Career-Ending Christmas Party Fails To Avoid

The office Christmas party is the highlight of the work social calendar, but it’s almost as if it’s been designed to trip you up. Drinking and dancing in front of your colleagues sounds like a recipe for disaster. Stay clear of these ultimate fails and you’ll still have a job to go back to the next day.

Having a few festive tipples is absolutely fine at the Christmas party, but don’t go overboard. Remember to leave some of the bar tab for your colleagues and definitely don’t go on and on about how great the free bar is.

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The boss wants to relax at the Christmas party too. Now is not the time to ask for a pay rise, no matter how much you think you deserve one.

When choosing a Secret Santa gift for a co-worker it can be good to go for something a little humorous, but don’t go too risky. Inappropriate gifts will leave everyone feeling awkward, especially you. If you can’t decide if it’ll be taken the right way, go for something else instead.

High heels may look great with your outfit, but can end in disaster. Falling over is never a good look and at the very least you’ll probably end up taking them off part-way through the evening.

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It doesn’t matter whether your Christmas party is being held in the office or at an external space, you must resist the urge to climb on the furniture. This includes dancing on the tables. It’s not big and it’s not clever. Even if nothing breaks and nobody falls off, there’s going to be someone somewhere who’s less than happy about you being up there.

They might be the most fun in the office, but your work bestie doesn’t necessarily have your career interests at heart. Just because they want to do tequila shots, it doesn’t mean you should, and photocopying your bum is never a good idea, no matter who suggests it.

No matter how generous you think your boss is, it’s never a good idea to invite your friends to join in the office party. Don’t even think about sneaking them in later on. You never know how anybody else is going to behave and they will be representing you to your colleagues. Even partners can be risky, but if they’re invited you can’t really tell them not to come.

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Sometimes office parties can be a bit sub-par to say the least. The theme’s lame, the venue rundown and every expense was spared, but whatever you do, don’t say it out loud. Everyone may be thinking it, but you won’t be rewarded for pointing it out. If you were to say something, the chances are you’d pick the wrong person and your opinion would get around the whole office.

Even if you had already planned to quit way before the office party, now is not the time to announce your decision to everyone. It’s not the right forum and you’ll bring everyone’s mood right down. It’ll be their lasting memory of you and won’t guarantee you a good reference for your next career move.

You may have survived the party unscathed, but don’t mess it up afterwards by embarrassing those who weren’t so sensible. Tina in accounts won’t thank you for reminding everyone that she sang karaoke with Bert in IT even though she’s tone deaf.

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