Cancel the Christmas Party!

Tips on hosting a successful holiday bash, including keeping it fresh and exciting, allowing employees to plan it, saving money, and limiting your liability.

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Corporate Culture

Either that, or learn how to host a truly festive event

It's a dirty little yuletide secret: company holiday parties are a hassle. Too often, they turn into expensive logistical nightmares. And no matter how well you plan them, people wind up complaining.

Wouldn't it be tempting just to skip the whole affair? Some entrepreneurs try that. Brian Quint, CEO of Aqua Quip Pool & Spa Inc., an $8-million retailer and supplier of pool products, wanted to include the families of his 65 employees in the Seattle-based company's festivities. "It's important to keep the spouse enthusiastic about the employee relationship," says Quint. But when he invited kith and kin to a holiday party, many were so busy with other events that they couldn't make it. So last year Quint abandoned the whole idea of a Christmas party. Instead, he hosted a companywide bash in the fall.

But old traditions die hard. This year Quint will host not only his fall soiree but also--you guessed it--a holiday party, in this case to celebrate reaching some corporate goals. Quint isn't alone: despite the headaches, many business owners end up throwing some kind of December shindig. If you're one of them, you might as well do it right.

David Mueller finds that the key to a successful bash is surprise. Mueller, the CEO of Valley Staffing Services, a temporary-staffing business in Visalia, Calif., tries to do something unexpected for his holiday party. One year he gathered employees in a restaurant for a seemingly ordinary dinner, only to reveal a mock-up of a Jeopardy!-style TV show, with a set, a host, and prizes. Another year Mueller invited his staff to his home. Thirty minutes into the party, limousines appeared and, to the employees' surprise, whisked the partygoers off to a local country club. The club was the first of three additional locales--one for each dinner course.

Of course, when you feel the need to always top the previous year, your holiday party can quickly become a very expensive tradition. But Mueller, whose company has 20 full-time employees, argues that his offbeat celebrations wind up costing him less. "Going the typical route with the band and the caterer--sure, that's the easy way," he says. "But if you're creative, you can actually spend less and make it even more motivational."

That's especially true if you get employees involved in planning the event--which also helps silence the complainers. "You always get grumblers, even if the party's good," says Ben Chase, CEO of Cablelink Inc., in Salt Lake City. "You hear, 'Pepsi? Why'd you get that? Why not Coke?' " To avoid such gripes, Chase lets a committee of employees plan the holiday parties. He has found that his staff typically spends less than he used to. "The last party I planned was the most expensive thing we ever did," he admits.

Joseph A. Lamberger Jr., CEO of $2.6-million Eclipse Consulting Inc., in Noblesville, Ind., knows the feeling. At one point, he realized he was spending more than $160 a head for his holiday festivities--once he'd calculated the cost of food, alcohol, and gifts. So one year he instead offered a one-day holiday escape to the Bahamas for his employees and their spouses. "The trip came out to $199 per person," says Lamberger, whose computer consulting company has 41 employees. "I spent a little more money and got something totally different." He claims that such unusual parties are good for employee retention and recruiting--and that's key in the field of computer consulting, in which competition for talent is intense. "I get more résumés from and comments on the Bahamas trip than on anything else," he says.

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