From bowling to Broadway to blue whales, Manhattan office holiday parties get creative

While Manhattan has more than its share of restaurants and catering halls, companies are marking the end of the year with parties everywhere from bowling alleys to Broadway, their own night at the museum to high-tech holiday celebrations.

As workers at many companies spend less time in the office than in the past, the office party has transformed, becoming about connecting, not just celebrating and cuisine. And creative venues and approaches are becoming part of the mix.

“Everyone has a similar sentiment,” said Eric Wielander, vice president of strategy and creative at Eventique, a live event production agency in Manhattan. “They want to engage with each other. It’s almost an extension of a team-building event.”

Some companies hire event planners to do all the planning, while human resources executives and holiday party planning committees also take the lead to bring the company together to celebrate.

“You start planning after Labor Day. You come up with ideas,” Alice Winkler, a fractional chief human resources officer who has worked for various companies, said of holiday parties.” You need to get your executive team on an actual date and budget.”

Wielander said events these days are typically called end-of-year or holiday parties. The phrase “Christmas party” isn’t as common in the corporate lexicon.

“I haven’t seen anyone describe a holiday party as a Christmas party for years,” he said. “End of year celebration is a more neutral way of expressing it. You want to look back and acknowledge and celebrate hard-working team members.”

Winkler said the process ideally starts well in advance, so companies can send out hold-a-date place holders by November. Wielander said parties typically start occurring after Thanksgiving.

An office party Eventique produced at Artehouse earlier in December in Manhattan.Photo: Gruber Photographers

“The sweet spot for holiday parties I think are the first two weeks of December. Those are the most optimal times we’ve seen,” Wielander said. “I think people’s mindsets are in a different place (closer to the holidays), finishing up tasks by end of year and starting to take their PTO.”

In-office parties remain common, but Winkler said they might include casino nights or transforming offices into luxurious spaces with decorations and rented furniture.

“You come up with creative ideas. Sometimes we do a nice dinner in the office,” she said. “We brought in custom furniture, tables, and tablecloths. We piped in music and had dancing.”

Sit-down dinners provide an option, but Winkler also planned dinner with a Broadway show, including busing in employees from Philadelphia to take part.

“There is no better place to celebrate holidays than in New York City,” Broadway League President Jason Laks said, noting companies can come into town to celebrate with dinner and a show. “Sharing the experience of live theater is a wonderful way to bring your colleagues, friends and family together.”

Winkler said a bowling alley, such as Bowlmor, can provide another option, doing something different rather than repeating the same event.

While it’s all about the food, drinks and music for some, Wielander said his company specializes in treating spaces as a “blank canvas” where they create experiences.

“It’s not just great food and an open bar. It’s different moments, interacting, playing games,” he added, noting they this year already did office parties ranging from 40 to 800 people. “There are multiple touch points where they can share in taking a photograph together.”

The movie “Night at the Museum” is a fantasy about what happens after hours at the American Museum of Natural History, but that museum sometimes comes to life for after-hours parties.

Sculpted ice rose above tables with white tablecloths in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life near the shape of a gigantic, suspended whale in one office party Eventique organized. A dance floor was set up for guests to enjoy as a DJ played tunes in the space that seats up to 900.

“They wanted us to design a fire and ice theme,” Wielander said. “It was a combination of different seating with a large dance floor, a DJ and a live band with a number of food stations.”

A Museum of Natural History party by EventiquePhoto: Luis Ruiz

While that museum offers a unique setting, Eventique frequently creates scenic environments often built around a message with a certain look and feel including a recent party where winter wonderland met magic.

Branding, motion graphics, projections on walls and screens combined with live entertainment, Wielander said, are part for the course of setting the scene. Eventique often uses Lavon 541 and Lavon Midtown, sister properties that serve as “white box spaces” they furnish to fit events, establishing an environment with projections.

“Technology companies are largely flexible (with a lot of) remote work. They’re finding the value in investing in in-person holiday parties,” Wielander continued. “Their team members aren’t congregating as much (as in the past) with each other as often in an office environment.”

Eventique threw a party for the company in the Artechouse in the Chelsea Market featuring floor-to-ceiling projection mapping. Mercer Labs, another high-tech event space, is located in the financial district.

“It all comes down to what’s most important to the client. Unique food and beverage, cocktails on fire, culinary experiences,” Wielander said. “Everybody has different expectations and desires.”

He said office parties these days sometimes include “hiring talent to give great performances and experiences” such as DJs, aerialists, illusionists, dancers and singers.

Mustang Harry’s, near Penn Station, touts ease in coming into Manhattan and their two-floor venue featuring 7,500 square feet of flexible event space, including lounges and bars and more than 20 HDTVs.

In addition to location and look, they tout their ability to “capture the charisma of old NYC with an authentic twist of Dublin.”

“While we are seeing a clear uptick in holiday party bookings compared to last year, parties now tend to be more intimate,” Mustang Harry’s Co-owner Ian Conroy said.

While there’s a wide range of spaces from Mustang Harry’s to museums, a party with a view can be memorable, even outdoors, if it is held a little earlier in warmer weather.

“One year we did a rooftop holiday party prior to Thanksgiving with a DJ,” Winkler said. “We wanted to do a party on the roof, so we wanted to make sure it wasn’t too cold. If you do it a little earlier, you don’t compete with all the other holiday parties.”