The 5 best BYO party venues in Melbourne where you have full freedom over food, drinks, and style
When it’s your special day or someone close has trusted you with party planning, you want it to feel truly personal, right? Whether it’s letting your blue-themed idea come to life or making sure their love of burgers and barbecue takes center stage on the menu.
As cozy as it is to celebrate at home, imagine how fun it could also be to go somewhere different. The challenge is that not every restaurant lets you bring your own creative touches to celebrate as you like it.
The good news is you won’t run into that at the best BYO party venues in Melbourne. These places welcome hosts organizing self-catered private events, giving full freedom over food, drinks, and style.
| How much do BYO party venues cost in Melbourne? BYO party venues in Melbourne start at a minimum of $1,150 per event, with hire fees ranging from $75 to $190 per hour. Factors influencing the cost include the venue’s location, size, event duration, and the specific package chosen. |
1. Manningham Uniting Church & Community Centre
Address: 109 Wood St, Templestowe
Phone: +61 3 9846 2012
Business hours: Monday-Friday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Hosts, parents, and families choose Manningham Uniting Church for their community events, kids’ birthday parties, and even memorial services. It isn’t just because of its clean, spacious, and well-kept facilities—but also the accommodating and responsible coordinators.
There are plenty of options, too—namely Community Spaces 1 through 6—all equipped with tables, chairs, a kitchenette, and accessible toilets. But the 100-seat, air-conditioned Redgum Cafe is the crowd favorite, featuring a terrace and an indoor soft play area for children.
One thing to consider about the cafe, though, is that some clients who tried its catering found it pricey for the quality, mentioning things like overcooked chips or poor coffee. But since it’s BYO-friendly, others simply brought their own with no problem.
Let’s not forget the center’s Wi-Fi and audio-visual services, plus underground parking for convenient access to the building. The smooth paperwork, easy key access, and prompt replies to inquiries also make it easy to overlook the lack of online pricing.
The perfect venue—two play areas, stress-free self-cater, and helpful facility manager
“Redgum cafe was the perfect venue for our little ones 1st birthday party. We absolutely loved the two different play areas as it provided both the little babies and younger kids their own seperate spaces to have lots of fun! Sam the facility manager was just amazing to work with. She was super helpful, patient and just a lovely person in general. When we had to postpone our party, Sam was so accomodating with our last minute changes and helped put us at ease. Alongside our amazing caterer, (little mouse tea house), Sam took the stress out of the whole process and we couldn’t have asked for a better party for our little man. We received so many compliments from our family and friends and we can’t thank Redgum cafe and Sam enough!”
- J.T., Google Review
Great function space for up to 100 people and accommodating events manager
“I booked Redgum cafe for my son’s first birthday party. It’s a great function space with ample room for up to 100 people. The outdoor playground is an excellent space to let the older kids play and there is a soft play area for the younger kids inside the cafe. Sam, the facility events manager was an absolute delight to deal with. She was very accommodating, efficient and helpful! Would book again for future functions and would highly recommend.”
- Steph Monash, Google Review
2. Half Moon Bay Surf Life Saving Club
Address: 26 Cerberus Wy, Black Rock
Phone: Contact form
Business hours: Monday-Sunday, 9:00 AM to 11:30 PM
At Half Moon Bay, people self-cater at a seaside venue, provided they hand in Food Handling Certificates prior to the event. This simply assures management that meals are prepared and handled safely—covering hygiene, storage, and transport before reaching guests.
As a Life Saving Club, these precautions only make sense. They apply to all the weddings, engagement parties, birthdays, and corporate events hosted here, with space for 80 standing guests, 60 seated, and another 30 out on the balcony when the weather allows.
To some, the highlight is the kitchen use, which comes at an additional $200 to the $880 five-hour full venue hire until 11:30 PM. For others, it’s the helpful and professional staff—$55 per hour if needed at the bar and $70 for security.
Just a couple of drawbacks, though, are the occasional slow-cooking oven and busy weekend parking. On the bright side, many hosts are thankful for the flexibility of earlier set-up times and next-morning pack downs, giving them more breathing room around the event.
Great facilities
“Great setup and facilities.”
- Adrian Warmington, Google Review
Incredible, helpful staff and great balcony views
“The staff were incredible and really helped to make our event special. Great views from the balcony.”
- Ashleigh Cronin, Google Review
3. MicDrop Richmond
Address: Level 4/534 Church St, Richmond
Phone: +61 1300 020 636
Business hours: Monday-Sunday, 8:00 AM to 12:00 AM
MicDrop Richmond has had corporate functions, workshops, and celebrations in its warehouse-style blank canvas space. Many people love the natural lighting, onsite support, and easy access via tram (Route 78) or train (East Richmond Station).
What appeals most to hosts and organizers is the freedom to get creative with how they arrange the venue. A cocktail set-up can hold up to 80 people, theatre seating works for 50, banquet fits 56, cabaret allows for 48, and a u-shape layout is ideal for 24 guests.
