Friday or Saturday night your options narrow considerably, and you are usually better off booking a weekday, a Sunday afternoon, or a reserved area rather than a private room. Every Partystar listing shows the venue's minimum guest number.
A typical small venue comes to around $1,500 on a Saturday once you add the hire charge and the minimum spend together. Around three quarters have no hire charge and set a minimum spend instead, most often starting near $500. The rest charge a flat hire charge, generally between $200 and $1,500, sometimes with no minimum spend at all. Partystar shows both figures separately on every listing so you can compare the real total before you enquire.
Yes, but by less than you would expect. The typical small Melbourne venue works out around a quarter cheaper than the typical Melbourne function space overall. A venue's costs on the night, staff, kitchen and the floor space it gives up, do not fall in proportion to your guest list. The saving is real, but a room for 40 does not cost half what a room for 80 costs.
Usually yes, exclusive use of the room is standard. What is less common in small rooms is a private bar. Fewer than half the small spaces listed here have their own bar, compared with about four in five across all Melbourne venues, so in many cases your guests will order at the venue's main bar. The room is still yours. Check the listing if having bar service inside the room matters for your event.
27 of the 34 spaces in Melbourne include a bonus bar tab when you enquire through Partystar. That's 2 at $200, 22 at $100 and 3 at $50. The venue adds it to your bar on the night once you meet its stated requirement, which is either the hire charge, the minimum spend or the minimum guest numbers. See how the bonus bar tab works for the full detail.
Mostly not. 24 of the 30 spaces that set a minimum spend have no hire charge at all. The 6 that do charge run from $200 to $1,500 for a Saturday.
Food, drinks or both, depending on the venue. At a lot of venues drinks alone will cover it, and the venue's own listing says which applies. See how minimum spend works.
Compare Melbourne function venues by hire charge, minimum spend, guest numbers or affordability.
Last updated , based on 34 Melbourne function spaces.
