There was a time when a slap-up Christmas lunch down the pub was all it took to convince a client that your firm is a force to be reckoned with. But if recruitment agencies really want to go all out to wine and dine their clients or staff this holiday season, there is a whole host of more lavish ways to do it.

From whisking away clients by helicopter to enjoy an eight-course Champagne lunch in France to jetting off on a week-long jeep safari/skiing holiday in Dubai, the sky's the limit when it comes to corporate hospitality. And with a host of event companies ready to help with any request, it's easy to make an event as elaborate as your budget will allow.

"In a competitive market it is important for companies to host Christmas or New Year events for clients. A perfect marker in the calendar, it presents an opportunity for businesses to share and celebrate successes with clients over the past 12 months, helping to put relationships on a sound footing for the New Year," says Deborah McMullen, head of events at IncrediBull Ideas, which offers Christmas in Las Vegas including gambling, nightclubs and helicopter trips over the Grand Canyon, or a choice of festive beach parties in Malta.

"You only have to look at the investment companies offering Christmas events to see what an important occasion it has become within the corporate agenda,"says McMullen. "It's become a valuable opportunity to network and impress. And there are innovative firms that are always looking at how to give the Christmas theme a contemporary twist."

Recruitment agency Harvey Nash recently took a group of 36 clients to Lisbon for a pre-Christmas extravaganza, put on by Black Tomato, the experience travel company. "We treated them like royalty, giving them a private check-in desk at the airport to make everything nice, easy and accessible," says Black Tomato's director and founder, Matthew Smith. "We pretty much allowed them an exclusive 40-room hotel to themselves, and they went to all the best nightclubs. They're planning the same trip this year."

IT Jobs Board used Black Tomato for a weekend in Marrakesh, quad-biking and buggy racing in dunes in the Lower Atlas Mountains. "They had a fantastic time. They loved the activities, the hotel was great and they had a really good pool, which they commented on several times. We had barbecues outside, and they just kicked back and enjoyed the weather," says Smith.

Paul Jackson, a director at Thorn Baker, says he tends only to take out clients he has dealt with for a long time, as a way of saying thank you. "It's all about client relationships. We take them horse racing, go-karting and to football matches, as well as having the traditional night out on the town," he says. "Occasionally, it can also be a time to discuss problems and sort things out; it's a good environment to move things forward."

Grant Seaman, managing director of Resolution Events based in the Lake District, Cumbria, organises a raft of innovative corporate Christmas events every year. For entertaining on a grand scale, he hires out Dalhousie Castle near Edinburgh, which has bedrooms for 70 people. Guests can also enjoy an afternoon of falconry or pampering, followed by a traditional Scottish evening with bagpipes and haggis.

Something even more exclusive — and more expensive — is a 'salmon safari', where participants are flown to Oslo in Norway and then taken to an icy-cold fjord, where they pretend to be bears. Donning all-weather survival suits, they forsake all fishing gear to float in the freezing water, waiting for fish to swim underneath them. When they do, they scoop them out with their bare hands and throw them on the banks.

The trip, considered more humane than a traditional jungle safari, can be done any time of year except during spawning season in the spring. Regular fishing, drinks, meals, accommodation and a skidoo snow mobile trip are thrown in, with the whole package costing about £3,000 per person for three days.

If you fancy taking clients somewhere a bit warmer over Christmas but do not want to forsake tradition altogether, Ski Dubai is fast becoming a favourite. The indoor centre, the largest of its kind, has 22,500m of man-made snow and boasts five runs with varying degrees of difficulty. Resolution Events' package, which offers four-star deluxe accommodation, also includes a day's desert jeep safari or hot-air ballooning, and a choice of deep-sea fishing or sailing. Various dinner options are also available, including a full-themed Arabian Nights package, where clients can be 'sheikhs' for an evening.

