For many years the place where I work had their Christmas party at a local hotel function room. That was because TPTB did not want to get sued by victims of alcohol consumers who left said party & crashed into them; if that happened when your party is at a hotel, the hotel gets sued, not RichU.
Also, they claimed they didn't have a room big enough, but after they built the lab next door, they had a lobby big enough, though as a long thin lobby it certainly isn't a shape conducive to partying.
There was about 10 years ago some internal political stuff which left the party planning in my now-ex boss's realm. I would not have picked my ex-boss to plan an office party, but they rose gamely to the occasion. They did not enlist my aid except in minutae, either. Either because they thought "it was too important a job" or because they really got into it eventually, I don't know.
I did find out interesting things about party-planning even though I was only let in on minutae, such at that when you use a hotel function room, at least at this hotel, you have to use their caterers. Who are very expensive, though good. I also learned that those trays of little
hors d'oeuvres (yes of course I googled Merriam Webster for the spelling!)
wait-staff carry around are charged out at about $4.00 per tiny bite. Well, it cost that even 10 years, ago, I can hardly imagine what it is now. Ditto the tiny pastries, which unlike the food were at this hotel not very good. The stuff you get handed to you from a "catering station", though equally real, & far more substantial food, is way cheaper.
For the last 5 years or so, the party planning moved on, to a clique of upper-echeloners. The 1st year they held it in a different function place (not a hotel) & only invited staff. They had a nice catered sit-down dinner, & a lot of sad-to-be-left-out grad-students & post-docs.
By popular demand, including mine, the grad-students & post-docs were included the following year. By that time we had a new PTB who apparently did not care about lawsuits from victims of alcoholically-overloaded party guests.
The 1st year of the on-premises party, grad-students, post-docs & for all I know street people from other departments commandeered whole trays of hors d'oeuvres & took them back to their labs. Expensive. Also illegal & also immoral, for those who were, say Chemistry Dept students & not Our Students. I hope the caterers got their actual trays back.
Anyway, this year I go to this year's party, the planning of which I had nothing to do with. No roaming trays of expensive tid-bits. OK. The stuff at the catering stations & self-serve cheese & salad bar was good. I noticed there wasn't any fruit station this year, though.
I had my "1st course". Then, because TPTB, present tense, had inexplicably designated this year's party to start at 4:30pm, & because I had some shopping to do for a friend's party tomorrow that I couldn't finish at lunch because I had had to race back then for a training session that I could have predicted was going to be cancelled, & was, but could not communicate with my local PTB about this, I left the party, went to the square (that would be Rich Square) bought more chotchkas & got back by 7:00pm.
Last year, that would have been just in time for the remains of dinner, even though the party started earlier last year. And for some nice cheescakes; well, too-sweet cheesecakes, actually, but cheesecakes none-the-less. And one year they also had very nice coffee to go with desert.
This year absolutely all the food was gone, completely taken away by 7:00pm even though the party is not scheduled to end 'til 9:30pm. Well, there were some OK cupcakes up in the kiddie-party area. There must have been a lot at one time, because even the kids were ignoring them by the time I got there. No cheesecakes whatsoever. What I'm surprised about is that people are still milling about, buying glasses of wine or beer or soda pop after they use up their 2 free drink tickets (which you also have to use for the soda pop!) even though there is no food left.
There is actually food left, I saw it, but the caterers are eating it. "No food left" they said with a big smile (& full mouth). No, I don't begrudge the caterers a little dinner, but Sigh.