Rooms and whole venues to take over

Birthdays, engagements, anniversaries, and the dinners that mark something without needing a theme. Most of these fit inside a private dining room: Riva's seats 40, Ripples Rose Bay's seats 20 with its own balcony over the marina, Sails' seats 20, and the White Room at Chowder Bay seats 12.

For larger numbers, whole venues can be taken exclusively — Noi for 40, The Fenwick's Gallery for 50, Ripples Little Manly for 60 on the sand. Menus are usually banquet-style, which keeps everyone eating together.

Conferences, client dinners, workshops and end-of-year nights. The Ballroom at The Langham seats 150 or holds 200 standing and divides in two; the Drawing Room takes 100 seated with an original fireplace still in it. The James splits into semi-private north and south sections, seating 54 and 40, without leaving the dining room.

At the Maritime Museum the scale changes again. The Theatre seats 210 with full AV and tiered seating, the Terrace Room seats 130 behind floor-to-ceiling glass, and the Lighthouse Gallery takes 250 at banquet or 350 theatre-style, with a loading dock wide enough to bring in a car or a boat.

Product launches, media nights, and anything that needs a backdrop worth photographing. The Ben Lexcen Terrace sits above the boardwalk at Darling Harbour and holds 400 for cocktails. HMAS Vampire, the ex-Navy destroyer moored beside it, takes 120 across its upper decks and helipad.

Closer in, the wharf at Akti holds 300, the bar at Summer Salt holds 60 above Elouera Beach, and The Nielsen's Beach Club has its own bar and deck on the sand at Shark Beach. Each one gives a launch a location rather than just a room.