A sign of good times? The Wall Street Journal reports that 90 percent of 105 companies surveyed by the firm Battalia Winston will throw parties this holiday season. That, Leslie Kwoh writes, is the "highest percentage recorded since the Great Recession." Last year Battalia Winston reported that office holiday parties were at an all-time low, with only 74 percent of companies polled throwing them. (Kwoh reports that the survey is in its 24th year.)

But don't get too excited about economic prosperity, Battalia Wilson's CEO said: “It’s not that business is booming; it’s just that [firms] don’t want to keep skimming everything down." So drink and be merry while you can. Or maybe don't drink. This year's survey also found that one in five parties won't have alcohol and 43 percent will take place during lunch. 

Holiday office parties can be exhausting, whether you're boozing or not, what with all that awkward schmoozing to be done, just don't let yours become as uncomfortable as this sad scene from The Apartment.

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Esther Zuckerman