In Britain, A Respected, If Rowdy, Holiday Ritual

Attendants from the London Ambulance Service help hold up a 40-year-old man at Liverpool Street station, where the service set up a medical unit to treat injured and inebriated casualties of the traditionally booze-soaked holiday party. (By Mary Jordan -- The Washington Post)
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These days, the office party is one of the most talked-about topics on Internet blogs and radio call-in shows. People regularly share humiliating office party experiences, while others warn of dangers ranging from broken teeth to unplanned pregnancies.

The Ultimate Experience, the event planning company where Gill is managing director, has planned Christmas parties for tens of thousands of people this month -- typically costing employers about $250 a person.

Large companies, especially in the huge banking and financial sector of London, opt for lavish parties with champagne fountains, live bands and elaborate decorations -- acrobats and Moroccan themes are popular this year. They rent out palaces, country estates, and tourist landmarks including the London Aquarium and London Dungeon, a horror attraction. Small companies hold their celebrations at pubs and restaurants.

Fewer companies seem to be holding parties at the office, going along with a recommendation by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, which has noted a number of Christmas party injuries related to office furniture and machinery.

"Meeting room tables were designed for weighty documents, not overweight executives dancing," said Jo Stagg, a society spokeswoman.

She noted that partygoers seem to find great amusement in photocopying intimate body parts. Stagg recalled one incident in which a man at his Christmas party sat on the copy machine, broke the glass and ended up in the emergency room with shards of glass in his bottom.

This year, tens of thousands of female office workers stepped out in skimpy red "Sexy Mrs. Santa" suits, complete with faux white fur and miniskirts, some of them backless.

"It's fun to dress up. It gets you in the mood for the party," said Julie Sexton, 25, an account manager at a marketing agency who was buying a $65 Mrs. Claus dress on London's Oxford Street. She said four women in her office decided to wear them to their office party.

Ann Summers, a London retailer selling the outfit (alongside naughty nurse outfits), sold 2,000 last week alone. "Office Christmas parties are an excuse to dress up," said Lizzie Eddleston, a store spokeswoman.

Michael Norledge, 22, a bartender at The Hill pub in North London, said that he has seen two men come in dressed as Mrs. Claus, complete with fishnet stockings. "People dress up in costume here more at Christmas than Halloween now," he said.

In many central London subway stations these days, extra police are on duty monitoring smartly dressed people stumbling home from Christmas parties.

At 12:30 a.m. Friday at the Liverpool Street station, six police officers stood in the middle of the large terminal.

"How do I get to north London?" one 20-ish man asked an officer.

"Where exactly in north London? " the officer responded.

"To my house," said the man, so addled that he couldn't remember what subway stop was closest to his home.

A 40-year-old man named Robert, his fancy brown leather shoes peeking out from under a blanket, was too drunk to sit up without the help of three paramedics.

He told police he had started drinking at noon, more than 12 hours before. He had called his wife, who lived in Surrey, south of London, but she wouldn't come to get him. So the paramedics said they would admit him to the hospital rather than leave him to fend for himself on the freezing winter night.