Last Christmas you gave me a "rush" but the very next day "I got up again".
This year, I will be smarter and take elotrans to avoid the "hangover".

On 09.12.2022 it was that time of the year again! We were able to have our first real Christmas party since 2019, live and in person! That's why it was even nicer to be able to host a real party again this year! And we didn't let ourselves down... ;) Included was buffet, free drinks and a dancefloor where everyone could be wild and free!

The evening

The event took place in a pub near Munich, which we booked exclusively for our valantic DXA celebration. The evening started with a mulled wine reception outside in the beer garden. Since it was still snowing that day, everything was covered in snow and really cozy with bonfires and fairy lights. Outside at the bar, a wide variety of drinks were served - the drink of choice for most was, of course, mulled wine. ;) Our collogues arrived one by one, greeted each other and chatted with each other in a cozy atmosphere. This was the perfect ambience to get in the mood for the evening. In between, warm chestnuts were handed out as a small snack, which were also good hand warmers.

After everyone arrived, the celebration party was asked inside. A small snack was already prepared at each table, where everyone listened to the speech of Christoph Pschorn (Managing Director), who thanked everyone for the past year and officially started the party. Instead of buying Christmas presents for everyone individually, valantic DXA decided to do something influential with the money. For this reason, the money was donated in the name of the employees to the victims of the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Afterwards, the buffet was officially started, and the first hungry colleagues headed to the various choices which were displayed. A selection of various dishes was offered, so that there was something for everyone. Whether fish, meat, vegetarian or vegan - everyone was well taken care of! After everyone was fully taken care of, little by little the first Secret Santa gifts were finally unwrapped. These were placed inconspicuously on a large table at the beginning of the evening by everyone who took part, so that it wouldn’t be traceable who your Secret Santa was. After that, everyone got up from there tables, mixed and mingled with other colleagues in the room.

Later that evening, the dance floor was officially opened. For this we had booked our own DJ. The party ended at 3 o'clock in the morning, when the last colleagues left the pub and took their cab home. The cabs were organized days in advance to ensure that everyone got home safely - especially since the colleagues from Traunstein had a long way home.
 

Of course there is no Christmas party at valantic DXA without a Secret Santa! So another big "Secret Santa" campaign was started. Since we now have so many colleagues in the agency and especially new employees don't know everyone yet, Secret Santa is not an easy task. That's why we decided to use a tool to draw lots and organize the campaign. This tool was used to automatically distribute the raffle tickets and to anonymously ask the person to be gifted questions regarding the present or to draw up a wish list. This made the gift selection easier, especially when you don't know them closely.

But nevertheless, some got very lucky because they picked a colleague whom they know very well. In this case, funny gifts were gifted instead of choosing suggestions from the wish list. It then turned out that the opening of gifts became a real spectacle for everyone close by. In some cases Secret Santa was revealed quite quickly whenever they watched their gifts too closely while being unwrapped.

Overall, it can be said that the Secret Santa event was one of many highlights of the evening. The hustle and bustle of picking out and unwrapping presents created a great atmosphere and people laughed together about the presents and shared their joy.

All in all, it was a successful and fun evening – but usually this is always the case whenever the agency gets together for a celebration. A perfect end to a successful year.
Many thanks to all who were there and made this Christmas party so special!

More impressions of the evening:

Julia:
"Very nice evening! Finally seeing everyone in person again, especially the new Remote colleagues. Drinking hot Aperol together around the campfire and exchanging funny Secret Santa gifts, you quickly get to know each other on a personal level, away from the work topics. Each time it's a great feeling to look back on the past year and to have mastered the many challenges together as a team."

Stephanie:
"It was a super successful evening! We have such a great team, with that just every party becomes unforgettable! Thank you so much for this Christmas party, it was so much fun!

Michi:
"At the Christmas party, I noticed once again that we really just have cool people in the agency. I'm always pleasantly surprised at how friendly everyone is, even if you haven't worked directly with many of them yet."

Duygu:
"D for delicate, G for cozy, T for great, L for fun, S for beautiful. That's how I would describe the Christmas party in a nutshell. It was a successful party with delicious food, amusing moments and a great atmosphere. I thought it was great to see all my colleagues live for a change and talk to them in person. It was a good opportunity to test whether they can pronounce my name correctly."

Manu:
"As every year, the anticipation was great to meet all colleagues again (including the home office workers). After I won a great Christmas outfit at our Advent GIF contest, nothing got in my way. Once the drinks menu was tested, I picked the wine spritzer, the most important criterion for this was the 50% water in the glass."

Marcus:
"Many new impressions and I’ve met so many new colleagues. Already looking forward to the next agency celebration!"

Alex:
"Very nice and fun evening with new colleagues and good food. I was very happy to meet many new faces!"

Steve:
"The Christkindlmarkt and the warm chestnuts at the reception were positively noteworthy. (5 out of 5 stars)"

Evi:
"It was so nice to meet everyone again! I don't have any joint projects with many colleagues or don't meet them otherwise, because of the different locations. Great to meet everyone also in an informal setting. The atmosphere was just really good!"