As we all begin celebrating the festivities, one third of us are going to have post-party anxiety, according to a new survey
WORDS: TESS STIMSON, AMY NICKELL-TURNER, CLARE SWATMAN, NILUFER ATIK, SUZIE HAYMAN, MISHAAL KHAN. PHOTOS: GETTY, FUTURECONTENTHUB.COM
It’s that time of year as we count down to the festivities – quality time with family, sparkly nights out with friends, cosy nights in with our loved ones, and the annual work Christmas party, of course.
Many of us spend more time with our colleagues than our own family, and when we finally let our hair down together and add several drinks to the mix, the results can be a night to remember. Or in some cases, a night you’d rather forget!
A recent survey found that over a third of Brits have regretted their actions after a Christmas party. Nearly half of us have snogged a colleague, almost one in three have admitted to bedding a co-worker and a quarter can’t even remember what they got up to!
Four women confess their most cringeworthy, regretful Christmas party moments…
‘I BOOTY CALLED AN OLD FLAME’
Amy Nickell-Turner, 33, lives in Berkhamsted with her husband, Jonathan, 43, and her nine-year-old son, Freddy. Fresh from university, and months into my first proper job in 2011, my work hired out the London Aquarium and themed the Christmas Party ‘Under The Sea’. Eager to make a good impression, I went all in with a full-on mermaid costume, bright red wig and shell bra. I turned up to find everyone wearing their usual office clothes, bar a couple of flimsy garlands. I was absolutely mortified. However, a Christmas do two years later tops my mermaid embarrassment. My nine-year-old son was conceived due to the 2013 Christmas party. The free bar led to me booty calling an old flame and waking up in his bed the next morning.
I arrived at work to a slow clap from the entire office, wearing the party dress from the night before. In January, I discovered I was pregnant. My son is now the furthest you could get from regret – but I can’t say the same about the circumstances of his conception.
‘WE SET THE TABLE ON FIRE’
Clare Swatman, 48, an author, lives in Hertfordshire with her husband, Tom, 50, and their two teenage sons, Jack, 16, and Harry, 13. In 2004, I was enjoying (too many) free drinks with a colleague at the annual work party when we were suddenly engulfed by flames. Tipsy, we’d knocked over a candle, which set fire to a napkin, which then set fire to the tablecloth. As the
