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"You get the invite from work: &amp;amp;#8220;Please come to this year&amp;amp;#8217;s holiday bash&amp;amp;#133;and bring a friend!&amp;amp;#8221; Are you more likely to RSVP +1 or hit the party up solo? Back in the day (you know, in like 2010), I was all for bringing J to my work holiday parties. Right out of college I worked with mainly guys at this lifestyle magazine in Hoboken, NJ, but I wanted my guy by my side while they brought their girlfriends and wives. Since it was such a small office, inviting an extra 5 people (our significant others) wasn&amp;amp;#8217;t a huge deal. We were all friends so it truly was a big party. But now I&amp;amp;#8217;m all for flying solo at the office bash. Glamour is pretty big and pretty much all ladies, so I like to enjoy a sort of girls&amp;amp;#8217; night out with my coworkers. And since J&amp;amp;#8217;s office is big, too, he goes to his holiday party by himself and enjoys a night out with his buds. Maybe it&amp;amp;#8217;s because we&amp;amp;#8217;re living together (or because our jobs require a little extra networking), but we don&amp;amp;#8217;t invite each other to our holiday work parties and enjoy sharing details of the events with one another at home. We see each other every day; it&amp;amp;#8217;s kind of nice to have our own thing from time to time. So how can you gauge whether or not bringing your partner to the holiday party is a good idea or not? With this handy dandy pros &amp;amp; cons list, of course! Pros: 1) You have built-in support to help build your courage when going up to talk to that big exec. 2) You have a constant buddy when your coworkers all want to go home but you&amp;amp;#8217;re still ready to par-tay. Umm, and someone to tell you when you&amp;#x27;ve had enough champagne. 3) You can share the fun together and introduce your hottie to the other people you spend most of your time with. Cons: 1) You can&amp;amp;#8217;t network as well when you have a romantic partner to worry about not leaving alone. Umm, and you also can&amp;#x27;t utilize that mistletoe. 2) You may miss out on some of that one-on-one girl coworker time. While they&amp;amp;#8217;re all loosening up and gossiping outside of the 9-5, you may be on the outside since, well, you brought an outsider in. Unless you&amp;#x27;re guy is cool with girl talk. Well, then, nevermind. 3) You may find it difficult to split your time socializing with work buds, saying hello to the bosses, and making sure your partner is having a good time. It&amp;amp;#8217;s just a little harder to relax when you&amp;amp;#8217;re going through that checklist. OK, so obviously not all of the pros and cons will apply to your relationship. Your partner might already know your coworkers or he might be amazingly outgoing and confident with introducing himself to people while you&amp;amp;#8217;re mingling. Your job may require less networking, so you can spend your time at the party just hanging out and having fun. Before you RSVP 1 or +1, take a minute to think about what type of relationship you have and what you&amp;#x27;re hoping to gain in your workplace. Are you climbing the ladder? Then maybe leave your partner at home this year. Are you a social butterfly looking to enjoy some eggnog? Then it&amp;amp;#8217;s probably OK to invite your stud. How do you usually RSVP to work holiday parties? Are you a fan of bringing your partner or going alone? Do you go to work parties with an agenda or just looking for fun? And do you attend your guy&amp;amp;#8217;s work functions? Photo: Thinkstock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/smitten/2012/12/the-pros-and-cons-of-bringing>