If your schedule is anything like mine these next few weeks, it’s filled to the brim with holiday season fun. Here’s what I have planned thus far:

Wednesday: holiday shopping event, hosted by my friend Whitney.

Thursday: my company’s casual holiday party.

Friday: holiday dinner with friends.

Saturday: my annual holiday party / my first holiday party at my new house.

And that’s just the next five days. Next week is even worse (read: every night).

But really, all of that is nothing. In years past, I’ve been a +1 to many a friend’s office holiday party – sometimes packing as many as five fiestas into a two-week period. And in college it was even worse with all of the formals and date parties. It’s a wonder I studied at all.

Basically all of that is to say I now really have figuring out what to wear to an office holiday party nailed down pat. And I’m going to share my Jedi-level holiday attire wisdom with all of you today. Get excited.

Oh and PS all of my looks can be found at Nordstrom. So if you have a holiday party this week, go ahead and click to order online as you can just pick it up in store!

Okay so I realize that some office holiday parties are dressier than others. In an effort to make this post as easy as possible for y’all to shop, I’ve broken everything down by attire. Soooooo…

Click here to skip to casual holiday attire.

Click here to skip to cocktail holiday attire.

Or click here to skip to formal holiday attire.

And with that – let’s dive in.

What to Wear to an Office Holiday Party: Casual Holiday Attire

If your office is having a casual holiday party, (a) ughhhh. I’m sorry you don’t get the chance to dress up – that’s no fun! (b) You can basically wear whatever you wore to work.

With one exception: if your office is a bit more buttoned up, feel free to ditch the suit and go business casual or even office casual (basically casual but minus the ripped jeans). Always double check with your colleagues though as there’s always a chance the invitation says “casual” but everybody shows up in suits and you don’t want to be the odd man out. 

For more casual holiday attire outfit inspiration, check out this post, this post, this post, or this post!

If you want to dress a bit more dressy casual, try an outfit like this one or even this one.

What to Wear to an Office Holiday Party: Cocktail Holiday Attire

Chances are, your holiday party is cocktail attire. Or formal attire. But we’ll get to that in a hot sec.

So let’s say it’s cocktail attire. This has the biggest range. You can wear a dress like this one I posted on Black Friday. You could go more casual and wear a dress like this one (brought back again this year – click here).

As with any work-related event, I have one piece of advice: don’t wear anything that you generally wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing around your grandmother. In my mind, work events are not the time for the fun mini dresses or the dresses that show off your cleavage. Similarly, I believe they’re not the time for heavy drinking. Save those super fun pieces that make you feel sexy and gawgeous for a friend’s holiday party. I always recommend keeping work and play separate… and while the holidays muddy that situation, you can still draw a few lines.

PS if you want more outfit inspiration, check out this post and these posts.

What to Wear to an Office Holiday Party: Formal Holiday Attire

I personally believe that all holiday parties should be formal attire. It’s just so fun!

Plus, like cocktail attire, formal holiday attire allows quite the range. You could go short like I did above, or you could go big and glam like I did here. I’d recommend doing the latter if your office party is listed as “black tie”, and I’d recommend the former if it’s listed as “black tie optional”.

A safe bet would be pairing a long, formal skirt with a chic top or sweater as I did here. Plus, that’d be super fashionable (and warm!). And I’m all about staying warm.

Oh and PS if you’re wondering what I’m wearing to my upcoming holiday party, it’s this dress. Because I’m obsessed with it. For obvious reasons.

Need More?

All of those suggestions as to what to wear to an office holiday party not enough? Don’t forget to check out my holiday guide for dozens more options… as well as over 30 pages of holiday gift ideas!

Plus, it’s super easy to shop. Just find a product you like and click on it! The link to that item will then open in a separate tab in your browser. Told y’all: easy as pie.