Over a year of pivoting our schedules, and figuring out a new work-life balance. And over a year of not seeing our co-workers in-person, let alone attending company functions. These are people we used to see almost every day, who made the day-to-day in the office actually interesting. (Really, what we wouldn’t give for some boring water cooler chat.)

Amidst turmoil and uncertainty, if they didn’t opt for a virtual event—difficult to maneuver for businesses with hundreds of employees—they pulled the plug on the holiday party altogether. It fit the collective mood. This year, however, the air feels different. Optimistic . And according to Erica Sklarek, Assistant Director of Sales for the Glasshouses, holiday parties are a priority in 2021. Employees are craving a long-awaited release, and they deserve it. Company leadership wants to acknowledge what their staff have accomplished in the difficult face of the pandemic.

“Leaders want to honor their employees for sticking it out and surviving what 2020 was, and to boost morale,” says Sklarek. “So they are looking to bring everybody together in some way, shape or form.”

Shaun Roberts, Vice President of Sales for Great Performances catering and hospitality management, one of Glasshouses’ preferred caterers, is already seeing demand for gatherings in September, the next big marker for people going back to the office. “They’re ‘return to the workplace’ celebrations,” he explains. “A welcome back celebration of staff off-site from the office that says ‘we’ve made it, we’re back to the workplace.’” 

How do you plan months ahead for a party with hundreds of attendees when day-to-day COVID guidance is rapidly changing? You get creative.

“Companies are going to offer the hybrid component,” says Sklarek. “Because they don’t know who’s comfortable and who will be vaccinated.”

One client of Erica’s that usually throws a holiday party with 600 attendees is considering three separate parties, with 200 people each. “The general consensus is whatever safety precautions they must follow, even if costs are slightly greater than they normally would spend, they want to get their people together. Because that’s what will help morale and productivity in 2022 when things get back to ‘normal’.”

Another client is planning parties in three different cities at the same time, live streamed to a hub for a combined celebration. “Normally they fly their top executives to New York City and everyone’s together,” she says. “But this time around what they’re looking to do is a virtual live stream. So the cities stay put and they get everyone together virtually.”

Caterers are getting creative with ways to keep everyone safe and make the holiday parties truly special. CDC guidelines currently state that if food and drink is being served, guests must be seated at a table. So, Great Performances has incorporated segmented bento-like boxes for hors d’oeuvre. They’ve also leaned on domed cloches. “I think people really want to make sure their food has not been breathed on, says Roberts. “I think that is something that we’re going to see completely shift in our environment. This notion of food sitting out, or food being passed around through crowds of people on a tray.” Plus, a cloche is always good for a dramatic reveal. 

“It’s funny, because when this all started I said to my team, let’s look back at history,” says Shaun. “People were always concerned about health concerns, because they had less medicine and fewer scientific resolutions. Cloches come from that world; white glove service also comes from that world. People didn’t want servers’ bare hands touching their food or even close to their food.” The white gloves are already making an appearance in some of Great Performances’ weddings. “It’s an elevated level of service, but it’s also more sanitary.”

Erica’s observations echo sanitation concerns. “What’s come up in conversations with some of our vendors and colleagues in the catering industry is they’re being more creative with serving. People don’t really want to grab an hors d’oeuvre off a tray in a room full of 1,000 people,” she says. “They are creating really fun and innovative vessels so that each piece of food is individually presented and people aren’t getting too close or sharing, or putting something back on a plate.”

However, this year it will be even more so, dictating the design of the party itself. “I think it’s really interesting to see what caterers are doing to create visual large-scale culinary experiences to engage people,” says Sklarek. 

They already had some tricks, of course. Besides the cloche there’s the conveyor belt , which can be ramped up for a holiday shindig. Also, keep an eye out for the return of the mason jar and other see-through packaging solutions.

Glasshouses’ impressive roster of preferred caterers has developed a wide variety of creative and safe serving techniques. Abigail Kirsch now offers hamburgers in individual little boxes, Great Performances has racks of individually-packaged caramel corn , Sonnier and Castle serves seafood in unique shell receptacles , Olivier Cheng has a collection of individually-boxed food experiences , and Thomas Preti offers   edible garden terrariums  and a glass wall of cubbies for individual servings. 

Champagne towers, crowded bars, punch bowls, and definitely buffets, replaced with chef serving stations and pre-packaged fare.

And wave hello to innovation, like manned “vending machines.” “The catering staff is on the other side of this vending machine, and it’s almost like a soft drink machine, where you can see the image of what those items are,” says Sklarek. “Instead of an actual vending machine, a door would open and a catering server would pass the item through. There’s one person at a time getting this piece of food in a cool vessel, and it’s a fun and memorable experience.”

Or maybe instead of a wall of hands holding champagne flutes the hands would hold splits, packaged items, or, anything really. The sky’s the limit this holiday season.

We can’t wait to see what people have up their sleeves.

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