Company parties

[raeoflyte]

It took 2 overpriced and tiny glasses of wine, but I ended up having a good time. They've had a big turnover in staff, and I was able to meet his new shift mates which was nice.

With babysitter, pizza for babysitter and ds, drinks, and parking we spent $62 though. I still can't help but feel like I would have preferred to spend that on a date night for us, when dh gets to stay home (he had to go to work after the party), but that's life.

[bobosensei]

At my last job I really enjoyed the yearly holiday party. It was a formal with an open bar all night and a DJ and lots of door prizes. DH would always come and have fun too. There was also usually an employees only thing done in the spring- like we would rent out a bowling alley and all knock off work after lunch and eat and bowl. There were over 200 employees there.

DH is in the army and in a leadership position so there is plenty of required socializing after work for us. There are typically 1-2 formal events per year that we attend. On a monthly basis there are dinners to welcome new people and say bye to those leaving. The spouse is expected to attend, and those with kids must find a sitter. From that group of people there is also monthly dinner just for the ladies- again no kids. Then we get into family meetings, fundraisers, and steering committees for different things when you are volunteering. I'd estimate 2-3 times per week I am doing stuff for DH's work. Then there are things like having dinner once a week at the local club on post. It is a good time to network with those in charge. DH and I are 29 and I think a lot of people in our generation don't understand the concept of networking and how it can benefit their careers.

[buster]

Every party I've been to with my company have all been pretty lame. At least the new organization i'm with gave us two free drink coupons (wine or beer, no mixed)...

The company my wife used to work for threw awesome parties. During the dot com boom, they would rent out the Fox theatre in Atlanta, have an open bar, casino gambling (fake chips, but you could win prizes based on the amount of chips you had), and awesome food. Her team even did a white water rafting event...yea...i was jealous.

[tcu2003]

@athena - You're talking about the KC Corporate Challenge, right (I think I remember that you're in the KC area)? My company's KC office participates in that, and I always got talked into several different events until we moved to Texas this spring. Engineering firms never have enough females, so it didn't matter how untalented I was.

We usually attend the Holiday Party (that's really in January to save on costs). We're friends with some people outside of work, so we always have people to talk to and sit with, but the party is generally pretty lame.

In the summer, they do a day at the local amusement park. We usually go to that if we're in town. They also sometimes do a game at the minor league baseball team, which is fun. There is also a golf tournament in the spring, which is a lot of fun, even if you're not a great golfer. Of course, all of that was at our company's headquarter's office - now that we're at a branch office, I have no idea what social, after-work activities are like.

[qofcc]

I used to work for a company that had really fun holiday parties... I used to plan them... people lived all over the state so we'd get a block of hotel rooms in an Embassy Suites or somewhere and people would bring their families and we'd start partying in the afternoon opening up some of the doors in the adjoining rooms so guys could watch football and kids watch movies and some people would go swimming then we had the dinner for the employees & spouses while the kids were being babysat and then a few of the non-drinkers or older kids would watch the little ones and the rest of us would close down the bar, then everyone would join up for breakfast in the AM. That was a really fun place to work.

[Deleted]

Jun 26, 2011 15:27:05 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

@athena - You're talking about the KC Corporate Challenge, right (I think I remember that you're in the KC area)?

Yes, that's it. I don't ever want to move out of this area!

[Catseye]

My old company never did Christmas parties, too cheap. We only had company parties to celebrate our contract renewals. They were usually pretty enjoyable but the last one was terribly lame and cheap. Half the door prizes were company merchandise like t-shirts and ball caps. That should have tipped me off right there that we were circling the drain.
Mega Corp. hasn't thrown us any parties yet. I don't really think they're into parties too much. Fine with me, just give me raises and bonuses.

[TheOtherMe]

When I worked for the federal government, there weren't parties paid for by our employer--the US taxpayer.

I'm starting a new job in August and one of my benefits is two tickets to the Christmas party. We shall see.

[Happy prose]

I also work for a large government agency, so we have to pay $55 for the holiday party. It's a nice dinner, open bar for a couple of hours, and a dj. BUT... I went once and never again. It was a complete caste system. I wound up hanging with just the people from my department. Now I save my money, but it is frowned upon. Oh well.