Holiday parties are a great reason to get dressed up, put on some extra eyeliner and try a new hairstyle.  But who wants to spend hours working on their hair after a hard day at work?  Not this girl.  Here are three easy updos that look fabulous but won’t take all night.

Goody Color Collection Bobby Pins ($4) and Oribe Superfine Hairspray ($35)

This is the single easiest hair tutorial I have ever seen.  Watching the video, I couldn’t believe how three simple steps could yield such a lovely hairdo.  I would probably add a bit of texturizing spray for extra volume and hold, but other than that, Sidewalk Ready has come up with a perfectly simple style, visit her site for the shockingly easy tutorial.

Goody Color Collection Bobby Pins ($4) and Teasing Comb ($4) and L’Oreal Elnett Hairspray ($15)

I know that many of you, and professional women in general, have short hair.  Too often, those with short styles get left out of the updo equation.  Luckily, the Modcloth Blog features a how-to guide so that those with even the shortest locks can have a festive style.  

The writer of this tutorial used L’Oreal Elnett Extra Strong Hold, and I agree with that choice.  It’s by far the strongest holding hairspray I’ve used since they stopped selling Freeze It, the choice of pageant girls everywhere. (Oh how I miss it…)

Goody Color Collection Bobby Pins ($4)  and DevaCurl Flexible Hold Hairspray ($25) and Sephora Collection Clear Snag-Free Elastics ($3.50)

This hairstyle looks difficult to achieve, but it’s not.  Tying the knots is a bit labor intensive, but hardly difficult.  In fact, the only difficult part of the EBeautyBlog tutorial is staying awake while watching the video, the elevator music she chose almost put me right to sleep.  Maybe I’ll watch it tonight before bed, I’ll be out before my head hits the pillow.

I would advise clear elastics for this do, since cloth or thick lycra would be visible.  I also chose a flexible hold spray since I would advise spraying the hair both before and after to prevent fly aways.