Back when Malcolm Forbes was alive, he was known for his over-the-top birthday parties, where revelers included Liz Taylor and Henry Kissinger. That's hardly the case with the annual holiday party for Forbes.com (the online division of Forbes magazine), which is a quiet yet classy affair.
Planned by Cathi Culbertson, Forbes' director of protocol and corporate entertainment, the party numbers about 150 employee-guests and is held in the Forbes Galleries, the art galleries located in the lobby of Forbes magazine's headquarters in Greenwich Village.
Thanks to the built-in decor (which includes the galleries' collections of paintings, jewelry, antique toys, Monopoly games, and other treasures), Culbertson doesn't have much decorating to do, aside from setting up a Christmas tree graced with the family's private collection of Victorian ornaments and a Lionel train running around the base. "That's my thing. I love trains," says Culbertson.
Other holiday touches include a festive, seasonal drink--a hot toddy, punch, or eggnog--and an engraver who personally carves guests' names onto glass ornaments that they take home as keepsakes. "People love watching him do it," says Culbertson. "It's entertainment in itself." And though the fare is mostly appropriate to the season (carving tables laden with turkey and ham), Culbertson also brings in a sushi chef: "We set up a table and he makes the sushi right there."
But the best part of the planning is that her bosses--the Forbes family--don't micromanage. "We can always ask them a question," says Culbertson, a 15-year Forbes veteran whose team consists of two event coordinators and an executive chef. "But they like to let us do our jobs and they've never really gotten involved. They trust us, and that's a wonderful thing."
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