Holiday party madness

So... It's holiday season again. How do we fit in the dating and go to all those parties?? My business is booming- I guess a lot of people don't want to be alone for New Year's but at the same time, no one seems to be available to actually go on a date. I have been hearing "I can see her at 5:15 for 45 minutes" and "What about lunch from 1:15 to 2pm Thursday." NO!!!! Dating is not like business, you don't squeeze in your dates. Dates should be at night, when both people can drink, heavily, if they so choose or at least sip a little vino to calm their dating nerves and to decompress from their stressful day. Moreover, the "squeeze-in" feels crappy for the person you are taking out. Everyone is so busy now, but the successful savvy daters will fit people in without letting them know they are being fit in. You're not stupid, you know the right thing to do and say, SO DO AND SAY IT!

Some tips....

Most of the holiday parties are exactly the same, different venues but same general faces. Hence, you should get comfortable with the fact that if you miss one, you won't miss anything. Honestly.

Most people go from party to party so you really can do a "fly-by" and no one will get mad at you.

If a date sounds good, DON'T put him or her off until after the holidays. Let's say that they meet someone else, they you will be S-H-I-T out of luck and feel like you missed out on someone great.

If you are hosting a holiday party, invite ALL of your crushes and potentials. This will be a good time and place to figure out which ones you really like and which ones are just fillers on your dance card.

If you do invite all your crushes and potentials, make sure you warn each and every one of them BEFORE they arrive to the party, that you are the host/hostess, that you probably won't be able to spend all that much quality time with them but you will do your best.

If you invite all your crushes and potentials, make certain to insist that they each attend with a friend so they will not feel alone during most of the evening when you are pay attention to your other guests and so they won't wind up pissed off at you.

If you invite all your crushes and potentials to your party, make certain that none of them think that they are your specific date for the evening. If even one of them thinks this, a real disaster a'la Paris Hilton/Lindsay Lohan could ensue.

Happy holidays!