The party’s over

Almost by definition, the holiday season means pulling out all the financial stops—it seems like before you’ve even finished paying off last year’s purchases, you’ve maxed out your credit cards all over again. As I have over the past few years, I’m buying most of my gifts online; it makes good sense—no crowds, deep discounts, outstanding selection, etc. Besides, given how badly so many e-commerce sites are doing these days, each purchase feels almost like making a charitable donation, which means I can just keep walking right past those annoying Salvation Army bell-ringers without even the slightest twinge of guilt.

With just nine more shopping days to go, everyone’s spending money hand over fist—everyone but the dot-coms themselves, it seems. Proof positive of just how far their fortunes have fallen (as if any further evidence is necessary at this point): According to an Associated Press story, many tech-industry holiday parties have been either massively scaled down or eliminated altogether. Where just a year ago start-ups were feting their employees with seven-course gourmet meals, premium booze and chart-topping pop musicians, this time around the spread is more likely to consist of platters of hot wings, a keg of Pabst Blue Ribbon and some dude playing “Daydream Believer” on a Casio keyboard.

Of course, lavish expenditures all year round are what got these companies into so much trouble in the first place, but these holiday parties weren’t just for existing staffers--they were also recruitment drives for new employees and investors, dot-coming-out parties if you will. The point was to create a positive buzz, to throw a bigger and better bash than the next guy—money was no object. In retrospect, these parties reflected the overriding start-up mentality in microcosm; the same holds true now, only the mentality is all about penny-pinching. It’s a Catch-22, however: On the one hand, outsized shindigs at some hotel ballroom certainly don’t show investors you’ve learned anything about fiscal responsibility, but serving up cocktail weenies in the company break room isn’t likely to leave much of a positive impression, either. (Incidentally, the scoop on cocktail weenies: They taste as good as they look, and they come with this delicious red sauce. It looks like ketchup. It tastes like ketchup. But brother, it ain't ketchup!)

For a lot of struggling start-ups, the idea of a holiday party is a little specious anyway: There’s not too much worth celebrating, not with all the recent layoffs and plunging stock prices. And let’s face it--with no visible light at the end of the tunnel for most of these guys, these aren’t holiday festivities as much as they are wakes, which is why I’m making a personal plea to employers: If at all possible, at least bring back the open bars. You’re depriving workers of the chance to get all liquored up when they really need it most.

Senior Editor Jason Ankeny has a pounding headache from last night's holiday party... in case you hadn't figured that out. He can be reached, quietly, at jason_ankeny@intertec.com.