Christmas Office Party Dress Code SOS! Help!

[MamaMootz]

OK my husband's office Christmas party is tonight. It's taking place at a kind of bistro - sort of upscale but not exactly upscale - they are having a full spread of hors d'oeuvres and a sit down dinner with a white elephant gift exchange.

The help I need? The invitation reads, "Holiday Attire Only, No Blue Jeans Please".

What does this mean?

I doubt it means tacky Santa sweatshirts, etc.

I think it means that DH can get away with a festive muted colored dress shirt (like green or red, maybe) with a pair of Dockers or other nice dress slacks. Kind of dressing office casual.

For me, it's just Hell because I have no idea what to wear at all.

Why oh why can't people be clearer on invitations when it comes to dress codes?

And what is a white elephant gift exchange? Help!

[Chocolate Cake]

If I were issued such an invitation, I'd wear my black dress pants, black pumps, and my red dress blouse or my snowman sweater.   

[Chartreuse]

Wear a nice blouse, skirt, etc.  Dress up some, but don't go overboard.  I'd guess that's a step down from "cocktail attire"?

I'm with you, I hate the dress code thing in invites.  Not everyone has the same "code" and it does cause confusion.

White elephant gifts are a silly gift that you're passing on to somebody else.  It can be something new and ridiculous, or it can be a chance to regift something tacky.  The name comes from an old tradition in India.  White elephants were considered sacred.  If a king wanted to ruin somebody, they'd give them a gift of a white elephant.  Because it was sacred, the person was entitled to take the elephant and care for it as best they could, but they also couldn't force it to work in the fields or do anything other than be spoiled and pampered.  This has evolved into the weird tradition of giving silly gifts as a "white elephant".

[MamaMootz]

I checked Emily Post because she has a guide to attire and the issue here is:

Holiday Casual (Men) Clothing is the same as for 'Business Casual' with some holiday colors or designs.
 
(Women) Clothing is the same as for 'Business Casual' with some holiday colors or designs.

Holiday Festive (Men) Attire Seasonal sport coat or blazer in color of choice and slacks
open-collar shirt or shirt and "festive" or holiday-themed tie
 
(Women) Short cocktail dress or long dressy skirt and top or dressy pants outfit
 
So which one is "Holiday Attire"? Because they are falling under two totally different ways of getting dressed.

** Edited: I guess I can get away with a festive colored blouse and a nice skirt, but ... does DH wear a jacket and tie or no? Based on EP's definition, we don't know what to do. **

[plutomoment]

A white elephant gift exchange is where everyone brings a gift and takes a number. When their number is called each person picks and opens one of the gifts. When you open your gift you have the option of keeping what you got or swapping it with someone else's previously opened gift. The last person has the pick of all the gifts and then the first person is allowed to pick again since they didn't have anything to pick from when the game started. It can be hilarious. We did it at our faculty party and everyone wanted the chick-fil-a coupon calendar!

[MamaMootz]

Well just so everyone knows:

We were underdressed and we were the only ones who were.

EVERYone else was in a suit. Some men were even in tuxes.

Why, why, oh why, can't people be clearer in invitations with dress codes? I was mortified.

[Reika]

*hugs*

That's horrible, I wonder if there's a proper way of addressing the issue with the person who wrote the invites?

[pblair38]

We just had DH's office party last night and I was in a similar boat.  He has only been with the company since mid-November, so this is the first office party he's been to.  It was held at a country club, and the invitations said "Business Casual".  So, I sent him to the girl in the marketing department who organized the thing to ask about what the women usually wear (Business Casual is so much easier for men!)

She told him that she wasn't sure what she was going to wear - maybe a dress, maybe slacks. 

I wore a short black skirt (just above the knew), black dressy sandals (I'm in Houston - it's 80 degrees), and a cute crinkly striped blouse in shades of red, with some silver thrown in to look festive.  I thought I looked pretty nice, but we were slightly worried that I might be overdressed. 

Marketing girl - she was wearing a taupe satin, strapless, tea-length dress with a black lace overlay.  THAT IS NOT BUSINESS CASUAL!!  Now, to be fair, there were lots of women there wearing all sorts of things, but most were dressed up more than I was.  And being the "new guy's wife", I felt somewhat self-conscious.  Oh well.  There's always next year. 

Penny

[Balletmom]

The tea length dress with black overlay is sooooo not business casual.

Business casual for ladies is basically expensive and trendy casual clothes, or just expensive casual clothes. Not jeans, unless they are also expensive and you work in a creative field. Men definitely have it easy when it comes to business casual. Personally, I hate it, it's like trying to mind read some other woman's closet.

FWIW, I think you looked just fine. You weren't the most formally dressed person there, I'm sure (thanks to Party Frock Girl) and you weren't the most casually dressed. (Or were you?)

Even if you were, I think you were just fine.

Hope they had some good food to compensate.

[pblair38]

No, I wasn't the most casually dressed person there.  And our table was so cold that some of the wives had to keep their wraps on to stay warm, so I was never sure what exactly they were wearing.  Brrrrr. 

Penny

[blarg314]

I hate badly worded dress code descriptions - I would have read that article as a nice skirt and slacks or top, but avoiding T-shirts and jeans.  It can be hard for the hosts as well, trying to get people to dress up a bit without making it unduly stressfull.

Our holiday party dress is going to include bathing suits...