Company Christmas party making a comeback

This time last year, Alpharetta caterer Barbara Katz was nervously eyeing a rather empty appointment book for company holiday parties.

Spooked by the collapse of Wall Street and a succession of other economic undoings late last year, most companies weren’t in much of a festive mood.

“It almost became the trend last year not to have a Christmas party because [companies] didn’t want to be the one to have one if no one else was having one,” recalled Katz, owner of A Dish in a Dash.

This year, Katz is booked solid through December, catering everything from heavy hors d’oeuvres to buffet dinners with events averaging 150 to 200 people, well above last year’s average attendance. The first booking came in early October and bookings have been steady ever since. Katz has a staff of eight and is adding a dozen more workers to handle the holiday work.

“People can hold out only so long,” Katz said of corporate America’s self-imposed holiday party ban.

The company Christmas party, it appears, is back, albeit much more subdued. Sit-down dinners with open bar and live band for hundreds of employees and their guests are history — at least for the foreseeable future.

“There’s a very real concern with respect to appearances,” said Matthew Sottong, director of research and surveys at the Bureau of National Affairs, a Washington, D.C.-based publisher of news and analysis on federal and state regulations and compliance. Its annual Year-end Holiday Practices Survey, which looks at how companies handle bonuses and parties, is due out this week.

“It’s very difficult to tell your employees all year long, ‘Times are tough, there’s no bonuses, we’re laying people off,’ and then have some sort of flashy party at the end of the year,” Sottong said. “The two don’t make sense.”

Several local companies contacted for this story declined to talk about their holiday plans, fearing they might appear ostentatious.

“By the same token,” Sottong added, “doing nothing is perhaps more damaging because it’s so demoralizing.”

Mood more upbeat

In a year of bailouts, bank rescues and executive bonuses — and the resulting backlash against them — many big financial firms are forgoing parties, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup have all put the kibosh on corporate-sponsored holiday affairs.

In its annual survey on holiday parties, global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. found that 62 percent of companies are planning holiday parties this year, down from 77 percent a year ago.

In 2007, 90 percent of companies surveyed were planning holiday parties.

Companies having parties plan to have low profile, low budget ones. About 64 percent of companies are spending the same as last year and 28.5 percent are spending less — 10 percent to 20 percent less, on average — than they did a year ago, Challenger, Gray & Christmas’ survey noted.

As for the Atlanta holiday scene? Caterers, disc jockeys, entertainment firms and other companies that help companies celebrate the holidays are in a much more upbeat mood this holiday season and beyond.

“In a bad economy, we’re having a better holiday than last year,” said Joanne Salomone, who co-owns The WOW! Factor of Atlanta with her husband, John. Salomone attributed the improvement to several factors. “We’re very versatile. We work within people’s budgets. We customize events, and we have a good reputation. So I think there’s a trust factor there.”

Entertainers Daniel Blankowski and Jack Corcoran said they’re feeling a lot better about the coming year based on bookings they’re getting.

“I’m totally optimistic about this year and moving forward,” said Blankowski, president and owner of Magical Music Machine Entertainment Inc. in East Cobb. Blankowski, known in DJ circles as “Dano,” and his wife, Conni, expect to be busy this season. Based on the bookings, he says, “Not everybody is having a miserable time.”

The trick, he says, is to seek out companies that continue to do well. In his case, it’s been international firms that booked the first two weekends in December back in January. They were also the ones he could count on last year.

“They weren’t nearly in a panic as some places were,” he said.

Even though holiday business is off 10 percent from last year, Corcoran said his Winder-based entertainment company is providing more entertainment among the companies that have booked.

Corcoran’s company, Funtastic Events, works six states, including Georgia, doing casino-themed events.

His clients so far this holiday season have included software companies, a packaging firm, a pharmaceutical company and a fabric maker. Companies are spending an average of about $2,000 for his events, which are averaging 100 to 250 people. The festivities vary by state. Georgia companies seems to be partying rather steadily this holiday season, while those in Mississippi, which has had a series of layoffs in the auto and furniture industries, aren’t in as festive a mood, Corcoran said.

More events, but smaller

The parties Katz is seeing are “somewhere between lavish and low-key for social events as well as corporate.”

Instead of weekend bookings, some companies are opting for a late-afternoon or after-work gathering at the office. No booze. No spouses. Instead of two chocolate fountains, there’s one.

“We’re seeing a rise in the number of events, but also seeing them spending less, about 25 percent less,” said Stacy Zeigler, sales director at Bold American Events & Catering in Midtown. Bold American also has seen an increase in companies booking parties on weekdays.

The annual company party isn’t just about partying, of course — it’s also a barometer of how companies are doing in general.

“You can read a lot about the economy by the way entertainment is going because it’s such a low priority,” Blankowski said.

Sottong agrees.

“It’s sort of reflects the state of business vis-a-vis the economy,” he said. “Employers are trying to match their parties and gift-giving with the tenor of the times.”

Because the country has endured one of the toughest recessions in decades, some companies plan to focus more on charitable contributions.

In lieu of its annual holiday party, employees at offices of tax advisory firm KPMG around the country will take part in a community service project, Operation Holiday Bear Hugs. Employees in the Atlanta office will construct and dress 744 toy bears and deliver them to local charities. All told, KPMG plans to distribute more than 22,000 bears nationwide.

Both low-key and lively

Companies like Atlanta developer Cousins Properties and The Mulling Corp., a Sandy Springs-based career transition/outplacement and executive coaching firm, are opting for low-key events this year.

Mulling used to host an annual holiday buffet for clients and guests downtown to watch the annual Atlanta holiday parade. Now, it’s just a gathering for the company’s 22 employees and guests at chairman Emory Mulling’s home, an event he and his wife have hosted for 19 years.