Office Christmas parties have become quite the competitive sport in recent years. What was once a few plastic cups of lukewarm bubbly gathered around the water cooler (and quite possibly an inappropriate snog with the accounts geek in the hallway) before the team dispersed for the holidays has become an event planner’s dream, with many companies investing lots of time and money into creating next level Christmas parties as a way to say thank you for all the work you’ve put in throughout the year. It’s a great team bonding exercise; a celebration of company culture and a way to start the holidays early.

While there’s definitely a party culture in Ibiza – not to mention some of the most impressive, off-the-scale event planners who can make anything happen – there’s not so much of a corporate culture here and the seasonal nature of so many of the island’s businesses means company Christmas parties are not quite the crazy no-holds barred affairs that might automatically spring to mind when you think of the party capital of the world. First of all – there are only a very limited amount of venues open in which to host your event. Second, most if your team are scattered all over the world by this stage. And third – when you have parties on tap all summer long, by December (for some of us, anyway), all you really want to do is curl up by the fireplace and get an early night.

As I snuggled into my amazing new winter duvet with a lovely warm cup of organic lavender tea before the clock struck 12, I asked myself whether our version of an office party was boring? Or worse still – were we boring? I started to look at pictures online of friends in other countries at their Christmas parties, or clients’ Christmas parties and tried to envision putting myself in their place. Did I secretly want to be playing beer pong? Was I wishing our office had been transformed into a tropical fantasyland with topless waiters handing out cocktails all night long before splashing about a blow up pool in the conference room? (Sidenote: we don’t actually HAVE an office – our entire team works remotely)

Did I imagine myself making out with a co-worker in the toilet? (Another sidenote: all my co-workers are women) Did I want to be serenaded by a reality TV star who was being paid to be at the party? (Final sidenote: yes, this really happened to a friend of mine). I must have drifted off during these thought processes, because next thing I knew, I woke up just after the sunrise with my make-up removed, last night’s clothes in the laundry basket and my shoes neatly tucked away where they belong, without even a hint of a hangover (a Christmas miracle!). I was happily at my computer at the sprightly hour of 9am, ready to write a blog about Christmas parties and NOT having to do it in between trips to the bathroom to puke (as has been the case in previous party times) or indeed, not being able to recall the event I was trying to write about. And so the answer to my original question about being boring was immediately clear. No. Definitely not. Well, not this year anyway!