Corporate events

Company year-end party in Argentina: closed guest list, plus-ones and the door

By SOMOS DER · October 30, 2026 · 8 min read

At a company year-end party the list is closed: only employees get in (and their plus-ones, if the company decides so). For it to work, the list has to come from Human Resources, each guest has to register through a link that does not circulate outside the company, plus-ones need their own QR code with their name, and the door has to be ready for the half hour when everyone arrives. Whatever is not defined beforehand gets argued on the sidewalk.

In Argentina the fiesta de fin de año is a fixture of the corporate calendar: it happens in late November or December, before the summer holidays, and for many companies it is the biggest internal event of the year. If you are an agency or a global company producing it from abroad, this guide covers what usually goes wrong and how to set it up so the local door team does not have to improvise.

The list: who builds it and who decides

The problem with the year-end party is not the technology, it is the list. There are last-minute additions, dropouts nobody reported, people from a contractor who "always come", and the manager who asks to add two people on the day itself. If there is no single person who decides, the person at the door decides, and that is the worst place to decide from.

Three rules that put everything in order:

1. One source. The headcount comes from Human Resources, with a cut-off date. Anything that comes in later goes through the same person.
2. A person in charge, reachable by phone on the night. Someone from the company, not from the production agency, who can say yes or no to a doubtful case at the door.
3. Written criteria. Do interns get in? Contractors? Former employees who left this year? Write it down and give it to the door team.

Ask only for the data you need

Name, corporate email and, if there is a special menu or a plus-one, that. Argentina's data protection law, Law 25,326, requires data to be adequate, relevant and not excessive for its purpose, and the person to give informed consent. If the production agency receives the staff list from HR, the law also limits the transfer of data to purposes directly related to the legitimate interest of whoever gives it and whoever receives it: use it for the party and nothing else. We cover it in attendee data and Law 25,326, and the form itself in what to ask in an event registration form.

Registration: keep the link from being forwarded

There are two ways to register guests:

• Closed link: HR sends the registration link only to each employee's corporate email, and it is not posted in any group chat. It is as closed as a link can get.
• Link shared through the internal channel: more convenient, but the link can be forwarded outside the company.

Either way, before the party cross-check the registered list against the HR headcount and remove those who do not belong. In PASE each attendee type has its own link (employees, executives, external guests, agency staff), so nobody chooses their own category. The email checker catches typical typos (gmial.com, hotmail.con), which at a company party are the people who later say "I never got anything". And if someone lost the email, "Recover my pass" sends it again.

If the event has its start date and time loaded, PASE automatically resends the QR code to everyone 24 to 48 hours before. A reminder a week earlier and one on the day, with the schedule, the address and "bring the QR code on your phone", are best sent by the company through its own internal channel.

Plus-ones: with a name, not as a "+1"

The anonymous "+1" is the source of almost every conflict at the door. One employee arrives with someone nobody knows, another arrives with two, and a third sends their plus-one alone because they could not make it.

The clean way is to treat the plus-one as one more guest, with a name and their own QR code:

• A separate "plus-one" type, with its own link, which the employee forwards to their companion. Each plus-one gets their QR code and their name shows up at the door.
• An allowance per employee decided in advance (one or none), checked against the list before the party.
• A written rule for the plus-one who arrives alone. Do they get in if the employee did not come? Decide it with the company and make sure the door knows.

For the exception that will happen anyway, PASE has a "+1 companion" button at the door: the operator validates the employee's QR code and the companion is added to the count without creating a new pass. Use it for the case the rule allows, not as the default.

The CISA credentialing guide recommends that, when a credential carries only a name and no photo, whoever checks it can ask for a second document to confirm identity. At a company party there is no need to ask everyone for ID, but the operator should know they can ask for it when in doubt.

The door: the half hour when everyone arrives

At a year-end party people do not arrive gradually. They leave the office together, often on the same chartered minibuses (locals call them combis), and reach the door in the same half hour. For that:

• More than one check-in point from the start. In PASE the points are in sync: if two scanners read the same QR code at the same time, only one person gets in and the other screen shows DUPLICATE. To size it, see how many check-in points and staff you need.
• Single entry or re-entry. If people will step out to smoke or go to the parking lot, the "employee" type needs re-entry enabled. If not, it goes without re-entry and a second scan at the same check-in point shows DUPLICATE.
• A separate desk for exceptions. The person who did not register, the one who cannot find the email, the one with an unlisted companion. They go to that desk, with the company's person in charge, and the queue keeps moving. At the door the search is by name, and if the company approves, PASE allows manual registration on the spot.
• Executives and speakers, separately. If there is an area or table for the board, give it its own check-in point and its own attendee type, so anyone else sees NOT AUTHORIZED there. More in access control for VIP, backstage and rooms.

If alcohol is served, the company needs to decide what to do with under-18s (young interns, employees' children if it is a family party). The QR code does not solve that: it is a rule that gets written and communicated. See age check at the door in Argentina.

Afterwards: the number HR asks for

Monday's question is always the same: how many came. The PASE report shows real attendance by type (employees, plus-ones, guests), by door and by hour, and the closing report is handed to the company (reports are in Spanish). It helps size the catering and the venue for next year, and shows how many of those who registered did not come.

The company builds the list, the door only executes it. If the door has to decide, something was defined too late.

Frequently asked questions