10 Essential Rules For an Awesome Office Holiday Party


Editor’s Note: Readers sometimes ask about past TLNT articles, so every Friday we republish a Classic TLNT post.
It’s fast becoming that time of year when you’ll be invited to office holiday parties across the world!
This is one of my favorite times of the year. Let’s face it — I’m married and 40-ish, and the holiday office holiday party is one of the few times a year I have a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.
“What!? You want to do shots? Well, I shouldn’t, but I want to be a ‘team’ player. You know me!”
My wife mildly puts up with me, for one night, so I can act like one of those Millennials who work with me. Usually, I’m yawning at 11 pm and wondering what I’m missing on the local news.
My company (HRU) holiday parties are awesome. That’s basically because I’m in charge of two things: Ordering the food, and, paying the bar tab.
That means we have plenty of variety of great things to eat, and, we have an open bar. The “kids” like an open bar. It always goes over well.
I don’t have any rules. I used to be one of those bosses that was like, “you better show up!” which led to about two or three people being at the party who didn’t want to be. But I’ve matured, and now I’m like, “don’t come if you don’t want to have fun!”
I do think some HR Pros need rules for their employees, and as usual, I’m here to help. So, here are Sackett’s Office Holiday Party Rules:
I’m different than most HR Pros in that I actually like holiday parties, and company picnics, and every other time we can get together as an organization that isn’t work.
We spend more time with our co-workers than our families in a normal week. Our co-workers become our close friends and extended family. It’s wonderful to break bread with them and just have fun. Learn who they are outside of work, and meet others in their life who are special to them.
So, go have fun. Don’t be stupid. And, order something expensive that you normally wouldn’t do when you’re paying the bill!
This was originally published on Tim Sackett’s blog, The Tim Sackett Project