How to throw a Solo Christmas Party!

I believe it was around 1984 when I attended my first company Christmas party. At the time, I was working for Thrifty’s in the Halifax Shopping Centre and the entire Dylex Group of Thrifty’s, Tip Top, Fairweather, Big Steel and Braemar joined forces in an epic holiday party! It had everything you could possibly imagine including food, dancing, Secret Santa, too much drinking, boring speeches, employee awards, inappropriate comments to management and multiple employees creating both long-lasting and one-night relations with one another.

The years of working in retail in my teens through the holiday season and the fabulous festive finales are incredibly memorable…but through the years, I’ve also been to some pretty big corporate doozies!

The last few years, due to being a “work from home solo-preneur”…the holidays come and go with narry a company celebration.

So, when approached by a group of bloggers to throw ourselves solo-parties for the holidays…I was TOTALLY IN! Heather Laura Clarke, from Laptops to Lullabies, is celebrating her FOURTH solo holiday party! Over the years, she’s given herself the “Employee of the Year” award, surprised herself with Secret Santa gifts and had a bit of fun with a company wide dance party to name just a few of her holiday work-party adventures.

So without further ado…here’s how I celebrated my “1st Annual Curtains are Open & Drawbridge Creative Solo Holiday Party!”

For starters…I hit the spa!

Really though…if you think about it…who doesn’t want to look a little extra special for their holiday party and the folks at Mudwraps to Manicures were happy to oblige. Book an appointment and visit them for an air brush tan, mani and pedi or a makeup application to start your company festivities off right…just like I did!

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I spent the morning relaxed in the lovely Bedford spa with a cup of tea and wonderful conversation as two different shades from the Breakfast at Tiffany’s collection were applied to my fingers and toes. I perused through their shop and shoe store and picked up a few little stocking stuffers…then popped on my FitFlops and headed out into a winter storm so as not to ruin my newly painted toes!

On arrival home, I slipped my painted piggies into my wonderful open toed London Fly heels (purchased at the spa) and changed into my very best work-at-home Christmas jammies to settle in for what would turn out to be one of the very best holiday work parties I’ve ever attended!

Complete with lots of wine.

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My office dog in her festive best.

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Santa hats.

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My lovely Office Holiday decor.

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A catered dessert plate provided by the folks at Local Jo Cafe and Market.

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And the very best boss I’ve ever had the pleasure of working for.

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I had a wonderful time reflecting on the last year over snacks and wine in my beautiful home office with my office dog at my side.

Merry Christmas from Curtains are Open and Drawbridge Creative. A big thanks to Mudwraps to Manicures and Local Jo’s for making my “1st Annual Solo Holiday Party” a roaring success. Thank you to all of my amazing clients as well as the bloggers, PR companies and brands I have the pleasure of working with each and every day. I’m incredibly grateful to love what I’m doing and appreciate every single day spent alone.

Here’s hoping 2017 will be every bit as wonderful!

xoxo
Queen

Oh yes…and since no holiday party happens without a little controversy…I guess I should mention…the UPS guy dropped by with a special delivery.

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Party Hopping:

If you’ve enjoyed my solo Christmas Party, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the other solo-preneurs who have joined me in this fun, new tradition. Please visit all of the blogs and leave them a comment. Not only will you make them feel absolutely fabulous, you could win some other awesome prizes. Next up on your tour is Linda Daley at Work Better. Not Harder. Click through each of our blogs and join in our holiday celebrations!

17 Replies to “How to throw a Solo Christmas Party!”

  1. Haaaaaaaa the UPS part is priceless! Great party, Colleen! It certainly looks more relaxing than mine — going to the spa was a fabulous idea. Thanks for joining in my silly Christmas tradition with me! 🙂

    • It was so much fun to do! Thanks for including us this year. I’ve been thinking of funny things for weeks but in the end. opted for a little “me” time.

  2. You treat your employees WELL! Spa day catered party and their very own UPS driver – nice! lol Great party and merry Christmas!

  3. Perfect!! I wish my ‘boss’ would send me to a spa…but really, I’d just chip my nails and get paint everywhere anyway, who are we kidding!! Love the selfie with your dog, too!

  4. How fun! Since I work in the retail family business, we won’t have a party until sometime in the new year. I should throw myself a solo party to tide me over, since I also do a lot of work from home!

  5. The last company holiday party I attended wasn’t even my own! Last Christmas when I was in Turkey my lovely friends at Experta invited me to join their holiday party. They aren’t officially celebrating ‘Christmas’ as we do as most of them are Muslim, but none the less they host a festive holiday party with lights, gift exchange, lots of delicious treats and dancing! My favourite part was that despite the fact that I wasn’t staff, I was welcomed with open arms!

  6. What fun! Thanks for letting me share in it. I’m feeling a little embarrassed for my cat Romeo after seeing your dog all dressed up at your party. And pampering, I can’t believe I forgot pampering. Definitely putting that in the solo party budget for next year.

  7. My favourite part is meeting all the people I have been *ahem* hearing about alllllll year.

    My office looks an awful lot like where I live and right now it’s total chaos. Too much chaos to even throw a party for one! I will say, though that my boss is the bomb. There are a few problems with upper management though … 😀

    Though, next year I am totally in.

    “Peady. Party of one.” (Just you wait and see!)

    YOUR party looks fabulous! And the UPS guy?!? Scandalous! *snorks*

  8. Merry Christmas Colleen to you and your wonderful family. I really enjoyed your solo party with your adorable puppy dog. You are a great writer. I believe everyone should hold themselves a solo party, we certainly deserve it to treat ourselves. All the Best in the coming of the New year 2017. Take Care and God Bless you and your family. Keep blogging ?????☃?