Go­ing to the com­pa­ny of­fice Christ­mas par­ty this year? You can take ad­van­tage of the of­fice par­ty to have some fun and ad­vance your ca­reer or mis­be­have and crip­ple your ca­reer.Here are some ba­sic rules to sur­vive and thrive at any com­pa­ny-spon­sored par­ty.

�2 Do re­mem­ber that al­though of­fice par­ties are in­tend­ed as so­cial events to re­ward em­ploy­ees and raise morale, they re­main strict­ly busi­ness events. Do act as though your be­hav­ior is be­ing ob­served every minute (be­cause it prob­a­bly is).

�2 Don't pass up the in­vi­ta­tion to an of­fice par­ty; not at­tend­ing could hurt your rep­u­ta­tion. And when you at­tend, do spend at least 30 min­utes at the par­ty for ap­pear­ances. But don't over­stay your wel­come by par­ty­ing un­til the wee hours.

�2 Do con­duct your­self pro­fes­sion­al­ly at all times. Don't use the of­fice par­ty as an ex­cuse to blow off steam. It's still a com­pa­ny func­tion, so prop­er eti­quette and deco­rum mat­ter.

�2 Don't bring the par­ty lamp­shade, gag gifts for the boss, or any oth­er crazy stuff you might do at a per­son­al hol­i­day par­ty.

�2 Do en­joy your­self at the par­ty. Em­ploy­ers spend the big bucks to re­ward their em­ploy­ees, so be sure to en­joy the on­ly hol­i­day gift you may be get­ting from the com­pa­ny.

�2 Don't pull the night­club at­tire from your clos­et for the event, and do ask whether the at­tire for the par­ty is for­mal or ca­su­al. The par­ty is still a busi­ness func­tion, so con­ser­v­a­tive par­ty clothes are a good choice. So, do re­mem­ber to skip any­thing too re­veal­ing or too flashy. Keep your rep­u­ta­tion for good taste in­tact.

�2 Do keep your hands to your­self. Don't flirt, and do avoid any oth­er in­ap­pro­pri­ate be­hav­ior. The of­fice par­ty is not the time to end your ca­reer with the com­pa­ny by do­ing some­thing in­ap­pro­pri­ate or il­le­gal.

�2 Don't spend all evening talk­ing busi­ness. You'll for­ev­er have the la­bel as the of­fice bore.

�2 Do keep all con­ver­sa­tions pos­i­tive and up­beat. Don't spend the evening com­plain­ing, brag­ging, cor­rect­ing, whin­ing, or ridi­cul­ing. And do avoid con­tro­ver­sial sub­jects (such as re­li­gion, pol­i­tics, etc).

�2 Don't mo­nop­o­lise con­ver­sa­tions and es­pe­cial­ly, don't talk about your­self or your ac­com­plish­ments all night. Do show in­ter­est in oth­ers. Do be gra­cious and thank co-work­ers and team mem­bers for all their help and hard work dur­ing the past year.

�2 Do keep one hand free dur­ing the night so that you can of­fer hand­shakes to peo­ple as they come by.

�2 Don't drink and dri­ve.