On Corporate Holiday Parties

There's a lot of buzz around my office this week as we are all anxiously awaiting our annual holiday party this coming Saturday. Overall I think that people tend to have a lot of mixed feelings on the issue, and as such, I have made a pros and cons list to celebrating the holidays with coworkers.

Pros:

-Dressing up: I like this for two reasons. 1) I am a girl. 2) We dress very casual in the office, so it's nice to see people all dressed up.
-Free meal: I'm a broke college student.
-Open bar: I'm a broke college student.
-Seeing co-workers in a non-work setting: I genuinely like the people I work with!
-Partying at a fancy hotel: enough said.

Cons:
-Dressing up: who am I really trying to impress?
-Free meal: okay, there is no con here.
-Open bar: this has the potential to go from awesome to awful in one shot.
-Seeing co-workers in a non-work setting: too many people are going to be talking about work!
-Partying at a fancy hotel: who are we kidding? We're not that fancy, most of us are twenty-somethings who don't need a waterfront hotel to make us happy.

A quick Google search for holiday office parties reveals only the obvious. The bottom line is that it's still a company function- don't be too revealing, don't flirt, and don't drink too much. But maybe these authors haven't been to one of our parties; we break EVERY rule in the book. Part of working for a young company seems to mean that people act all but professional. Our summer party was a mess and we're rampant with inner-office relationships on an ordinary day. We also do silly little awards. Remember "The Dundees" episode of The Office? Yeah, it's like that. This is more like a party with close friends than a corporate event- and maybe it's not so bad that this is the environment they have chosen to foster. I don't know too many people in their early twenties who would be up for some stuffy corporate party where fun isn't a priority.

Besides, I think it's always a good idea to take advantage of the company's generosity- it's not every day someone offers to buy me dinner and unlimited drinks. So tomorrow after work I'm going to hit up Newbury St. in the search for a classy but fun holiday dress and somewhere between now and Saturday morning I'll touch up my roots, put my best face forward and pray that I don't win "Part-Timer of the Year."