Work Xmas parties

[WhigfieldSaturdaynight]

Do your work Xmas parties include spouses/partners?

Ours (marketing) does, which is quite nice.

I would never have taken DH to any of my work parties! He wouldn’t have known anyone and it would really not have worked for him or me.

No-one's stopped from bringing them but none of us do.

I mean it's not like they work there anyway 🤷‍♀️

A few partners join in the evening once the official event is over and we all decamp to a pub but I wouldn’t invite dh, he wouldn’t know anyone except me and he’d be bored shitless and I’d feel responsible for ‘looking after him’ which I don’t want to do.
He wouldn’t be interested either!
He runs a business and takes the staff out for a lunch, puts a load of money behind the bar afterwards, stays for one drink and scarpers leaving them to it. If I went he wouldn’t be there 😂

There's the option to bring them but no one ever does!

It’s not written on the invite and I can’t remember seeing any there but I don’t think they’d be stopped from attending. I can’t imagine my DH would have any desire to spend an evening with a load of people I work with.

Nope. It's never been an option at places I've worked.

I've attended a few of DH's work parties, from formal dinners/industry award ceremonies to family days, which have mostly been fun (occasionally a bit "grin and bear it" but fine once you get chatting to other partners in the same position 🤣)

Husbands work parties are usually at a local restaurant and they are for staff only, no partners.

Not in my experience.

My christmas day party is spent alone. I have the heating on, stock the fridge and spend most of the day asleeep, its bliss.

Not here most of my partners work Christmas parties are held during the day while at work (like a BBQ lunch or pizza lunch and thats it) and as I'm not allowed in the staff part it would be very odd to be there.

Once I did years ago to a big corporate party that all partners were invited to.
But generality no, I mean why would they want to, why would you want them to. They don't know anyone, know nothing about work jokes or conversations and you'd have to thus look after them, so what's the point?

When I was working I never invited my DH. It is a work event and not everyone has a partner to take along.

No, public sector so while we get a little bit of time at the end of a day to go a bit early for Christmas meal we have to organise and pay for it all ourselves. In past areas when it’s gone on into the evening and we’ve wandered onto a pub, my partner has come in for half a pint while picking me up. But that’s the extent of it!

Generally not but in current job, the company is small & partners are invited and do go so I drag him along. He’s happy to come even though he doesn’t really know anyone.
I’ve joined dh at a lot of his company events over the years but I find talking to people I don’t know a lot easier than he does.

And risk my DH bringing up something I've said when ranting about my colleagues, absolutely not 😂

I was once in a small workplace where we were offered the option of either a budget venue with other halves or a nicer venue without - vote was overwhelmingly for the nicer venue. I think lots of people wouldn’t fancy it, lots of the partners wouldn’t fancy it and for a lot of us we had kids so it would add the cost of a babysitter to the night.

Not previously.

I now work for a firm with 5 permanent employees and lots of consultants. Our CEO has invited the permanent employees, spouses and DC to a party at her house.

We used to, we’re a small company and everyone knows everyone else’s partners but it made the numbers tricky for booking anywhere (we used to go to the big dinner dance things but got fed up with the same thing every year so now it’s usually activity plus meal and no partners. Also it’s usually on a Friday night so people either had to go home to change and pick up their partner or both end up driving or whatever.

Mine doesn’t but I have to take my DH because he works with me 😆

My husband’s does, big meal/party with a hotel for the night for us.
I go because he wants me to and pretty much everyone brings there partners. I don’t particularly enjoy them.
My workplace barely cover a meal for their own staff let alone partners.