Executive Style — Suave Soirees

Soft Christmas music plays in the background as revelers with wine glasses in hand skirt warmly lit tables to fill their plates with rich hors d’ouevres. The holiday party is back in high style after its dip with the economy.

The Conference Board, a not-for-profit organization that gathers and reports information on the marketplace, conducted a survey on holiday spending through NFO WorldGroup, a member of the Interpublic group of companies. According to the survey, holiday spending is expected to climb 5 percent from last year. The same is expected for holiday parties.

“Everything that affects the economy affects all businesses,” said party planner Saley Nong of Divine’s Flower by Saley. “It’s the same philosophy, and when money is tight, the first things cut are entertainment and the arts.”

According to Nong, who has been in the party-planning business for more than a decade, ritzy parties never disappeared completely, even though some companies pared their party budgets. In the past year, Nong says many customers have been going back to tradition. “The focus is on home and togetherness,” said her associate, Cyndee Tate Bell.

“They want something simple and elegant,” said Nong. “They want that warmth of tradition. The crazy, avant-garde parties are for New Year’s. Christmas is apple pie, home-grown, red, white and blue.”

Party planners note that the colors of the American flag were almost as common as red and green last holiday season. This year, some are seeing a turnaround.

“Not to be unpatriotic, but we’re cutting back from red, white and blue,” said Donna Sorensen, a partner at Environmental Design Group Ltd. “I think people needed that after Sept. 11, but now everyone is ready to try to get back to normal.” Environmental Design Group has sent out about 1,000 invitations for its Dec. 12 open house.

“Everyone looks forward to our party,” said Sorensen. “I hope we don’t have a blizzard. It’s very casual, with workers, executive officers, secretaries – pretty much everyone we work with all year.”

Employees at Knapp Properties Inc. were decking the halls of 5000 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines in red and green streamers in preparation for their Dec. 4 party. According to Susan Knapp, vice president of marketing and sales, their traditional open house began years ago when they moved into the building and wanted to introduce potential tenants to the space. Now the building is full, but the tradition continues. The Drake Diner catered this year’s fete with shrimp, beef tenderloin sandwiches and more. Capitol Flowers created the floral arrangements, and miniature reindeer sculpures were among the table decorations.

“We’ve been doing this for a while, so we know what we want,” Knapp said. “We usually have between 300 and 500 guests.” She emphasizes that many community members look forward to the plush event as a chance to see people whom they haven’t seen all year.

Judi Brown of Renaissance Design Group said the company’s staff has planned their in-house party and will arrange most of it themselves, from foods, such as cheese, crackers, fresh fruit and drinks, to décor, although Brown says that the firm has it easy in that capacity.

“The building is its own decoration due to the uniqueness of the space,” she said. “We set out displays of award-winning projects.” The 250 to 300 guests mingle and make contacts while admiring the work that has brought them all together.

Nong says one thing remains the same from one year to the next: People want to get together for the holidays, and the ways that they choose to do so are special, particular to each.

“Location, food, flowers – those are very personal choices,” she said. “People want their parties to be beautiful no matter what the economy is like. They always want a good design for a good price.”