t’s been a long, hard year, and the time has come to dress up and party down at the company holiday soirée. After all, you deserve to get your gluttony on. What better place than in the presence of those co-workers who spend more time with you each year than your own family does — right?

Wrong. That is, unless you want to go down in company lore as “most obnoxious guest” at this season’s holiday event … and possibly party yourself right off the payroll.

The following tips will help you enjoy the company festivities in style — and let you walk into the office Monday morning with your head held high.

Best Foot Forward
Make an appearance. Your absence will be noted, and it sends a less-than-positive message to your boss — namely, that you don’t care about the company or your fellow employees.

Wear tasteful attire. You can dress to kill without being “dressed to spill.” That expression shows up in The Daily Candy Lexicon: Words That Don’t Exist But Should, and is defined as “a woman’s precarious and flirtatious state of dress, wherein a great deal more than cleavage will likely be revealed."

Know your liquor limit. It’s drastically harder to act appropriately when you’re inebriated, and being the life of the party may just turn out to be the death of your career.

Introduce yourself to higher-ups. If you work for a large company and rarely get to mingle with the head honchos, make sure you take the time to say hello. It’s a nice way to broaden your networking circle.

Prepare to dazzle. Devise a short, mental list of topics to discuss with fellow employees rather than talking shop all evening. If you do happen to chat about work, jot down at the end of the night the things your more benevolent self promised to do come Monday.

Finally, make it a point to thank whoever footed the bill that evening — even if you did help that person rake in millions over the course of the last year! TCW