Office parties are tricky - while the free rein with drinks and music make you want to let your hair down and enjoy. At the same time, presence of your senior colleagues and your boss need to be kept in mind. Etiquette blunders at an office party may even cost you your job!

Maya Daswani, grooming consultant from Edge Academy for Corporate Grooming, gives you tips on how to socialize just right at office parties and get-togethers.

1. Eye on the Clock

You may love to make a late but dazzling entry in other parties, but keeping time in office party is important.

If you are told that it begins at 6:30 pm, be there latest 15 minutes after the said time.

15 minutes is the maximum grace time that you can give yourself, since this is an official do, bosses and colleagues may decide to drop in for a little bit and move on.

Since you may want to try and meet and network with as many colleagues as possible, 15 minutes is perfect grace time.

2. Pair Up Wisely

If the office party asks specifically to bring a partner, please make sure you take someone. It's impolite not to. If single, take a well read, street smart companion to the do.

You will be judged not just on your behaviour but also by who you bring along to the party.

3. One Glass Too Many?

In an office party, it matters what you drink and how much. Even if you are a tankard, it is advisable to limit your drinks to 2 large. Even though this is a party, it is still official. You want to be standing and not swaying when interacting with your colleagues.

If you know you get drunk very easily, please stick to the mocktails for your on good. You don't want to hear stories of the drunk you dancing atop the table, making a complete fool of yourself.

4. Dressing Sense

Clothes maketh the man they say and in this case it could not be truer - dressing at office parties can literally make or break your image. What you wear can be the talk of the office for good reasons and bad.

Too skimpy, revealing or outrageously cut dresses are a complete no-no. It is safer to stick to a pair of dark trousers with a halter neck blouse teamed with a stole if you are going western. If you want to dress Indian, then you could change into a dressy salwar kameez or saree.

And please please do yourself and your office colleagues a favour - NEVER go to the office party in the same clothes you were wearing in the office during the day. No one is going to believe that you are so hardworking, that you didn't even get time to change!