On top of that, the place comes with large screens, microphones, clickers, surround sound speaker systems, and background music through Spotify. Clients say these work for every mood, format, and objective—making events easy to run and lively in atmosphere.
While most find the quote-booking process fast and simple, some experienced slow replies and wished prices were just listed online. Still, it’s reassuring that along with allowing BYO food and drinks, they have catering options ready for back-up—from tea and coffee to lunch.
Modern, excellent natural light, heaps of onsite support
“MicDrop Richmond is the perfect venue for a function. We’ve hosted several team and customer sessions there and it’s modern, with excellent natural light, great location and heaps of onsite support to keep things smooth. The quote-booking process is also so simple. Big fan.”
- Leroy Green, Google Review
Great event space—plenty of natural light and friendly staff
“Great event space with plenty of natural light and a view – friendly staff, would highly recommend!”
- Vi Hu, Google Review
4. LOLA St Kilda
Address: 60 Fitzroy St, St Kilda
Phone: Contact form
Business hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 9:00 AM to 2:00 AM
Clients who enjoyed the BYO food, personal decor, and self-catering options at LOLA St Kilda have celebrated baby showers, marriage registrations, and birthdays there. The venue fits up to 400 people, offering a terrace and umbrella-covered alfresco areas for mingling.
Planning and organizing weren’t a struggle, either, thanks to the communicative and helpful event managers who answer questions or simply extend a calm presence on the day. Not to mention coordinating directly with a client’s caterer to keep things on track.
However, certain staff were reported to be less-than-friendly in instances like refusing a guest a glass of water without explaining it was self-service. Added to this is the occasional poor ventilation and air-conditioning, which left some uncomfortable in the heat.
The good thing is corporate event clients never had to worry about the AV system, projector, microphone, or screens. These reliable equipment have helped maintain a stress-free, professional environment during conferences, presentations, and product launches.
Helpful team, worked with our caterers, and maintained a calming presence
“My partner and I were looking for a place to host our registration of marriage – one that could host about 80-100 people comfortably a la cocktail style on a public holiday. The team was very responsive and helpful with our questions, and when it came to working with our caterers and vendors. In the lead up to the event, the Lola team also allowed us – and one of our vendors – to check out the space so that we could work out furniture/food placements ahead of time. On the day itself, Lola’s coordinator Sarah was an absolute legend and delight to work with – she managed our food, logistics and comms with our vendors about pickups, all while maintaining a beautiful and calming presence throughout the day!”
- Berlin Liew, Google Review
BYO food was a highlight, accommodating staff, and great communication
“We had our baby shower at Lola. What a great venue with ample space. A highlight for me was the options available for catering in house or external/byo food. The staff were so incredibly accommodating, their service were really good and communication was great. Thank you for having us, I would highly recommend this venue!”
- Sarah Maloney, Google Review
5. Two Ton Max
Address: 124 Langford St
Phone: +61 3 9384 5272
Business hours:
- Monday-Wednesday, 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM
- Thursday & Sunday, 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM
- Friday & Saturday, 7:00 AM to 12:00 AM
Another warehouse-style space, Two Ton Max has been the setting for a lot of dream weddings and receptions. Coordinators actually had a lot of fun personalizing its beautiful blank canvas, high ceilings, and white walls—alongside the food, provided by clients’ chosen caterers.
Some even received compliments from guests and were eager to return for another event or function. A part of the credit is given to the staff’s all-out, attentive support, whether it’s in lending a hand in decorating or working closely with vendors for a smooth flow throughout.
It’s also worth noting that the venue’s perfect rectangular layout ensures unobstructed views. Corporate seminar or product launch organizers especially appreciate this, together with the theatre-with-stage setup for 200 and immersive wall technology drawing attendees closer.
If there’s any area for improvement, it would be the acoustics and ventilation. A handful of clients mentioned that outside noise could be heard inside, making conversations difficult, and that the room sometimes gets too hot and stuffy when doors are closed to block the sound.
Supportive, flexible with whatever we had wanted, and everything ran smoothly
“I cannot recommend TwoTonMax enough. Jonas was so supportive and went above and beyond to help create our dream wedding! As many have said, it is a blank canvas – this meant that the team were able to be super flexible with whatever we had wanted. Even on the day of, Jonas was there to make sure everything ran smoothly. Thank you, TwoTonMax for being there for the start of the rest of our lives.”
- Mia Ko, Google Review
Night went off without a hitch—amazing venue and coordinated with our vendors
“We recently had our wedding reception at TTM in April – the team were so great to work with over the whole process. They were readily available for any questions and were able to provide advice/recommendations on how to best use the space. We had an amazing time and the venue looked amazing on the night. They were able to coordinate everything with our vendors to ensure the night went off without a hitch.”
- Madison Price, Google Review