How do I set what guests pay and pre-order on a special date?

A date's own deposit, pay in full, the rest of the payment, paying at the venue, card to hold and refund cut-off, and its own pre-order menu.

Part of What's different about Christmas Day? (Special dates). This part covers what guests pay on the date — deposits, cards and refunds — and a date's own pre-order menu.

What guests pay on the date — deposits, cards and refunds

On the date's card these are under What guests pay — "Pay in full beats a deposit; a deposit beats a card to hold." A date's deposit and full payment follow your per person or per booking choice on What guests pay, and its card fee your per booking or per guest choice. A deposit or full payment with no party size of its own follows your everyday "for parties of N or more" — set it to 1 to ask every party on that date.

• Deposit — an amount, for parties of a size you choose or more (*Available on Plus plan and above*). It applies on that date even if deposits are off on other days.
• Pay in full — the whole price, paid when the booking is made online (*Available on Pro plan and above*).
• The rest of the payment — the rest of the price, due a number of days before the date (The rest is due … days before): the price of their pre-order once they choose their food, or A set price per person until then, less what they've paid (*Available on Pro plan and above*). Nothing is ever cancelled for not paying — one reminder, then your team sees it overdue. See How do payment plans and paying at the venue work? When the date's pre-order menu ticks just one set menu, its price per person is offered beside the set price — click Use it as the set price to take it once (nothing changes until you do), or Keep the set price the same as the set menu so there's one price to change: change the set menu's price on the Menu page and the date's set price changes with it (Stop following it undoes that). On the date's Deposit, choose A share of the set price (half to start with) instead of An amount a head, and the deposit follows the set price whenever it changes. On a date with pre-orders, the same step asks Who pays for the food when guests choose by link? — Same as normal (your Pre-orders setting), Organiser pays it all or Each guest pays their own.
• Paying at the venue — Same as normal, or Custom: Online only, At the venue only or Both — the guest picks — whether guests booking that date can pay at your venue, in cash or by card, instead of online, even if it's off on other days (*Available on Plus plan and above*; online only works on every plan).
• Card to hold — Hold a card: guests booking that date online save a card, with a no-show fee of the date's own and a party size it starts from; or No card on this date (*Available on Plus plan and above*; switching the card off for a date works on every plan). A date that holds a card asks for one even when your everyday card to hold is off, and it replaces your everyday deposit and pay in full that day: with a deposit for parties of 6 or more every day and Christmas Day's own card to hold, a party of 6 on Christmas Day saves a card and pays nothing now. The date's own deposit or pay in full still comes first — a booking that pays never needs a card as well.
• Money back if they cancel — the date's own refund cut-off: how long before the booking guests must cancel to get back money they paid online (*Available on Plus plan and above*). After that, what they paid online is kept, as your usual refund rules say. It doesn't stop anyone cancelling — Cancel or change online until (see How do I set a special date's hours, limits and who can book online?) does that. A booking keeps the terms it was made under.
• Pre-orders — invite parties to choose their food in advance: from which party size, how many days before pre-orders close, whether to ask guests to pre-order instead of inviting them (the wording only — a booking is never cancelled over a missing pre-order), and the menu for that date — its categories and its set menus (none ticked = your full pre-order menu; see a date's own pre-order menu below). Available on Pro plan and above. Pre-orders apply on that date even if they're off on other days.

A date's own pre-order menu, one per guest

A date's Pre-orders topic (Pro plan and above) can tick whole set menus as well as categories, under "The menu for this date — set menus". For a Christmas menu: make "Christmas Day — Adults" and "Christmas Day — Kids" with New set menu in the date's Pre-orders (the Menu page's own set-menu editor, opened right over the date; or on the Menu page's Set menus & deals tab — see How do I build set menus and deals?), choose Hidden — only where you pick it so they never show on your menu page, leave Order & Pay and Pre-orders unticked under "Where it can be ordered", then tick both on that date's pre-order menu here and save. One made there comes back ticked, with the rest of the date as you left it; Add a menu category works the same way.

• A date that ticks them offers exactly those — whatever their own Pre-orders tick on the Menu page says. Ticking one here is picking it.
• Tick only these and guests choose only from them — one each, then one dish per course. Tick categories too and they choose from both. Tick only categories and none of them is offered that day.
• Nothing ticked: the date uses your full pre-order menu, including every one ticked Pre-orders on the Menu page.
• Only live ones are offered for ticking; a ticked one you later pause or delete stays listed, marked, so you can untick it. The date's line reads them back by name, and each one's own editor names the dates that tick it ("Also offered on: …").
• Settings → Pre-orders lists the date under Special pre-order dates with how many it ticks.

Related: What's different about Christmas Day? (Special dates) · How do I add a special date? · How do I take deposits only on busy days or special dates? · How do payment plans and paying at the venue work? · How do I build set menus and deals?