holiday parties

Hospitality analysts say this season's year-end celebrations are more numerous and a bit more lavish than the past several years. Champagne is replacing sparkling wine, and better food is getting served. Signs, they say, of an economy on the mend.

Before heading out to the mall this weekend, look through the stack of unopened Christmas gifts from last year, because today is National Regifting Day. Since the third Thursday in December is the most popular day for office holiday parties (the source of many unwanted gifts), it is only fitting...

The magazines make it look so easy: You're invited to a fabulous party, so you throw open your walk-in closet, pluck out a new $300 dress and float off to an evening of sparkling conversation and gently clinking glasses. As if. In reality, we can't help you avoid running into your boss or your ex...

Whether the office holiday party is a chance to unwind with colleagues or an evening of forced fun with people you're already sick of seeing all day, it's an institution of corporate America. The food is abundant, the liquor flows, and for a few hours, your colleagues are human beings. Then the...

So you're glad you're not a Wall Street trader these days? At least they banked fat salaries and maybe got a golden parachute. The story's not so green at your local restaurant. These are bad times to be a server. Dangerous, even, because their tips have plummeted faster than the Dow Jones.One New...