Christmas staff parties

[tigger398]

Well I been to some from my old job, Since we had minors at our job. Alcohol was never served at the party. I stopped going cause we had alot of back stabbers at the job. When asked by my co workers why I didn't go, I just said. If you don't want me at the job, Why would you want me at your party. My new job don't have Christmas parties, and that is just fine with me.  

[Fez]

We have a staff function but we don't allow alcohol. Personally I don't really like attending because 99% of the people at work are not the people I would normally socialize with. I have to attend because we shut down a bit early and it is still in work time. As soon as 5 pm arrives I am usually the first to leave.

[Coffeespiller87]

our staff parties are fun we play fun games eat good food and do a white elephant exchange. my work is connected to a church they do offer coffee and tea for drinks and a punch with alcholol in it and one acholo free I dont drink and no one gets wasted at the parties. Its reallly fun.

 

then we do a secret sister one with just the preschool staff where we go to a restrauent and eat and do an exchange. Its really rather fun.

[Littlelambseativy]

Had the dinner, chatted and left....tho once two of us had to drive the car home for someone who got sloshed big time. Not fun even when they pay for the drink themselves. But to stay home ...would not look good.

[blue gem]

Well it has been decided to have a Friday night staff party out on the town where I work next week.

People are talking about who is paying and how long they will spend there. The general idea seems to be to go get as drunk as possible and stagger home at 3am in the morning. I've decided not to go anywhere near that.

In my office we are also taking a two hour lunch to go to a local place eat, drink and be merry so to speak.

That's harder to get out of but at least the drinking will be a bit more restrained as we have to go back to work later.

For some it will probably be a warm up for the evening out I fear.

I know one or two have said it can be an opportunity to be a good witness etc, and maybe that is the case in some places of work but it's hard to be a good witness and share christ with people who just want to get drunk and gossip.

Glad to see others have found a way around this.

[JustinM]

I guess Christmas Staff parties are what you make of them.  If the people planning the Christmas parties are just planning a night out for over drinking and partying then I can understand why others would be uncomfortable attending them.  But, if the Christmas staff party is one of fellowship, eating, and fun then why wouldn't you want to attend it?  My organization had its Christmas Party on Friday, it was an opportunity for my wife and me to dress up formally and be adults, instead of parents for a few hours.  We had a great time and we got to sit at a table with some good friends of ours.  There were a few games, like a scavenger hunt, hula hoop contest, and a few other fun games that adults don't normally get to play.  I might add, my wife won the hula hoop contest and we got tickets to a sporting event.

 

There were also raffle/door prize drawings and lots of people left the party with something pretty nice.  Once the formal party ended, people had the choice of disbanding and continuing elsewhere, or calling it a night, it was a perfect opportunity to depart politely without worrying about being "spoilsport."

 

If you don't like how Christmas/Holiday Parties are formatted, then perhaps you could join the committee and help plan the next event.  You could bring a voice of reason into the mix, be an advocate for the people that are offended by drinking/partying and plan something more conventional.

[John Robinson]

The company I work for (a large medical staffing firm doing work for the US military) has a Christmas luncheon each year. The owner's wife runs a small hotel with a five-star chef, and sets aside the dining room for it. You get your choice of three menus (meat, fish, or vegetarian) and this year I chose the meat. The full course consists of Tuscan-style tomato, red pepper, and spinach bisque to start, followed by a very nice salad. The meat's pan-seared Angus New York strip steak with sauteed grape tomatoes, Julienne leeks with cracked peppercorn Merlot wine, and rosemary roasted fingerling potatoes.The grand finale is symphony chocolate croissant bread pudding. Told you he's a five-star chef!

[blue gem]

Well we had our extended lunch time two hour meal on Friday.

 

Have to say,  I really hated it.

It just seems so pointless to sit listening to people gossiping about others, while everyone smiles and nods etc.

 

 

At least now that's out of the way I can breathe a sign of relief.