Prior to the party, says David Barron, labor and employment attorney at Cozen O'Connor, you should:

• review your policies prohibiting drug and alcohol abuse, harassment, dating, fighting, weapons, and other misconduct;
• educate supervisors and employees about the no-harassment, no-retaliation and EEO policies and the procedures for reporting and responding to harassment, discrimination or retaliation claims;
• make sure you have consistently disciplined violators of policies;
• foster a work environment free of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation; and
• consider whether a private binding arbitration program for resolving employee claims is right for your organization. 

When putting together the event itself, consider the following:

• Make sure everyone knows what the expected party behavior is.
• Emphasize that attendance is voluntary.
• Choose a weekday for the event — people tend to indulge less, especially if the next day is a workday. Start it early in the day, when people tend not to drink as much.
• Pick an offsite location that provides professional bartenders who don't want a drunken driving rap to come back to them.
• Have designated drivers sign up ahead of time.
• Subsidize or pay for cabs, or rent a party bus. They cost a lot less than a lawsuit.
• Give people drink tickets — no bottomless glass opportunities.
• Limit the time for the party, and close the bar an hour before the celebration ends.
• Don't serve punch or other concoctions that can be spiked.
• Provide food that inhibits drunkenness — high protein, carbs, rather than salty, greasy fare.
• If you have underage employees, don't let them drink.
• Provide entertainment — a musician, a juggler, a comic, a magician — to draw employee attention aware from the bar or from one another.
• Don't hang mistletoe.

If you do have the party in your office, experts say that you should hire a professional  bartender, have someone designated to be in charge of security, keep it short, keep everyone in the same room for the entire event, and definitely limit the amount of alcohol available on a per person basis.

Another area of concern: photographs taken at the office party. This has emerged as a new and generally unwelcome (with management at least) issue with the popularity of social media. Unflattering party photos appearing on Facebook — often while the party is still underway — have led some companies to try to limit party photos.

One might think one could simply outlaw photos at the party.

One would be wrong.

First, it is impossible to enforce such a rule, given that everyone has a cell phone with a built-in camera that can slyly take photos from almost any angle. Second, it is illegal to limit the taking of photos, and also the posting of them on social media platforms.

From L&E Compass, the labor and employment law blog of the law firm Baker Donelson, we have the following guidance for party photos.

"Photos from holiday parties present a unique challenge for employers, and employers are encouraged to rely heavily on HR professionals or attorneys when confronted with this challenge.  Employers may also find helpful the following practices:

• Have a designated photographer, or two. Employees will be more likely to ask the photographer to take a picture and, in turn, are less likely to take the pictures themselves. Also, a photographer has the authority to say things like: Please, no drinks in this picture. The employer can also work with the photographer to review and quarantine those pictures that are not appropriate. 
• Include an "appropriate photos" reminder in the "please act like a professional at the holiday party" e-mail.
• Offer disposable cameras. Disposable cameras have come full circle. They're retro, hip, and cool — under the right circumstances, of course. As employees enter the party, pass out the cameras. At the end of the party, have a place for employees to leave the cameras. The employer then has the film developed, reviews and quarantines the photos, and makes the appropriate photos available to the employees.
• Use the company holiday party as an excuse to review and update your technology and social media policies. Employers often need a reason to review certain policies. A holiday party can provide such a reason, and with a little work, these policies can be updated just in time to bring in the new year."