Honestly, a work party that only lasts 30 minutes is kind of my ideal.
That said, the first year the BBC started taking budget cuts seriously (because of some bad PR the mothership had been getting in the UK over some of the talk show host salaries), our holiday party went from two floors of a swanky downtown club, full buffet dinner and open bar to everyone getting a single glass of champagne in the reception area (and maybe there was also a plate of cookies?), and it was a total morale-killer.
That's a comedown ... when you start with cheapie cheese almost anything's going to be a step up.
The year we saved money by having the company party in our showroom with our sister vineyard's wine and local catering has been mentioned as the kind of cost-cutting our current managing director doesn't want to do, but I actually enjoyed that party maybe the most?
I wish I had some cheese right now.
Yeah, a few years back, we went from "Gatsby" themed swanky dress-up (SIDE RANT: HOLY SHIT PEOPLE STOP WITH THE GATSBY PARTIES IT'S A TERRIBLE THING TO ASPIRE TO) to losing a ton of money and having big layoffs and "we weren't going to have a holiday party because of the budget cuts but I guess you can have a potluck this Friday in the break room", which was a little more authentically Gatsby-esque than they maybe realized.
Spouse's holiday party is always exactly the same terrible Chinese takeout and a gift exchange at lunch time on a weekday. And it's actually fun and I quite like his workmates and their spouses, but it lasts for FOUR FUCKING HOURS and y'all, I am not taking a half a vacation day while people I don't work with have office nerf gun battles. So I leave after the food and gifts.
M's party is always just a brunch at a Palo Alto hotel, but the gifts are bananas. It's a Jenga gift tree, so if you topple it, your name goes to the end. And then you can sing holiday songs to get whatever surplus there is. We got a Vitamix, a Coravin, and an iPad this year. (I put my karaoke skills to work, yes I did.)
We used to do secret santa or white elephant exchanges in the department, but not this year, I guess.
My office's Christmas party this year was just going out to a local restaurant, which was pleasant enough. Last year for the Christmas party we did an escape room. Hands down my favourite office Christmas party ever. (Not my favourite office party of any description; back in the 90s, we once did a retreat on the Central Coast, just north of Sydney, and had a dinner at the Australian Reptile Park while they brought out residents to interact with.)
M's party is always just a brunch at a Palo Alto hotel, but the gifts are bananas.
I had to read this a few times before I realized you weren't talking about actual bananas.
I have realized the key to enjoying my school's holiday party (held at the director's house) is to go late, after everyone has a few drinks in them and has loosened up a bit, and also the crowd has thinned out somewhat. This year's party was this past weekend and I was there from about 7:45 to 11:30! It helps that I really like a lot of the people I work with, and I also don't necessarily get to see many of them on a daily basis, so I actually do enjoy catching up with them at the party.
