How I Hosted a Doula Holiday Party That Built Community and Saved Me on Taxes

Summary

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The Doula Darcy Podcast

Episode: How I Hosted a Doula Holiday Party That Built Community and Saved Me on Taxes
Host: Darcy Sauers
Date: December 5, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, business coach and agency owner Darcy Sauers shares her personal journey of hosting her agency’s holiday party—a longstanding dream realized now that she leads a team of doulas. Darcy discusses not just the emotional and professional joy of gathering her team but also dives into clever tax strategies that made the event a financial win for her business. This candid, strategy-packed episode is full of practical insights for both solo doulas and agency owners looking to strengthen community ties and run a smart business, with special attention to balancing celebration and entrepreneur savvy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Dream of a Doula Holiday Party

• Darcy reminisces about her advertising days, where December was filled with company parties.
  • “In December, I would always joke, like, going out to dinner with my family and with my three kids, okay, this is the Dover Doula holiday party.” [01:29]
• After years as a solo doula, building a team and hosting a real agency holiday party has become a meaningful milestone.

2. Optimizing for Tax Benefits

• Darcy reveals an important tax-saving strategy she learned:
  • Last year’s restaurant holiday dinner was only partially tax-deductible.
  • Her tax advisor suggested having a chef cater at home, which is fully deductible under certain conditions.
    • “If you had had a chef come... you can write the full cost of that off versus taking them out to dinner.” [03:20]
• Darcy used the “Augusta Rule” to have her business rent her house for the party, legally claiming the expense.
  • “It sounds and feels at first like you’re cheating the system, but you’re not. It’s called the Augusta rule... You can rent your house for one night to host your own party.” [03:48]

3. Building Team Connection & Gathering Feedback

• Hosting at home was more relaxed and intimate than a restaurant setting:
  • “We just sat in the living room and chatted… it was so easy and relaxed and like none of the background noise.” [04:35]
• Many team members met in person for the first time, deepening bonds.
• Darcy encouraged open discussion about agency operations and communication—conversations that “couldn’t have happened via text.” [05:29]
• Expressed deep gratitude for her team, applying lessons from industry peers about challenges agency owners face.

4. Involving Family in the Business

• Darcy involved her teenage sons in prepping for the event:
  • “Listen, you guys, this is how mom earns her money. This is like the business that buys your food. Help me out here.” [08:30]
• Points out the value of children seeing the realities and successes of working moms.

5. Client Appreciation: Personalizing Holiday Cards

• Darcy prepped client holiday cards for doulas to sign with personal messages.
  • “To have a little handwritten note from your doula in your holiday card is just extra special.” [10:33]
• Noted the positive shift from generic agency cards to these personalized touches.

6. Year-End Bonus Strategy

• Planned on small self-care gifts but, when pressed for time, increased the year-end bonus instead:
  • “Decided to just amp up their end of the year bonus a little bit more. And so that’s what I did...” [12:22]
• Each bonus came with a heartfelt note to recognize the team’s hard work.

7. Encouragement for All Doulas to Build Community

• Whether solo or agency-based, Darcy emphasizes gathering in person:
  • “There’s nothing like getting together in person and just hanging out and chatting and solidifying those relationships. As the world just gets more and more online... the more humanity and in-person things you can weave into your business, the better.” [13:39]
• Suggests that even solos can invite referral sources or doula friends for meaningful celebrations.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the emotional significance of the event:
  “This is a dream come true. Because when I was a baby doula, for the first several years of working as a doula, it was just me.” [00:52]
• On the Augusta Rule:
  “My business can pay me as an individual for the renting of the space. And I as a person don’t have to claim that as income, but my business can claim it as an expense... It’s called the Augusta rule...” [03:45]
• On building a positive team:
  “They’re amazing doulas. They’re so compassionate, they’re so good at their jobs… I’ve even had some go as far to send me a separate email and say, Darcy, you’ve assembled an incredible team.” [06:12]
• Why in-person gatherings matter:
  “As the world just gets more and more online and more and more taken over by AI, I think the more humanity and live in person, things you can weave into your business, the better it’s going to be and then the better your life is going to be.” [13:46]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:46–02:14: Darcy’s dream of hosting a holiday party, solo years as a doula
• 03:07–04:35: Using a private chef and the Augusta Rule for tax benefits
• 04:35–06:47: Comforts of home, relaxed vibe, team bonding, and agency feedback
• 06:47–08:52: Gratitude for the team, industry stories, involving her kids
• 09:58–11:36: Holiday card signing and client appreciation rituals
• 12:10–13:26: Bonus instead of physical gifts, importance of celebration for all doulas
• 13:26–14:55: Final encouragements, invitation to connect, and feedback requests

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Closing Thoughts

Darcy’s episode is an uplifting, practical blueprint for doulas and agency owners on how to cultivate community, creatively maximize tax savings, and build team spirit in ways both sincere and strategic. Whether you’re a solo practitioner or run a large agency, Darcy shows it’s possible to make the holidays meaningful—and business-savvy.

