And They Don’t Even Do the Dishes

When Dean and Evelyn Thomas throw a New Year’s Eve party, mere noisemakers and funny hats won’t do.

They reserve one of the world’s most expensive hotel rooms--the $5,000-a-night penthouse suite at the Fairmont Hotel here--and invite the whole family and a few friends, a party of 25 in all.

“We really kind of lay it on,” said Thomas, 65, of Fullerton. “We all dress formally, even the little guys have to have tuxes.”

The idea to throw a New Year’s party in a suite where presidents have slept came last year.

The Thomases, who once stayed in the penthouse for an anniversary, decided to reserve the suite for themselves, their four children, 11 grandchildren and family friends.

They arranged a New Year’s Eve dinner and Sunday brunch in the 1927 three-bedroom penthouse that includes such features as a two-story circular library, four fireplaces, 24-karat-gold water faucets, views of the San Francisco skyline, a game room decorated with Persian mosaics, four bathrooms and a full kitchen with a maid and butler.

The rest of the year, the Thomases live a modest life. They spend most of their time with the family and keep busy with the family business, a research firm that develops agricultural products.