Boss gives 2-day notice for holiday party, asks employees for $25-30 gift and a homemade appetizer: 'That’s not a party, that’s unpaid homework with a cover charge'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jan 25, 2026 10:00 AM EST

Would you go to an office holiday party if you had to pay?

Parties cost money. You know this if you've ever thrown one. Even if you're keeping it lowkey, there are costs that you're going to incur. There is food to be bought and drinks to be provided. But you can offset some of the costs by changing the vibe of the gathering. Maybe you make it into a potluck and ask your guests to provide something. This distributes the responsibility among everyone. This is a great idea to do with your close friends. It's not a great idea to do at your place of work. Work demands so much of us anyway; the least they can do is provide a little fun every now and again. They can make everything worth it at the end of the day by providing a little festivity toward the end of the year. It's also a way to get everyone to invest a little in the company. If you feel like they are taking care of you, you're more likely to take care of them in return. 

Plus, the cost of the party can come out of the company coffers, and no one has to be personally responsible. It's kind of the only way to do it. You would hate for your employees to make personal sacrifices in order to attend a company event. That's not really the way these things ought to run. But that didn't stop this workplace from making it difficult for their employees.

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  • A man sits at his desk while holiday office festivities happen around him.
    via Unsplash+ (Yunus Tuğ)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • The way they went about this holiday party was all wrong. They put the impetus on the workers to provide the festivities, which is not how it should go. Plus, they gave them very little time to prepare for it. This is not the recipe for a good party. This is the recipe for fostering some resentment in your employees, which is never a good thing. Plus, it's easily avoidable. Read on to see what happened in this story and decide what you would have done about it. And see what commenters had to add to the messed-up story.

  • A text from my boss two days before our "holiday work party"

    WED 6:25 PM hi everyone so for the party on Saturday if everybody wants to bring a appetizer bring something you like/comfort food and a white elephant gift $25- $30 is making some signature cocktails a charcuterie board, and some finger foods can't wait to spend some time with everyone. Remember the party starts around 6:30/7
    via u/littleoldladypants
  • Technically not even from him. He made the front desk manager send this out.
    via u/littleoldladypants

  • Commenters gave their thoughts on the situation.

    Suitable_Pipe_17 Two days' notice, BYO food, AND a $25-$30 white elephant? That's not a party, that's unpaid homework with a cover charge.
    via u/Suitable_Pipe_17
  • littleoldladypants Original Poster's Reply Thank you. I feel like a crazy person.
    via u/littleoldladypants
  • shoppygirl How unfortunate that you got sick or had a family emergency on the day of the party. Our former director decided that for a Christmas lunch, we would have pizza in the office. Every other team across the country got taken out for lunch. He also decided that we would have a secret Santa and had to buy a gift worth $25. On the day of the lunch, he canceled the whole thing, saying it was weather related. Meanwhile, as sales reps, were still expected to be on the road. He actually cancele
    via u/shoppygirl
  • littleoldladypants Original Poster's Reply Good god what a shit show.
    via u/littleoldladypants
  • A group of people sit around a table with laptops with party hats on
    via Unsplash+ (Yunus Tuğ)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • littleoldladypants Original Poster's Reply Maybe some context will help here. This is a salon environment. This has been on our calendar since November. No it's not mandatory and yes this has made me conclude I will not be attending. I love my coworkers and honestly my boss is pretty cool. This just makes me feel like the whole thing is an afterthought and not well planned. We just had a gift exchange and a pot luck at work a month ago. This is supposed to be our yearly party where we used to ge
    via u/littleoldladypants
  • AdAffectionate4602 Jeffrey best be bringing everything. (We can still see the name).
    via u/AdAffectionate4602
  • LocalDate3777 Your boss/ front desk manager cannot use proper grammar yet he expects you to bring food and a gift? Nah
    via u/LocalDate3777
  • littleoldladypants Original Poster's Reply Oh the lack of proper spelling and grammar is a whole thing. I could send you pages and pages of both texts and posts that are riddled with comical errors.
    via u/littleoldladypants
  • PM_Skunk I attended one several years back at some ULTRA fancy place. It seemed awesome...until the company added the cost per person who attended to our income for the year. So basically something like $2500 (for two) added to my annual income, without any tax having been taken out of it. Screwed up my taxes that year something BAD.
    via u/PM_Skunk
  • littleoldladypants Original Poster's Reply Wow that was shady af of them
    via u/littleoldladypants
  • littlegnat I mean, the potluck part isn't unheard of if it's at least not the first time you're hearing about that request. I don't understand having a random gift exchange, though, especially since OP said they just had one like a month ago.
    via u/littlegnat
  • littleoldladypants Original Poster's Reply It is the first time this has even been mentioned let alone requested.
    via u/littleoldladypants
  • Equivalent Forever58 Is the party paid?
    via u/Equivalent_Forever58
  • littleoldladypants Original Poster's Reply lol no we are commission based. Nothing is paid unless it's an appt.
    via u/littleoldladypants
  • Equivalent-Shine5742 Reminds me of a company I worked for that announced in honor of Thanksgiving and to show appreciation of us they were scheduling a two hour lunch appreciation party the week of the holiday. The week before they then announced it was a potluck with guidelines on what to bring and a sign up sheet for anyone who wanted to financially contribute for soda, paper plates, and things.
    via u/Equivalent-Shine5742
  • littleoldladypants Original Poster's Reply Don't you just love appreciating yourself via cooking for others??
    via u/littleoldladypants
  • ministerman $25 or $30? Just make a decision and put that out. 6:30 or 7 start time? Which is it? Be decisive, you're a manager for pete's sake. Sending this out 2 days before, even if you've known about for a while, ridiculous. Also - does your manager know about punctuation? This whole thing really bugs me.
    via u/ministerman
  • littleoldladypants Original Poster's Reply I concur on all your points.
    via u/littleoldladypants

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