A golden christmas dinner

I love having large groups get together. That's a given!

At this point in my career, I've coordinated and assisted in planning somewhere between 150-200 events. Corporate functions tops the list of some of my favorites. Don't get me wrong, I also love personal/social events too. I mean, I love it all and they both resonate with me differently. But corporate events are something that I really do enjoy.  

​That means one of my favorite times of the year is also the winter; but only for event purposes. Any other time, you will find me basking in the sun! However, this is about the time when all the Christmas party/employee appreciation events take place. These events are so much fun! Usually I am working with an HR manager or someone who has volunteered to help plan this event for their coworkers. Because of that, typically, it's their work friends that they are excited to have this event for and want to be sure everyone enjoys it. A lot of times this includes a slideshow of the year with fun photos, awards, and a lot of mingling! In some instances, they even want to decorate the room that aligns with their company. That could mean anything from personalized napkins and stand-up banners to rented linens and speciality decor! 

This particular group I had the honor of helping coordinate had a unique situation. A few years back, they had a grand Christmas party for the company. They really did deck everything out with rented linens, silverware, glassware, etc. See, this was not only a Christmas party but it was also a celebration of the owner's wife for they knew she did not have much time left. So they really dedicated the evening to her. 

The next time they were to have an event at the venue was 3 years later, this is the one I got to help with (which is why I now know the story of the previous event). They did not need all the bells and whistles like the last event but they did want to make it special still. We pulled elements that were similar but also used what we had in our inventory as well. ​

This was for a small group, under 20 people. The room was fairly large for 20 people, but we found the best way to take up as much space possible. We did a big square table in the middle of the room! **Also peek the beautiful Christmas Tree**

We used elements like gold chargers, a very large table runner, white pyramid napkin folds, gold silverware, and preset waters. The biggest kicker on this table was the runner. Standard table runners are wide enough to take up 1/3 of the width and long enough to run off the table about 6-10 inches on each end. The longest typical standard table runner dimension is 108 inches long, which is about 9 ft. Well, this table was made with 3.5 ft x 3.5 tables. This table took 8 of those tables to make one long table for 17 guests. The dimensions being 14 ft long, 7 ft wide; a very awkward size table for a normal table runner.

What we were able to do was partner with our local party rental company and rented two 90x152 of these beautiful vintage gold lux linens and great the "runner" look. It was a challenge getting the middle situated right but with a lot of playing around with it, experimenting with different ways to fold it, and a lot of time allotted to do just that, we did it! 

The other items we rented like chargers and silverware can be found below too. You'll also notice how different the linen may look in the photo than in "real life". If you ever get the chance to go to the warehouse or rent a piece prior to the event, I always would just so you really know how it looks in real life. Another way to get a feel is to ask the sales rep to tell you more or ask what they think about it. You could also ask them to snap a photo of it with their phone or camera in real light. All good ways!