It’s that time of year again that we either love or dread, when the boss puts on his party hat, the karoake machine comes out and – oh please God, no – not the mistletoe.

Yes it’s time for the annual company Christmas party.

If the boss is paying it’s probably a race to the bottom to see how much red wine/lager/prosecco can be consumed in the space of just a few, potentially career-limiting, hours.

But maybe the boss isn’t paying this year. Maybe your Christmas do is set to be a slightly more meagre affair – there is a cost-of-living crisis after all. Maybe all the staff have voted to give the money to charity instead – no, we thought not.

On the other hand it could just be time to throw sensible budgeting to the wind and have a no-holds-barred, blow-the-budget event, just to take everyone’s minds off all the doom and gloom surrounding fuel bills and wrecked Christmas travel plans.

This year, creative agency Ashgrove Marketing is celebrating not just Christmas but also its 15th anniversary so there was every excuse for a ‘good do’ and the staff celebrated with a party for local clients, partners and suppliers.

Founder and managing director, Terry van Rhyn, who first set up the agency in 2007, said the journey had been ‘a wild ride’ at times but one that he wouldn’t have changed in any way.

And he went on: ‘Reaching 15 years was a milestone we wanted to mark and an opportunity to invite clients, suppliers and other partners to look back at the journey we have all been on. 

‘We have traditionally held a Christmas party at our offices for clients, suppliers and partners.

‘This year the agency celebrated its 15th anniversary of operation in late November so there was a celebration for that instead and we didn’t see the need to have another party for Christmas, although we did as an agency have a Christmas meal out last week.

‘As a team, we work hard throughout the year and it’s important to enjoy a bit of downtime together and socialise outside of the office.’

Capital International is known to be a business that is very focused on staff wellbeing and its Christmas party this year was no exception to this approach as staff were fully consulted in the run up to the party.

Nancy Shefford, accountant at Capital International Group, said: ‘We have always seen our Christmas party as an opportunity to thank our team for all their hard work over the year and celebrate what the company has collectively achieved.

‘We like to treat our team and their partners to a nice meal, drinks and entertainment and we regard our Christmas party as an important event in our social calendar that lots of people look forward to.

‘For this reason, we wanted to make sure the evening wasn’t noticeably impacted by the cost pressures.

‘Of course, we had to cut back this year, but we tried to do so in a way that didn’t hugely alter the tone of the evening. Keen to make sure we were making the most of our budget, this year we sent out a survey to all staff to find out exactly what they would want to see at the party.

‘This resulted in a few changes; for example, we had a desserts buffet table rather than a 3-course sit-down meal and we also opted for a DJ rather than a live band.

‘One of the main priorities for us was ensuring that our employees didn’t have to pay any more than they usually would for the evening.

‘Normally we ask our staff to pay a small deposit which we return to them on the evening.

‘With the cost-of-living crisis in mind, we wanted to make sure attending the party would not add to the financial pressures and so despite the overall cost of the party going up, we did not pass this cost on to our team.’

Smaller companies have a bit more flexibility when choosing what sort of party they want and Little Rascals, which runs day nurseries in Castletown and Laxey, went for something completely different.

Their Castletown manager, Cody Lakin, said: ‘We chose to go candle making because we wanted to support a local business.

‘It’s a new business and we wanted something for everybody so it suited all the members of staff here and no one had actually done it yet, so that’s how we chose and it was a really good experience and we’re all so excited to do it all again.’

And, just in case you’re wondering what we were doing at Media Isle of Man, our Christmas party was on Friday in our new offices in Finch Road. We had a lovely celebration.

So, whatever you and your colleagues are doing this festive season we wish you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year.