And a 17-year-old called Chris Chester had been looking forward for weeks to the festive party at his new college after leaving Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield.
Any plans were changed at approximately 4.45pm the Sunday previously outside the player's bar at Thrum Hall however.
Halifax had just beaten Workington Town 26-12 but it had been an uninspiring performance.
There wasn't much spark to the side.
Chester, on the other hand, had played another outstanding game in the Academy defeat at Sheffield the previous afternoon.
Steve Simms beckoned him over and asked how he felt about making his first team debut at the same venue the following Wednesday.
He obviously jumped at the chance and was catapulted into a world that only injury has kept him out of since then.
Indeed "Chessy" is one of the dwindling number of players who have subsequently played in every Super League season.
At that time Fax had still not found a permanent for Michael Hagan who had returned to Australia at the end of the 1994/95 season.
New signing from Sheffield Carl Briggs was struggling in the number six shirt, emergency replacement John Schuster had broken his thumb and Marty Moana (signed from Auckland Warriors) wasn't due until the New Year.
What a 17-year-old thought of being thrust into that dressing room can only be answered by the bloke himself but we have the chance when he's one of the guests at tonight's Fax Trust meeting at the Shay who will be reminiscing about their times at Thrum Hall.
That college course was soon forgotten about as he adapted to the routine of joining colleagues like St John Ellis, Paul Anderson, Grant Anderson and Martin Ketteridge in the trip down the M62 to training.
There may have been defeat at the Don Valley but Chester got his first taste of winning money when Bradford were beaten at Huddersfield on New Years Day.
And his first try when he ran round Tawera Nikau to score at Castleford.
Before long he was signing his first fulltime contract as he had met all the requirements and incentives in his original one agreed when he had arrived from Stanley Rangers as a 16 year old.
Surprisingly enough no-one else had made him an offer as a junior despite the fact that he had played for England Schoolboys earlier in 1995 alongside a certain Oliver Marns.
Dave Robinson, Halifax's chief scout at the time, had strong Stanley connections but seemed more concerned about getting scrum half Craig, his son (!), a professional deal somewhere.
Other, more cynical people, will say that one of the most crucial things that Chester did for the club was signing for Wigan in July 1999.
Like so many players before him he didn't really want to leave and had even bought a house in the town on Range Bank but the fee helped to keep the club going until the end of the season.
And the Xmas party?
Well "Chessy" got there, albeit a little late, after being collected by his parents at the Scarborough Arms at Tingley where the team coach stopped…..he had plenty to celebrate.