Deck the Halls for Office Parties
The company that co-produces television’s “Golden Girls” rented a Beverly Hills mansion and lavished six kinds of ethnic cuisine on its employees, while at the cost-conscious Wall Street Journal bureau in Los Angeles the food was potluck.
Workers for a high-flying computer software company received Sony Watchman television sets as party favors. At a financial services office, data processors ate a simple buffet and returned to their jobs.
In one form or another, the office Christmas party is alive and flourishing this holiday season. Caterers report plenty of bookings from companies that have done well in 1986 and want to show employees a good time.
A spokesman for the junk-bond division of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., a New York investment banking house that has received subpoenas in connection with the government’s insider-trading investigation, said Drexel’s Los Angeles office had a “festive” Christmas party at “some hotel.” (A subpoena is a request for information and does not imply wrongdoing.)
Meanwhile, clerical workers for a large downtown law firm put on skits lampooning their attorney-bosses, who were not allowed to attend. An engineering firm made its event a family affair, providing two clowns and a Mrs. Santa’s candy kitchen for children.
Judy Merrill of Ashton-Tate, a Torrance-based computer software maker enjoying record earnings, said the company had two Christmas parties. “One was our decorating party, which was on a Friday at work. Everyone went all out. We decorated this place to the hilt,” she said. “Then Ed Esber, our chairman, and Luther Nussbaum, our new president, dressed up like Santas and gave out Watchman TVs. That was nice.”
The second party was a dinner-dance at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel attended by about 900 people. Merrill declined to say how much Ashton Tate spent on the event.
The accounting firm Price Waterhouse and Co. also enjoyed a big year. Terri Pearson, a litigation support manager who helps plan the Los Angeles office’s Christmas party, said the company spent about $90 per person.
Black-Tie Optional
“We had a theme of black and white, and it was black-tie optional because we went for a little more elegance than usual,” she said. “It was in the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Wilshire. Eight hundred people came.”
Pearson said a jazz band played while cocktails were served, and the rock group the Heaters provided the main entertainment.
“Not everyone in accounting is old and stuffy,” she said. “About 60% of our staff is one to four years out of college.”
With three shows on the air--”The Golden Girls,” “It’s a Living” and “One Big Family”--Witt Thomas Harris Productions is doing well. The company rented the Beverly Hills mansion of financier Bernie Cornfeld for its Christmas party, which was held Saturday night. Sue Palladino, vice president for creative affairs, would say only that the party’s cost ran “five figures.”
“It’s a chance for Bob to outdo himself,” she said.
“Bob” is Bob Gregory, co-owner and special events coordinator for the Los Angeles catering firm Celebrations, which staged last year’s party for Witt Thomas Harris. Gregory said he hired more than 100 people to set up, serve or perform at this year’s event.
International Flavor
“The theme was Christmas around the world, and we had six stations with food from Italy, France, Germany and so on,” he said. “We had 18 different kinds of entertainment--things like a Chinese candy sculptor and a walking, kibitzing Christmas tree, and trumpeters to greet people when they arrived, and an organ grinder, and a koto player at the sushi bar. We had to move all the furniture out of the house, put a deck over the pool and tent the whole backyard. It took days to get ready.”
Christmas office parties are a staple of the catering industry. Ray Henderson, general manager of Rococo Custom Caterers in Woodland Hills, said his company has done 18 or 20 this year, and that he has seen hundreds during his 25 years in the business.
“If the party is in the office itself, you usually don’t have a large space to work with,” Henderson said. “You set up food stations around the perimeter so people keep moving and don’t jam up. You give them food that they can eat standing up, something that’s fun food and even a little bizarre, like Spago-style pizzas. Sometimes you have a three-piece band, but piped-in music is fine. Usually it’s lots of camaraderie and loud talk. These people are comrades; they work together, and it doesn’t take long to let their hair down.”
The caterer said, however, that he rarely sees drunken revelers at an office Christmas party, and that “most offices do offer some form of alcohol, even if it’s an eggnog or a champagne punch.”
First Federal Savings Bank of California, based in Santa Monica, served champagne, beer and wine at its party, which was held in the bank.
“Our in-house counsel discussed the liability question,” said Martin Gottlieb, senior vice president, referring to a 1974 California Supreme Court ruling that bartenders or party hosts run the risk of being held liable for damages if a drunken guest should be involved in an accident on the way home.
“If someone has had too much to drink,” Gottlieb said, “we either arrange transportation with another employee or get a cab. You also can control the amount of drinking by having a limited number of bars, so people have to stand in line.”
Warren Taylor of San Marino Caterers agreed that unusual foods are in vogue at office Christmas parties.
“They’re going for chicken tempura strips, ginger meatballs, mini-reubens,” he said. “We do a hot-baked brie with brown sugar and cinnamon that’s very popular.”
The most requested specialty at Alpine Market and Bakery in Torrance, which caters many parties for small offices and light industry, is Christmas stollen.
“It’s a German fruitcake that’s very traditional at Christmas,” Trudy Mahlke said.
Christmas office parties are a boon not only to caterers, but also to such ancillary services as lighting companies and location finders. Jerry Astourian of Images by Lighting in Silverlake remembered work he did for this year’s Christmas party at Simple Green, a cleaning fluid marketer in Hermosa Beach.
“Their logo is a dinosaur so we used laser graphics to do a dinosaur dancing on a wall,” he said.
“It was pretty spectacular,” according to Jerry Smith, the company’s senior vice president. “It covered the whole second floor wall. I didn’t know they could do so much.”
Marilyn Jenett, whose Century City company finds locations for events, this year placed Christmas office parties in the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park, the Hancock Park mansion that appears as Pamela Ewing’s home in TV’s “Dallas,” and a Mediterranean-style villa, also in Hancock Park. The advertising agency Abert Newhoff & Burr held its party in the villa.
“It’s been a good year, but it’s been hard, hard work,” said Steve Sandborg the firm’s vice president. “We wanted to do something special.”
Mary Sue McKay, offices services administrator for Tuttle & Taylor, said the downtown law firm spends “a couple thousand dollars” on its staff party, and the occasion is a high point of the year.
“We had it in the Sheraton Grande, and we put on skits making fun of our bosses,” she said. “I dressed up as Mae Southwest and did insult-type jokes. It’s a non-attorney party, for staff only.”
She was asked if the lawyers don’t feel left out.
“Yes,” McKay said happily. “It eats them up.”
