What Not To Do at Holiday Parties

Well, unless you live in the Lost Desert. Otherwise, you should expect some snow!

Seeing family and friends around the holiday time is great, as is giving and receiving gifts. Sometimes you get to do what you want on the holidays (like sledding down a frosty hill on a sled made from a garbage can lid) or things that your owner wants to do (like sitting patiently at a holiday party while your owner chats his or her head off and you’re just waiting for them to stop so you can go home).

Been there. Done that.

Don’t get me wrong: some holiday parties are great! Good food, nice Neopians to talk with and a warm and festive environment to enjoy. However, whether the holiday parties you are attending flop or flourish, you still need to keep some simple rules in mind. The host arranged a party for you and the other guests. The least you can do is grit your teeth, plaster a smile on your face and follow these gentle reminders to have a good time:

#1: Don’t make fun of the tacky décor.

Honestly now, not all of us are interior designers. Some Neopians like to be a little more… er, expressive than others. If your host is one of those Neopians, it’s best to refrain from your personal opinions regarding the decorations inside. Maybe the inside of their Neohome looks like Santa Claus’ Raindorfs threw up; but you know what, that doesn’t mean you should point it out. Honestly, a comment referring to the decorations such as “Eww! Who shot the Advent Calendar?” is going to come off as rude.

I’d rather think of these tacky decorations as creativity rather than a hasty job of slinging around ribbons, bows, lights and miniature Santa figures that play holiday songs. If you are feeling a little suffocated by all of the cotton-ball type snowflakes around you or just want to escape the embarrassment of knowing a “creative” party host, just take a sip of eggnog and slip out the back door.

#2: Don’t make faces during the holiday photo.

I know, I know, it’s tempting. I’m guilty of pulling a goofy face on “three!” as well, so I know how hard it is to resist. Picture this: your family, friends, colleagues, etc. are all standing merrily by the fireplace smiling warmly for a nice holiday photo. The count to three begins and at the last moment, your face explodes into a masterpiece of silliness. Just as the white flash fills your eyes, the thought of everyone’s reactions when they see your goofy face makes you giggle.

Won’t it be great when Aunt Bertha gets that picture developed. “Here I am next to our Christmas tree, here’s me and my sister from Meridell, and here’s… oh wait, now what on Neopia is Tommy doing?” She gets to the picture of the group, with you sticking your tongue out and crossing your eyes. Geez, you are just asking for it. Oh, and one more thing. No Cybunny ears! If you have fingers, don’t put Cybunny ears over your neighbor’s unsuspecting head. Cybunnies are limited edition, buddy, so trust me: your neighbor will probably think it’s flattering when you just wanted it to be devious. Can you say backfire? I sure can!

#3: Don’t mess with your dress clothes or slicked-down fur.

Trust me, you look absolutely ridiculous as it is, but so does everyone else, so hey! Does it matter? Answer: no, not really. Nah, I’m just kidding. You’re probably looking pretty spiffy in your red sweater with the little green Christmas tree on it. Dressing up is very useful once in a while because it teaches us many things. 1) Don’t get chocolate pudding on that or you’re grounded for life, and 2) It's good practice for times when you have to be dressy, like special occasions like these.

As for the fur… well, that Hair-Gel your owner used to “keep the fur out of your eyes” gets hard pretty quick. And it smells until it dries. Yuck. You’d be better off not fleeing to the bathroom to rinse your head in the sink because you risk spraying your festive sweater. *gasp* What will people think, that you’ve had a water gun fight with your friends outside in the freezing cold weather? Rinsing out the gel can get you in lots of trouble if things go wrong. So either don’t let them go wrong or you’ll have to endure the “you could have caught a cold!” speech from your owner the rest of the evening. Take your pick.

#4: Don’t vigorously shake all of the gifts under the Christmas tree.

You know the old phrase: you break it, you buy it—but I guess that term doesn’t apply if you don’t shake the gifts under the tree. I think more than one Neopian will catch on if you go from gift to gift, pressing your ear up against the parcel and shaking it like there’s no tomorrow. Most of the Christmas gifts at parties are either clothing or chocolates. No wait, let’s just make that chocolates and sweets.

Wrapped chocolates and sweets are not worth wiping the fake snow from the boxes to get to. Especially when they have weird, err, exotic, fillings such as asparagus, lime jelly, Scabergy and Chrysaberry. I’ll stick to the clothing, thank you very much… at least I know where I stand with Grandma Shirley’s hand knitted sweater with the white puff balls.

#5: Don’t stuff your face with sweets.

Oh, now this is my personal favorite! Believe me, you are just asking for trouble after you consume three different slices of pie, nine cookies and some hand wrapped truffles. First off, there’s the risk of getting the Grumbles or Bloaty Belly, and that would be horrible to feel sick at a holiday party.

You don’t want to be rude and just run out on the party because you’re not feeling so hot all of a sudden. This mistake can be avoided. A slice of pie and a couple of cookies is good for one serving. Plus, you don’t want to come off as greedy by hoarding cookies under the dining room table.

#6: Do not use decorations as toys.

Here are three separate examples of what you should consider avoiding at your holiday party, all of them involving delicate items that shouldn’t be used as toys.

-Don’t use ornaments as hackey-sacks. Definitely not a good idea! Most ornaments are very, very fragile. Some of them are made of glass so I’d hate for you to cut your foot on one of them.

-Don’t use two candlesticks (whether lit or unlit) as drumsticks to pretend you’re a member of M*YNCI. Geez, if you wanted to pretend to be in a band, it wouldn’t be M*YNCI, right? Yeah, it’d be Sticks N Stones of course. ^_^ …I’m not biased.

-Please refrain from using streamers or ribbons as a jump rope. No, it’s not because you’ll get in trouble. You might break the ribbon when you miss and ruin all of the fun. Rope lights are stronger; they’ll get the jump-roping job done.

-Oh, and this doesn’t refer to the “decorations as toys” topic, but try to keep your clawed petpet away from table runners, stockings, and wool sweaters. I don’t think I need to explain this one.

Well, I think those are just about all of the major no-nos at a holiday party. Holiday parties, or any parties for that matter, are meant to be fun and enjoyable. Having said that, all I have left to say is happy holidays, don’t eat too many sweets and take care of yourself. It’s getting chilly out there, you know! Even in the Lost Desert it gets to about, oh say, eighty degrees F in the wintertime, cold enough for an actual T-shirt rather than a cool desert robe.

Happy holidays, Neopia!

Author’s Note: Edited by beewitched2. Have a holly jolly Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate. Comments are welcome and appreciated. –Playmobil