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Doula Darcy podcast. I'm your host, Darcy, a business coach for doulas. And I love helping my fellow doulas master the art of marketing so that they can grow their businesses and help more families. On the podcast, I combine my decade of experience in Advertising with 14 years as a doula to empower other doulas with the marketing strategies and mindset shifts they need to attract more clients and create successful, fulfilling doula careers. Whether you're just starting out as a doula or you're looking to take your doula business to the next level, you're in the right place. Let's go.

[B]

Welcome, everybody. On today's episode, I want to tell you about a dream come true for me. Last night, I hosted my doula agency holiday party. And this is a dream come true. Because when I was a baby doula, for the first several years of working as a doula, it was just me. Honestly, for the first probably seven years, I didn't have Erica, my first independent contractor, come on until I was probably seven or eight years into it. I had come from an advertising agency background, a marketing background, and in that world, company holiday parties were a big thing. So I would have a holiday party for the agency I worked at. But then I would also get invited to all the radio station Christmas parties and TV station Christmas parties and all the other media companies and newspapers and big client parties. The month of December was like one big long party. And I was in my 20s. It was the best. I would have so much fun. And so then I had my babies and became a doula. And so once I was working as a doula, it was a very different scene. In December, I would always joke, like, going out to dinner with my family and with my three kids, okay, this is the Dover Doula holiday party.

So for the past couple years after Covid and once I have had a team of doulas working for me, we've always done something, and I always call it the Dover Doula holiday party. But this year just was the biggest one yet. And I put a little strategy in and this is why I'm recording this episode. I put a little strategy into planning the way I executed the party to maximize the tax write offs. And that's what I want to share with you. Because last year I thought, let's just make this easy. I just took everybody out to dinner, went to a nice restaurant, we had a great time, we had a great dinner and it was really nice. And then when I went to file my taxes, my tax Guy said, oh, no, you can't write that meal off. You can write half of it off. And I forget, obviously I'm not a tax.

Strategist, but I can't remember why I couldn't taking the team out to dinner. I couldn't write the full amount off. And he said, but if you had had a chef come, and maybe I learned this in hosting the main retreats. It having a chef come, you can write the full cost of that off versus taking them out to dinner. So for this year's agency Christmas party, I was like, I'll just have it at my house and have a chef come that I know is amazing. So shout out to Fiat Sophia of FIA's Main. She cooked at our main retreat and then came prepared absolutely delicious dinner for us for our holiday party. Pay myself. My business can pay me as an individual for the renting of the space. And I as a person don't have to claim that as income, but my business can claim it as an expense and look it up. It's true. It sounds and feels at first like you're cheating the system, but you're not. It's called the Augusta rule, and there's limits on it. You can rent your house for one night to host your own party. I was pretty excited about that, and it was just nice. I have a great house for hosting, and it forced me to clean it up, but it was just so much more relaxed. And we just sat in the living room and chatted. And then we were joking. Half of us had a glass of wine. Half of them had to go work night shifts that night. So they had a nice seltzer. I put it in a fancy glass with a slice of lemon so we could all feel like we're having a special drink at a party. But we were able to just sit in the living room and chat. It was so easy and relaxed and like none of the background noise of when you're at a restaurant. And then having Sophia the chef there was great because I didn't have to worry about cooking or preparing the food or putting it out. I could just sit and hang out with everybody. It was so nice. And you all know how much I love a doula party. Like, just the doula mojo was flowing. And it was just such a special chance because some of them hadn't even met each other, even though they've worked like shared families, shared clients, and been texting each other rampantly and connecting like that. So it was nice to have them be able to get together in person and Meet. And then we just had such great discussions about rehashing the year and the families that we worked with and funny things that came up. But then also, it was great for me as the owner, I was able to ask them questions about how they want me to communicate with them, how do we want to handle these kind of things. And we had some really great discussions that we couldn't have had via text. That was really nice to get like the group feedback and have some discussions about a few just the agency little things just to do that in person. And I loved it. And I just, I'm so grateful to my team. And this is one of the things we talked about. They're all so incredible. And I tell them they're amazing doulas. They're so compassionate, they're so good at their jobs. Our clients always reach out to me that they love the doula that was working with them. I've even had some go as far to send me a separate email and say, darcy, you've assembled an incredible team.

