Agencies are ringing in the holidays this season with cocktails, cookies, buffets—and vaccine cards. 

Ad Age surveyed a dozen agencies about their holiday plans this year given the ongoing pandemic and found many looking to restore some normalcy by holding holiday parties in person. Some others are opting into a virtual celebration instead. But either way, with safety measures in place, agencies are planning some spirited indoor and outdoor events. 

See Ad Age’s 2021 Year in Review here.

Milwaukee-based agency Hanson Dodge usually hosts a holiday brunch, but for the first time in five years, it is switching to an evening event being held at the Journeyman Hotel in Milwaukee. The agency has booked a large room for a buffet dinner and there will be an outdoor patio with heat lamps and warming fires to help allow social distancing, even though vaccines are required.

First-class plane tickets

Media.Monks is planning bashes for its offices including New York, Los Angeles, London, and Northern California. New York employees will celebrate on a rooftop in the city, while L.A. employees will be feted at a casino with a jazz quartet band. Being vaccinated is a requirement to attend. 

Other in-person events include Max Connect Marketing taking employees to a showing of "The Christmas Carol" at the Hale Center Theater in Salt Lake City, followed by dinner. Minneapolis-based advertising agency KC Truth will be doing its traditional ornament exchange and a locally catered holiday dinner. DNA in Seattle is having its holiday party on Dec. 10. Creative agency Curiosity held its party outdoors earlier this week and awarded one lucky employee chosen at random two first-class tickets to anywhere in the world that they are "curious" about. The shop even flew a plane over the venue, Vista at Lytle Park, during the party to announce the winner.

While in-person parties are much more common this year, there are still a few places that have opted to do virtual events or hybrid instead, but on a grand scale. 

Cookie contest

VMLY&R is throwing a virtual celebration with "America’s Got Talent" semi-finalist Elliot Zimet, who will perform magic and illusions, as well as singer-songwriter Tai Verdes performing his viral single “A-O-K.” Employees also received gift bags with ingredients for a cookie decorating competition. The agency has 18 U.S. offices and the event will include contests for employees to win things like airline travel gift cards, $500 gift cards to Disneyland, an Oculus Quest 2, SoloStove Fire Pit and more. 

Other agencies like L&C have a small team, so a Zoom celebration was the best way to keep it light and simple. Others decided a hybrid model for this year's holiday parties was the best option. The Marketing Arm hosted a hybrid holiday event recently and WPP's Grey will host its end-of-the-year toast Dec. 16 as a hybrid event where people can tune in on Microsoft Teams or be in the office where smaller groups are having holiday lunches.

At least one shop is waiting for the New Year to celebrate: Leo Burnett, which traditionally hosts a breakast during the holidays, has postponed the event until January.

Contributing: E.J. Schultz