Daily News from New York, New York • 598

t1 i rreiypyn flora Corporate Christmas parties bounce back By ANGELA Q. KINO D.my Newt bunnost Writer The Christmas party is back. With the holiday season in full swing, companies are reversing the trend of the downsized fetes of the last couple of years and are once again pulling out the stops and big bucks for lavish spreads for their employes. Companies are putting on the glitz, reserving tony eateries and lining up I I celebrity guests, Santa and mystery entertainers to show their employes a good time and impress big-name outsiders. And in trying to outdo one another, they're happily digging deep.

Spending on holiday parties is up to $28 per employe, compared with $21 last year, according to the Bureau of National Affairs, a Washington-based researcher of work place trends. Some companies are throwing more than one bash. At Conde Nast, the publishing company's 14 magazines are hosting parties around town, ranging from Bride magazine's gala at Remy restaurant to House and Garden's shindig at the new Patroon restaurant on E. 46th St "Each party is reflecting the moment of what people at the magazine want to do to make it fun and make it different from last year," said spokesman Paul WilmoL Vogue staffers, who partied at the uptown Gagosian art gallery on Madison Ave. last year, gathered at trendy Spy on Wednesday night.

Decorator Robert Isabel! created a soothing ambience with hundreds of candles throughout the club. He also had stately boxwood Christmas trees placed in the club, including a 25-foot tree in the center. Partygoers could take the smaller trees with them. Among the 300 guests nibbling hors d'oeuvres and sipping champagne were Conde Nast magnate S.I. Newhouse, long-time Vogue photographer Irving Penn and designers James Mischka, Mark Badgley and Michael Kors.

Donald Trump is trying out his new Trump International Hotel and Tower at Columbus Circle which doesn't officially open until next month on his 110 or so New York employes. "It's his newest hotel, and it makes sense to try it out before it's officially open," said Norma Foerderer, Trump's assistant. It's also the real estate tycoon's first holiday party away from The Plaza hotel since 1988, the year he bought the ritzy lodging. For laughs, GQ magazine had a still from the movie magic: survey "High Society" on its invite complete with the head of Art Cooper, the magazine's editor-in-chief, superimposed on Bing Crosby's body. The bottom of the invitation for Thursday night's party read "dress as you would like to appear in a Ron Galella photograph." The paparazzi maven was on the invitation list along with his popular targets: supermodels Tyra Banks, Rebecca Romijn and Suzie McKenzie.

Santa and his elves passed out small gifts to about 1,300 Hearst magazine employes who gathered Thursday evening in the Crystal Room and tent-enclosed garden at Tavern on the Green to help celebrate Catherine Black's first holiday party as president of the publishing company. The Boys Choir of Harlem was the musical surprise of the night As usual, the restaurant is one of the premier holiday hangouts for company parties. Through Dec. 20, "There's not one single night that you or I or John Q. Public can come to dine at Tavern on the Green, because we are sold out with corporate parties," said spokeswoman Shelley Clark.

Viacom, owner of MTV and Blockbuster video stores, par-tied until late Tuesday night to a swing band, piano player and blues band at the United Nations. Viacom spent between $60 and $100 an employe for an open bar and food ranging from the traditional ham, turkey and mashed potatoes, to Southwestern fare grilled chicken and veggie burritos. invitations are on the ball Many of the invitations to corporate festivities this year are no less ex- travagant than the events themselves: Sports for Women, the new Conde Nast magazine that doesn't debut until next year, is sending out invitations to its bowi-ing party at Bowlmor Lanes in Greenwich Village on small replicas of: bowling pins. Vanity Fair sent out its invitations on CDs with Christmas songs. 0 Revlon sent a video in- --viting employes to attend its party at Webster Hall.

Halfway through the vid--? eo, CEO Jerry Levin andi other top executives dance the Macarena. i 1 in 10 adults say they believe the said they never believed in him. Of the 76 who said they once believed in Santa, 84 said they decided by age 10 that he didn't exist, the poll found. The Santa Claus tradition detracts from the religious celebration of Christmas, said 48 while 20 said it enhances the holiday. When it comes to buying Christmas gifts, 44 of those surveyed said they spend too much on cards and gifts, 48 spend the right amount and 5 spend too little.

WASHINGTON He drops down the chimney in a bright red suit, loads up stockings with gifts and toys, then flies to the next house in a sleigh pulled by gravity-defying reindeer. At least that's the Santa Claus story believed by children and nearly one in 10 adults, according to a new survey. Asked what age they stopped believing in Santa, 9 of adults said they still believe in him, according to a U.S. News and World Report poll released yesterday. Four per cent 1 I Ira 10 5" l.

Til I UOO WILUAMft OAU.V NiWS GOOD CHEER: Bobby Kennedy Jr. and hi3 wife, Mary, make good Santa's helpers yesterday during 31st annual holiday party of the Bedford Stuyve-sant Restoration Corp. on Fulton St. in Brooklyn. The organization has long been a favorite charity of the Kennedy family, and the party is dedicated to Bobby Kennedy's father, the late Sen.

Robert Kennedy. Along with spending a few moments with St. Nicholas and having some Christmas treats, the children sang carols and other favorites like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." i a (If -V VV I mam -Li -y.