Rating Aspects of
Giftmas Parties:
The Fourth Day of Giftmas 2011
The Fourth Day of Giftmas 2011
One of the greatest byproducts of Giftmas is the amount of
partying that is socially acceptable. Office parties, family get-togethers, drunken
soirees with friends (soiree is the
French word for religion-neutral winter
party). Most of these parties are just a jolly old time. But some
traditions are old and tired and need to be put to bed before Santa gets here.
Here’s a quick rating of the different aspects of these holiday parties,
whatever you want to call them:
soirees with friends (soiree is the
French word for religion-neutral winter
party). Most of these parties are just a jolly old time. But some
traditions are old and tired and need to be put to bed before Santa gets here.
Here’s a quick rating of the different aspects of these holiday parties,
whatever you want to call them:
Potluck:
Brilliant. You don’t have to get it catered and people can show off their
heretofore dormant baking and reheating skills. And there’s no ill will for
bringing store-bought stuff. The snooties may turn up their noses, but it’s
commonly acceptable to waltz in with Enteman’s or Nabisco or Pepsico stuff. And
the guy who remembers to bring paper plates and plastic sporks is not laughed
at. No! He is praised. People cannot wait for him to get there. Big fan. Downsides:
disproportionate amount of cookies, food poisoning. A
Secret Santa: Great
for cutting down on expenses. All for it. AND you still get a gift. BONUS! But
nobody wants to get Uncle Dave. He doesn’t like anything/already has
everything/doesn’t deserve anything. That’s the crappy part. I hear you.
Especially when it’s that nose-ring girl from the satellite office nobody
knows. And what happens if someone doesn’t show? Nothing, that’s what. But
anything that lightens the burden on the wallet is a friend of mine. Just don’t
make a big ceremony of watching everybody
open their gift. Too much pressure. Everybody opens at the same time, thanks
their person, their person thanks them. Oh, they had each other? Insert fake
laughter. Then get the hell back to the eggnog. B
White Elephant: This
is where you buy something and don’t label it and there’s a big game with
different versions of rules that are never fully understood. If there are 30
people at your party, this game will take a full hour. BUT, it alleviates the
necessity to plan anything ahead of time. So if Uncle Dave doesn’t show, it
doesn’t matter. No circle is broken, no chain is unlinked. However, I
participate in this version that has gotten a little too out of hand with the
stupid presents. The gift isn’t worth it but it wasn’t supposed to be.
Unfortunately, it’s also not worth the time. I’d rather be watching A Christmas
Story again. B
Saturday Night
Parties from 12/10-12/20: For crying out loud, I have two parties to go to
every year and they have fallen on the same date over half the time. It needs
to be the weekend because we’re young and like to party. Or we’re old and have
jobs and kids. Understood. But the best Giftmas party I ever went to was on
January 4th. No conflicts, no other deadlines to meet and I could
regift the crap I didn’t like from before. And it alleviated the depression
that came with the realization that the holiday season was over and the work season
was back. More people need to do this. D+
Dressed-up Santa:
Good only for parties with kids. Unless it’s a stripper Santa. Either way,
there’s a lap involved. B+
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