Every year I see white papers and surveys about companies wanting to ban Christmas parties or not allowing tinsel in the office and how workers hate the Christmas work party and think their bosses are mean for making them work normal hours on Christmas Eve.  
 
A recent one from Croner Consulting stated that 20% of respondents said that work Christmas parties are awful and they'd do anything to avoid it and if they do go they can't wait to leave.  What a bunch of miseries (if they don't want to go why don't they just fake a Great Aunt's 100th birthday party that day?)
 
And then I read (from A Chartered Management Institute survey) that "A third of companies will not hold a staff party this year. Of those that do hold a seasonal get-together, four in 10 do not plan to make any financial contribution."
 
Could we not match up the employees who DON'T WANT a party with the employers who are too tight to give them one.