For something equally bizarre but a bit closer to home, Resolution Events hires out the former KGB interrogation centre in Vilnius, capital of the former Soviet state of Lithuania, for a unique dinner venue. Before the meal clients can learn how to fire off a Kalashnikov sub-automatic machine gun, or even drive a Soviet tank. The package includes three nights in a deluxe hotel, a private concert in a church and hot-air balloon rides. If the interrogation centre is a bit too macabre, then rent former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's Lithuanian summer house, instead.

"Eastern Europe is the emerging market for corporate hospitality, and you get an awful lot more for your money there than in the Middle East, which is saturated and approaching its peak," says Seaman. "The cost of living there is a lot less than in Dubai, which is very commercialised and famous for golf and horse racing. I'd say that Eastern Europe and Turkey are now competing to be the main hospitality venues."

If you really want to push the boat out, Black Tomato also takes corporate clients to the North Pole, flying via Svalbard in Norway. The trip lasts four nights and includes two hours of snow-mobiling on the North Pole itself, which involves chartering a private plane and a helicopter at up to £7,000 per person. Something slightly less expensive — and warmer — is their trip to Brazil, flying to Rio before continuing to a private house in the Amazon which is used as a base for trekking. Finish up in an exclusive villa on a private coastline in Bahia, North-East Brazil. It costs £5,000 a head.

Alternatively, splash out on a trip to Iceland, where you can invite clients to swim between the European and American tectonic plates, which meet in the crust underneath Icelandic soil. "There is a place on the island where you can actually walk between them, alongside a large volcanic lake," says Black Tomato's Smith. "The nice thing is that the plates continue into the lake itself and it is also possible to scuba dive between the plates, which is a pretty phenomenal experience. Although it's cold water and you have to wear dry suits, the water visibility is amazing. It is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing." At a cost of £1,000 per head for three nights, it needs to be.

More affordable winter packages are on offer staying in private log cabins near Helsinki, the Finnish capital. "That is something we just did for an ad agency and it is becoming really popular at just £400 per weekend," says Smith. "Finland is one of the up-and-coming countries that is very cool."

Day trips are also popular, many with Christmas themes. AOK Events offers cookery day trips to Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Epernay, France. Clients are taken there by helicopter, where they enjoy a tailored cookery lesson at the Manoir, with lunch included. Alternatively, a day trip to the Moët et Chandon cellars by private Lear jet features an exclusive eight-course lunch, with different Champagnes accompanying each course. Or you can take off to the snow for a long weekend and learn how to bob-sleigh with the Great Britain Winter Olympics team in Norway

"We don't do private work, we only work with corporate customers who invest this sort of money on client entertainment," says managing director Alex Hewitt. "Most companies have a mixture of bespoke and traditional hospitality events as part of their entertainment programme; the bespoke events are infinitely more memorable."

But is lavish entertainment good value for money? "You never know," says Thorn Baker's Jackman. "It's like PR and marketing, you're never quite sure of your return. But instinct tells you that good client relationships are good for business."



Christmas List: Ideas to help you plan your event



l Dinner and driving simulation at the Williams F1 factory in Oxfordshire: £95

l Private viewing of Buckingham Palace, followed by dinner at private restaurant: £240

l Cookery day trip to Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in France: £250-£300

l Arsenal home game, with buffet lunch: from £375

l Royal Ascot, with Champagne reception, four-course lunch, afternoon tea and open bar: from £399

l Weekend in log cabin in Helsinki: £400

l Weekend visiting nightclubs and restaurants in Lisbon: £520

l Weekend quad-biking and dune-buggy racing in Marrakesh: £590

l Day trip to Moët et Chandon cellars, with eight-course Champagne lunch: £900

l Three days learning to bob-sleigh with the Olympics' team: £900

l Three-day Salmon Safari in Norway: £3,000

l Four days visiting and skiing in Dubai: £3,500

l Trekking in the Amazon: £5,000

l Four nights in the North Pole: £7,000

l Hiring Dalhousie Castle (70 bedrooms) near Edinburgh: £19,000 per night (total cost)