How do you host a corporate Christmas party for an entire office while also adhering to pandemic gathering limits and physical distancing requirements during winter and outdoors? The Bright Ideas team made it possible!
Follow along as we dive deeper into this micro corporate Christmas party that received several award nominations.
The Event
By fall 2021, it had been over a year since workplaces had regular in-person gatherings. So when this client had to cancel another work event due to the pandemic, she came to Bright Ideas Events Agency with a proposal. Suppose she organized her colleagues into three small teams to comply with local public health restrictions on gatherings. Could a fun holiday event be planned for them? The answer was absolutely!
Quick Facts
- Two different venues
- The event took place outside in the middle of winter
- Horse-drawn carriages were used to transport guests from venue A to venue B
The Issue
This event took place at the peak of Covid 19, and Canada’s Provincial Health Order restricted in-person events. So, the main issue was to safely and creatively host a group of attendees that was greater in numbers than the allowable gathering size put in place by provincial health restrictions.
The Objective
The client’s main vision was to create an event of shared experiences where staff could enjoy each other’s company after being apart for so long. She wanted to treat her team to an evening of stress-free and festive experiences. This was to include food and drink and fun activities in a casual setting. It was essential to her that diversity, equity, and inclusion were considered at every step in the planning process.
Three Main Event Objectives
- To host a corporate Christmas party for company employees that would boost morale at a difficult point in an ongoing pandemic.
- To adhere to all current public health guidelines and restrictions concerning gatherings, so guests didn’t contract anything and then bring it home to their families.
- To make it inclusive in terms of theme aspects and dietary requirements, so all guests would enjoy themselves equally and not feel uncomfortable.
How The Objective Was Achieved
The best solution to our challenges for this event was to send guests on a rotating circuit of food, drink and activities, all connected by a traditional horse-drawn carriage ride.
Add in festive drinks and charitable giving opportunities inside two warm and inviting venues, and this pandemic event was not only creative, but it was also enjoyable!
Station one was at Vancouver Rowing Club. This station was filled with hot festive fare and a chance for colleagues to reconnect and visit. Next was station two; this was the horse-drawn carriage tour with hot chocolate, popcorn, toques and umbrella giveaways to protect passengers from the elements. This station was a fun and engaging way to transport guests from the first venue to the second. Lastly, at Brockton Pavilion, station three included fun winter activities and quirky snack boxes. Teams were picked up at their downtown offices by minibuses, delivered to the first station, and rotated through the rest of the stations on the hour. They were then transported back to the office by minibuses, all while staying in their pre-determined groups.
The Results
After several barriers and a myriad of pandemic challenges throughout the planning process, we were able to use these roadblocks to help shape our event effectively.
Naturally, by the end of the evening, everyone was sure to have their favourite station. But the most important aspect was that they would have had a shared guest experience that they were going to reminisce about for months to come.
In Conclusion
Our client was in love with our innovative event concept that creatively combined guest inclusivity with COVID safety guidelines. Seeing her employees joyfully at each station made her speechless with gratitude.
Not only did our team knock it out of the park in terms of a wonderful corporate Christmas party, but the attendees will also remember this event as the best thing they got to do in a group setting during Covid 19. Years down the road, when they are thinking back to the COVID-19 pandemic, they will tell the story of this inclusive, COVID-safe, Corporate Christmas event that allowed them to join together for a night of good times.
Head over to our portfolio to see more fabulous corporate Christmas parties!
