WASHINGTON — Much of the advice this time of year is about what not to do at your office holiday party. But what if you do it?

[related_gallery align=”right”]Blaming the open bar on Monday morning for your inappropriate behavior or comments will not get you off the hook. Instead, try a sincere apology.

“The best tip is to not overindulge on alcohol so you don’t get to that point, but if it does happen I think the best thing to do is apologize to anyone that you offended or hurt, and really just kind of own up to it, and I think people will respect you a lot more,” said Melissa Sliwinski, at Robert Half.

She also has some advice on those holiday office gift exchanges: Make the gift cheap and appropriate.

Robert Half advises employees spend no more than $20 on an office gift and suggests using the PG-rating as the boundary for what to buy, leaning more toward “G.”  Gift cards for coffee, movie theaters, restaurants or stores are considered acceptable office exchange gifts.

And if you’re the boss, don’t do this: “One of the funny ones that we saw was that a manager gave a picture of himself in a frame to an employee, so you can figure that’s not the most appropriate gift for the holidays,” Sliwinski says.

And don’t suck up.  Only 10 percent of managers think it is very appropriate for an employee to give his boss a holiday gift.

That’s a notion emphasized by U.S. News & World Report, which says office gifts should flow downward, not upward, meaning your boss can give you a gift, but you shouldn’t give presents to your managers.