--- title: "Wednesday Buzz: The Holiday Party Is Making a Comeback" id: "35850" type: "post" slug: "wednesday-buzz-the-holiday-party-is-making-a-comeback" published_at: "2016-11-16T20:46:59+00:00" modified_at: "2026-11-09T16:46:36+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2016/11/16/wednesday-buzz-the-holiday-party-is-making-a-comeback/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2016/11/16/wednesday-buzz-the-holiday-party-is-making-a-comeback.md" excerpt: "After years of low-key holiday seasons, many organizations are starting to hold holiday parties again—and are spending more money on them than they once did." taxonomy_category: - "Meetings / Events" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Business" - "corporate events" - "holiday party" - "Meetings" - "team building" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "C-Level" - "Manager" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Wednesday Buzz: The Holiday Party Is Making a Comeback Corporate America is finally starting to loosen up a bit and apparently is ready to have a little holiday fun. [That’s according to new research from the outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas (opens in a new tab)](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/company-holiday-parties-are-getting-festive-again/) , which found that 80 percent of surveyed companies were planning to host a holiday party this year, and 21 percent of those who responded said they would spend more than they did last year. The parties might be a little more fun as well—the survey found that 42 percent would allow spouses or family members to attend (an increase from 31 percent last year) and that more companies would serve alcohol (nearly 62 percent, compared with 54 percent last year). The researchers note that the increase in party spending might be a result of rising corporate profits in recent years. “Our survey suggests that employers are ready to spend some of those profits on their workers,” John Challenger, the CEO of the firm, [told CBS Moneywatch (opens in a new tab)](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/company-holiday-parties-are-getting-festive-again/) . ### Understand Your Community’s Role > What Kind of Community Is It Really?[https://t.co/XFoFcYpT02 (opens in a new tab)](https://t.co/XFoFcYpT02) > [#cmgr (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/hashtag/cmgr?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > [#esn (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/hashtag/esn?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > [#assnchat (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/hashtag/assnchat?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > > — Richard Millington (@RichMillington) [November 16, 2016 (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/RichMillington/status/798873268287668224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) **Your thriving community** may look nothing like someone else’s thriving community, and that’s not a bad thing, says FeverBee’s Richard Millington. “A big challenge today is to honestly recognize the type of community we’re dealing with and adjust our actions to match,” [he writes on the FeverBee blog (opens in a new tab)](https://www.feverbee.com/what-community/) . “More of us manage functional, customer-satisfaction-style communities than we might believe. For many, building a sense of community is less important because people just want the quickest possible answer to a question.” ### Other Links of Note **Small Business Saturday** catch you off guard? If you run a local chamber of commerce, this list of tips on Frank J. Kenny’s blog [just might get you started (opens in a new tab)](http://frankjkenny.com/8-last-minute-ideas-for-small-business-saturday/) . **Is Trello getting long in the tooth?** The collaboration platform Asana [just launched a new board tool of its own (opens in a new tab)](https://blog.asana.com/2016/11/introducing-boards/) . ***“We think we are about things.** We are not. We are about people. At our best, we are hubs of human connection.”* At her *Know Your Own Bone* blog, Colleen Dilenschneider [makes an impassioned plea for putting people first (opens in a new tab)](http://colleendilen.com/2016/11/16/cultural-organizations-people-not-things-matter-most/) at cultural organizations. (iStock/Thinkstock) [Ernie Smith](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Tags: [#Business](https://associationsnow.com/tag/business/) [#corporate events](https://associationsnow.com/tag/corporate-events/) [#holiday party](https://associationsnow.com/tag/holiday-party/) [#Meetings](https://associationsnow.com/tag/meetings/) [#team building](https://associationsnow.com/tag/team-building/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [ArticleHow To Incorporate Wellness Into Corporate Meetings and EventsOctober 20, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/10/20/how-to-incorporate-wellness-into-corporate-meetings-and-events/) - [VideoTeam Event Management DemoSeptember 11, 2020](https://associationsnow.com/2020/09/11/team-event-management-demo/) - [PodcastAssociations Now Presents: Beyond the Contract: Building Stronger Destination PartnershipsSeptember 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/24/associations-now-presents-beyond-the-contract-building-stronger-destination-partnerships/) - [VideoMelvin Tennant, CAE, President & CEO of Meet Minneapolis, Welcomes You to Great Ideas 2026September 2, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/02/melvin-tennant-cae-president-ceo-of-meet-minneapolis-welcomes-you-to-great-ideas-2026/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2016%2F11%2F16%2Fwednesday-buzz-the-holiday-party-is-making-a-comeback%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !