At Vanns Spices in Baltimore, tradition rules the company?s annual holiday party.
Each year, a few days before Christmas, Vanns Spices? 60 employees turn the company?s warehouse into a dining room, enjoying a two-hour lunch together before bonuses are awarded and the crew breaks for the holiday.
“It?s a tradition,” said Erhan Kuran, executive vice president of Vanns Spices.
Across the country, however, as the economy appears to be slumping, surveys suggest some businesses are pulling back this year on their holiday party spending.
About 85 percent of businesses will host some type of holiday party this year, a 9 percent decrease from last year, according to a survey by Battalia Winston, a New York-based executive search firm. About one out of five businesses said the current credit market crunch would affect spending on holiday events.
Baltimore?s Tremont Grand will focus its holiday party on children this year ? complete with a visit from Santa Claus.
“We decided Christmas is for children, and we wanted to go back to the real meaning of the holiday,” said Patty Sipes, executive assistant at the hotel.
Warschawski, a Baltimore public relations firm, has planned a Mexican-themed party at Arcos Restaurant in Fells Point.
“We?re actually bucking the trend on that one,” said Susan Goodell, of the firm?s event-planning division.
Companies are also staring to switch to lunch instead of dinner parties.
“The lunch option is good for a lot of companies because the price point is a little more manageable,” said Matt Haley, Morton?s Steakhouse, Annapolis general manager.
Staff writer Aaron Cahall contributed to this article.
PARTY SPENDING
Of companies holding a holiday party, 24 percent will spend $5,000 or less, 12 percent will spend between $5,000 and $10,000, and 27 percent will spend $10,000 to $25,000 on the event.
Source: Hewitt Associates survey
