Of the more than 600 companies responding to MSI Global Alliance's 2009 Annual SME Christmas Spending Survey, only 66 per cent indicated they would hold a Christmas function this year - down from 72 per cent last year.

The findings contrast with recent predictions contained in an IBISWorld report which suggested that considerably more companies -92 per cent - would hold a Christmas function this year, compared with 67 per cent in 2008.

Interestingly, the MSI Global Alliance survey found that a sizeable portion of those companies who are hosting Christmas events this year are spending more on them, with 30 per cent of companies indicating that they were spending more this year, compared with 17 per cent who were spending less.

This accords with IBISWorld's report, which predicted that companies would spend $560 million on their Christmas parties this year, up significantly from $319 million last year.

The MSI Global Alliance Sydney also found that the majority of companies (54 per cent) will be spending between $1001 and $5000 on their function this year, and only 6 per cent will be requiring employees to personally contribute to the cost (down from 11 per cent last year).

Along with a drop in Christmas parties, it appears fewer companies are giving gifts to their employees this year - 45 per cent in 2009 compared with more than 50 per cent in 2008.