Christmas parties

[Littlemiss74]

Just reading another thread where the op was asking about attending a work event with 200 people indoors as she has a vulnerable dh.
It’s made me wonder whether work Christmas parties will/should go ahead.

I was in shielding category and wfh but since having 2 jabs and booster I have begun to feel more relaxed about things. I go to the office 2-3
times a week but I don’t sit that close to anyone and am still careful.
Have to say I’m now not so sure about the Christmas party with 150 people from all over the country in an inside space. I was ok with it but the news of the new variant is bringing back some of my old anxieties. I’m sure my work will do things properly as they have done throughout but how do you make such an event covid safe now there’s a new variant around which we don’t yet know the seriousness of?

@Fadette that’s exactly what i said to dh earlier! That people get drunk & then move closer to talk to you & I know I won’t like it. We’d just been watching tv where they showed the covid advert where there are several people in a room and you can see the covid particles being released into the room whenever they speak, its’s quite gross when you see it like that!

I think that a lot won't go to these work parties, not because they fear Covid but because it could ruin Christmas if you have to isolate, similar to people worrying about their DC catching it at school before Christmas.

I wouldn't go OP if I was you, you certainly wouldn't be the only one.

We have our Christmas lunch this week about 40 of us and are asking for negative lateral flow results for everyone going! Not 100% failsafe but will hopefully help.

Ours is on as normal but we've been sharing a packed office full-time for most of this year and not had a single case of covid. So there isn't much reason not to crack on. I think it would probably be different if we were still wfh or social distancing.

We had a vote for hamper or party and hamper won. I was a bit torn as I'm new so it would have been nice to get to know people socially but I think it was the right decision.

I'll be really disappointed if ours is cancelled. I work in what would have once been a very sociable job, and now is pretty isolated. Don't see people face to face for weeks on end, have a TEAMS virtual meeting once every 1-2 weeks. Chat on the phone. Obviously last year didn't happen. So I am sooooooo looking forward to seeing work friends this year. I suspect our MD will cancel it though but he'll lose a lot of money as it's a hotel stay / all paid for by him. So I don't think he'll want to lose money but I also think he won't risk us catching covid / spreading it and half the work force being off for the first week back in Jan.

@Littlemiss74 Ours was cancelled before as we are NHS and thought, if we all went down with something and the practice had to close, we'd end up on the front of the local paper!

Ours is next week, around 200 people having a sit down lunch followed by an open bar.

I found it interesting this morning we had a departmental meeting and were told that a training course of 10 of us had been cancelled due to the new variant, and then in the next breath they were talking about the Christmas party and asking everyone what they're wearing for it.

I don't want it to be cancelled, but I would have a lot more respect if the company said "look, we know some people will be nervous to attend, so it's completely optional" as our party is compulsory.