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CRAIN’S CORPORATE HOLIDAY GUIDE 2025
Your guide to holiday party planning
Something for everyone: The trend making company celebrations memorable for all generations By Web Behrens for Crain’s Content Studio
H
ow do you get your entire workforce on the same page for a party that embraces the holiday spirit? We surveyed a few of the city’s experienced party planners and hosts to find out. These tips can help make any corporate gathering more memorable — and turn the salty Scrooges and Grinches into fun-loving Fezziwigs and wideeyed Cindy Lou Whos. Organizing a big event involves many moving parts, with choices to be made around venue, cuisine, activities and more. The key question of what comes first involves a bit of a chicken-andegg bemusement.
Another piece of timeless advice: Fun experiences make a party pop — but giving your guests options matters, too. “Remember, your event attendees are a cross-section of generations attending the same party,” Kroulaidis points out, so it helps to think of different ways to engage a corporate group.
No matter how special the venue is, there’s always a way to bring extra pizazz for employees.
“I always recommend to begin with the end in mind,” says Lorelei Kroulaidis, director of special events at Chicago History Museum. In other words, she elaborates, “Look at previous feedback on other holiday parties you have had, and then see what the priorities tend to be.” “We always encourage clients to start with intention,” says Leah Ferro, events manager at The Bellevue Chicago, an upscale Gold Coast restaurant. “Are you celebrating the team, rewarding them, building culture, or all the above? Once the purpose is clear, the rest falls into place.” While you’re thinking about the big picture, professionals recommend selecting the venue early in the process. Nailing this detail down ensures your company gets its preferred date and time for the holiday party. “The best spaces book
CRAIN’S CORPORATE HOLIDAY GUIDE 2025
fast, especially for peak December dates,” Ferro notes. Also, that choice can provide a framework for the rest of your planning. “Securing your venue first helps you with direction for the entire event: the theme, food selections, activities and activations for the guests, and more,” Kroulaidis says.
“That layered, experiential approach is still very much on trend for 2025,” concurs Ferro. “It’s about keeping the energy high and the surprises coming. One of our most memorable holiday events last year was a progressive-style party where each room at The Bellevue had a different activation: A martini cart and oyster-shucking station in one space, live jazz in another, and a dessert lounge complete with an espresso martini bar and late-night bites. Guests loved the sense of discovery. The format encouraged mingling, and no one felt stuck at a table.” Ferro notes a similar “choose your own adventure” event that happened recently at the Chicago History Museum, where the client took advantage of the large space: “If guests wanted to attend a silent dance party, they could do so in our theater space on the stage. If they wanted to hear live jazz, they could do so in one of our exhibition spaces. Even if they