christmas party tips

From the fun-loving girls at Zed PR...

The festive season is nearly upon us and with it comes the office party, the biggest forum of the year for office faux’ pas - and for all the party poopers to come out and tell you what not to do.  The friendly team at Zed PR has put together ten handy hints for making the party work for you – with some team notes to start the discussions.

Claire Thompson, Managing Director, Zed PR, said:  “We all know what the consequences are if you get blasted, snog the wrong person or photocopy your privates. But Christmas parties are supposed to be fun.  You work hard all year, someone’s spending a lot, so make the best of it.”

Go! Not making an appearance at the company party reflects only upon you, not the company or your colleagues. If, for some reason, you genuinely can’t attend, let the organiser know well in advance and wish everyone a great time. Don’t make others feel bad for attending.

Circulate.  Take the chance to talk with at least one person in your company that you do not yet know.  You will get brownie points for circulating, will find out more about the place you work and may even end up with new friends.  Try hard to avoid talking shop – you do that all week.

Take photos.  Nice ones, rather than incriminating ones.  Pass them around the next working day – to everyone.  It makes the enjoyment last longer.  Ask the permission of the person in the photo first - you don’t want to be responsible for marriage break-ups or career losses.  Use things like Facebook etc to make your own party site to keep the spirit of fun roaring into January.

Use, but don’t abuse, the hospitality.  Stick with what you normally drink.  There may be a free bar, but ordering triple or quadruple vodkas doesn’t make you look big or clever and may lead to a big blunder. 

Our teams’ homemade hangover recommendations include:

• Emma: puts at chair on her bed as a reminder that she can’t get into bed until she’s drunk all the water in the jug. 
• Zara: sets an alarm for two hours before she’s due to get up, takes a paracetamol and goes back to sleep.
• Ali: Junk food

Boogie on down. Enter into the spirit of things.  The dance floor is safer than the bar, and it will balance out the calories from that scrummy meal and the excess alcohol. You won’t lose your job for being a bad dancer (with a few exceptions of course), but you may for loose tongues. Ali: Dancing burns over 300 calories an hour. Zara: disco queen, probably burns more. 

Look after your partner. Remember to include them in conversations.  You are more likely to still have a partner in the morning and less likely to have a very drunk partner who can reveal all kinds of things about you to your colleagues or create a spectacle.

Say thank you.  Remember to thank the person who paid the bills AND the organiser.  They’ve arranged the party for you to enjoy with your work colleagues, and put in a lot of effort to make it work. 

Observe the dress code.  Dress to impress – but within the venue’s remit.  Breaking rules is fine if you’re Lord Bath or Zandra Rhodes, but you have to earn the right. If you wear jeans to a black tie dinner, people will think you just can’t be taken out in public. 

Take everything home with you afterwards. 

Things we’ve lost (apart from our dignity)  include:

• Claire:  a brand new overcoat bought in Selfridges less than a week before.  It was dark red with big silver buttons and if anyone finds it….
• Zara: two cashmere pashminas (on separate occasions)

Look out for your colleagues  - Help a colleague with cash for cabs rather than letting them share your room – and physically put them into the cab if necessary.

Merry Christmas!!!!