So I'm just so grateful to the people who are my independent contractors. And I told them last night, now as the doula, Darcy, talking to doulas from all over the world, talking to agency owners from all over the world, I'm hearing some horror stories. We're just seeing what goes on, people that post and share in the agency owner, Facebook groups and things like that. And as part of my doula village now, we've added on an office hours session for agency owners. We talk about sometimes the situations that come up or doulas that don't show up for work, or doulas who don't do what you need them to do in terms of following simple rules and stuff. So I feel so incredibly grateful for the team that I have with me here in New Hampshire. And it was just so lovely to spend the evening with them last night. And I was sitting on my Instagram stories earlier, sharing that I was going to record this podcast and saying that we got some housekeeping stuff done. And like, what I just mentioned asking about getting their feedback on communication and things like that. I didn't mean the housekeeping of the fact that I had to clean my house, which I did, which whatever, fine. But one really cool aspect of it that I also honed in on this year was making my two boys help me. Like I made. One of them is on crutches, so he couldn't help me too much. He did some dishes. The one who's not on crutches. I was like, can you please go shovel the front? Walk a little bit better. We got dumped with snow the other day, and I had. They were helping me put the leaves in the table and all these things. It was really great. And they were complaining at first, and I was like, listen, you guys, this is how mom earns her money. This is like the business that buys your food. Help me out here. So I was joking with them about it, but I really also meant it like, they can't. They can't complain about doing a few chores around the house for.

The business that keeps them fed and keeps a roof over their heads. So it was nice to involve them in that prep and have a little talk with them beforehand. And then they were milling around. They heard the conversations. They saw that I had six doulas there that work for me. They got a little bit of an insight into what mom does. I think that's really important. And my kids are teenagers, by the way. Like, they're 17 and 20. They're at an age where I think it's really especially important at any age that your kids are. But they need to see what it is we're doing for work and that we are successful and that we are building businesses and that we. We're not just.

Mom.

So that was a really unexpected thing that came out of also hosting this at my house. Plus the leftovers I had. Sophia. I was like, all right, here's how many people are coming, but could you just cook a little extra? Cause my teen boys will be around.

So now my fridge is full of leftovers. I don't have to cook dinner tonight. And I. That is, I hate cooking dinner. And the fact all day I've just been such a good mood knowing it's done and I don't have to do it tonight. And it was a tax write off. So just another little bonus. Okay. Another cool thing I did in terms of strategy as a doula agency owner is that I had my holiday cards ready that I wanted to send to the client. So every year since the beginning, I have sent out holiday cards to the clients we worked with that year and maybe the year before this year, because we were all going to be together at my house. I had them out and organized and was able to have the doulas who worked with that family sign that holiday card, write a little message. And I just know that's going to be so special for those families. In the past couple of years, I signed them and I just have usually written, love the whole Dover Doula team, which is fine. But to have a little handwritten note from your doula in your holiday card is just extra special. And those I love like those little things, working those in for our clients. So that was really fun. Sit at a table and I'll be signing them. And we were laughing. I was sharing with them that I was so excited that I had thought of this and that we could do this. And we were all like, this is like when you get the card from your dentist and everybody signed it.

So it was really fun. We did that while we were eating the cookies that Sophia made. They were so yummy. And then my last strategy was that my original plan was to that day drive around and get buy each doula a mug and put in like some emergency and echinacea tea and just fill chocolates and fill the mug with like little like sweet self care type thing. And I ran out of time.

The day got away from me and I was stressing out that I didn't have a gift for them and decided to just amp up their end of the year bonus a little bit more. And so that's what I did and I was able to just hand it to them. I wrote everybody a nice note inside the card telling them how grateful I was for everything they do. And so it was a really special. And now listen, I know I'm putting this podcast out in already the first week of December, so maybe you don't have time to this year do anything like this, but I want to just plant this seed in your head if you are an agency owner, even if you're not an agency owner. I want to say maybe three years ago I had two independent contractors and I wanted to have a little holiday gathering. So I invited the two of them and I invited all my doula besties, all my referral sources. So the birth doulas in town who referred to me and my agency. And that was really special too. So you could do that. If you are a solo doula, have a little party, celebrate. And I can't stress.

How whether they're your independent contractors or your peers and your referral sources, there's nothing like getting together in person and just hanging out and chatting and solidifying those relationships. As the world just gets more and more online and more and more taken over by AI, I think the more humanity and live in person, things you can weave into your business, the better it's going to be and then the better your life is going to be. We had so much fun last night, so it was so great. So I hope you got a lot of ideas from listening to this episode and let me know what I missed. Like what else? What am I missing? If you're an agency owner or a big holiday party planner, shoot me a DM on Instagram and give me some ideas of what I can do next year, what I can work in, and I would love to hear it. I'm all ears and I'd love to hear if this episode was helpful. Thank you to all the people who have already DMed me on Instagram to say that you're listening to the podcast. I get some of the sweetest messages and it always just makes my day. So please reach out. Please go subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and give it a review. That could be your holiday present to me. Give the podcast a review.

And that is really helpful in helping other doulas find this podcast. Thanks for listening.

[A]

Thank you for tuning in to the Doula Darcy podcast. I hope you found this episode valuable and I'd love for you to join me on the next one. Let's keep the conversation going. Shoot me a DM on Instagram, Instagram thedula Darcy or join my free Facebook community, the Doula Marketing Group, where we dive deeper into growing your doula business.

[B]

If you enjoyed the episode, please take.

[A]

A moment to rate and review the podcast on your favorite platform. Your feedback will help more doulas discover the show, which in turn helps more families find the doula support that they need. And I believe that that is how.

[B]

We save the world.