Tag: shoreditch

Christmas Party Silly Season

December 16, 2024

With just over a week to go until Christmas Day, silly season is well and truly in full swing! Last week I had two Christmas parties in London with work, so I thought I’d share with you what we got up to and how we got into the jolly festive spirit.

Last Tuesday was our member’s Christmas Social event at Hijingo Bingo in Shoreditch. We chose this activity as something different and immersive to mix up the usual networking format.

Starting at 11:30am, guests enjoyed drinks in the bar until they were ushered through the illuminated tunnel and seated in the main room for bingo.

Unlike typical bingo, there are dancers and a ‘bot’ who introduces each game and explains the rules as well as the prizes up for grabs. From a holiday for two or up to £500 cash, the prizes were very desirable and got everyone enthusiastic to play the games.

After the first few games there was a break for food served in the main room. This was a selection of festive inspired bites including pigs in blankets with a miso maple glaze, and turkey roulade with a cranberry puree.

The second round of games commenced before the event concluded at 2:30pm. Short but sweet, the bingo games were great fun and we had fantastic feedback from our guests who really enjoyed the afternoon.

I’d highly recommend Hijingo Bingo as a venue not just for the fun and immersive bingo experience, but also for the brilliant management team who were very well organised, super friendly and worked hard to deliver our event seamlessly – https://www.hijingo.com

Moving onto our second festive party of the week, on Thursday we went back to Shoreditch for our staff party at an escape room followed by a dinner. We met at BOXPARK beforehand and enjoyed some street food for lunch, as well as a few drinks to kick off celebrations.

At 2:30pm we were booked for our session at the escape rooms at which point we split into our teams and were assigned our rooms. My team’s room had the theme of time travel and our mission was to travel back in time to Paris to locate the weapon used for a murder. We all got very into the story and enjoyed the challenge of solving the mystery as a team.

Our dinner reservation at 5pm was for a pasta restaurant called Noci in Shoreditch. To start I had the endive salad with grapes, walnuts and a pistachio dressing which although was a generous portion for an entree, was still the perfect light bite to begin the meal.

My pasta of choice for the main course was strozzapreti with tomato, taggiasca olives, fried aubergine and a vegan cream cheese on top. The pasta was deliciously fresh, the sauce was very tasty and everything was served nice and hot.

For dessert I had the plant-based chocolate mousse with olive oil, sea salt and toasted almonds, a gorgeously rich and chocolatey note to finish on – https://nocirestaurant.co.uk

The night continued on at another bar in Shoreditch where the drinks continued to flow and we had a very merry time indeed. Needless to say, we know how to live up to the fun and games of silly season!

Christmas Party Silly Season

December 17, 2023

As soon as we hit December, I find myself at another Christmas celebration week on week; this is the official season of partying and being merry!

The month began with a festive lunch and private show around on the 5th December at the newly opened Fairmont Windsor Park.

I was invited with work to view the stunning event spaces and rooms there and the hotel was beautifully decorated ready for Christmas, it got me feeling so festive!

We were treated to lunch in the gorgeous bar area where I had a few small plates of dill cured salmon served with buttermilk sauce and pickled cucumber, and the pumpkin kale salad topped with blackberries and pumpkin seeds. The food was exquisite and it was a lovely afternoon being hosted by the team at the Fairmont.

Later that week, it was our member’s Christmas Social Lunch with work which we held at Platform in Shoreditch.

Starting at 12 noon, we welcomed our guests to play retro games together whilst enjoying drinks and freshly made festive pizzas. This is a relaxed, fun event we host every December to thank our members for their engagement and support throughout the year.

Onto the second week of December, last Thursday we had our internal team celebration lunch at Zero Degrees in Reading. This was a great opportunity to spend time with colleagues outside of work and celebrate another successful year together as a team.

That brings us to yesterday when we drove to the Cotswolds for a family lunch with my boyfriend’s relatives. I wore my Stradivarius mid-wash flared jeans, Pull & Bear khaki long sleeve backless top, platform Ugg boots, Zara cropped aviator jacket, a check print scarf also from Zara, my brown knitted beret and my new Coach signature print handbag, worn across body to complete the look.

We met at a pub called The Bell Inn at Welford on Avon and to start, me and my boyfriend shared the fresh bread and olives served with oil and balsamic.

For main I opted for the smoked salmon and prawn salad paired with a crisp glass of Pinot Grigio wine, the perfect light lunch.

There’s plenty of roast dinners and heavy food to come over the Christmas period, so I always like to have something fresh and healthier when I can.

Another wonderful afternoon spent with family and friends enjoying good food and drinks whilst catching up and having lots of laughs together.

So now we approach the final week before Christmas bringing with it yet more parties and celebrations with loved ones; let the happy merry times roll ❤

Girls Day East London; Bottomless Brunch & Drag Bingo

March 26, 2023

I love an excuse to get dolled up and spending a Saturday arvo with my best girlfriends enjoying a boozy brunch. Having been a few birthdays in the group recently, we decided to book a bottomless brunch this weekend followed by a night out in East London. Let the antics commence!

With the weather still on the cooler side at the moment, I decided to wear my long over the knee boots with my black NEUW denim jeans, a white one sleeve asymmetric crop top, check print Stradivarius blazer, my usual gold jewellery, cute sunnies and my green fur coat to keep warm.

Brunch was booked for late afternoon at Raspa@100 Hoxton, a Filipino fusion restaurant offering a great bottomless brunch deal lasting 100 minutes for £38 each. We made the most of the drinks swapping between cocktails, slushies, prosecco of course and they even treated us to shots on the house.

The food spread was delicious and nice to have something different to the usual brunch menu options. Livy had the pork belly silog breakfast served with garlic fried rice, fried eggs & pickle, whilst Lucy had the halloumi finger sandwich and Cara opted for the sweet option of banana & buttermilk French toast.

My dish was the karoke which are Korean potato croquettes served with poached eggs, chilli dressing and a cheese sauce. The flavours in this were sensational and that pool of chilli dressing sauce was just to die for.

Bellies full of brunch and booze, we walked over to nearby Shoreditch to have more drinks at The Bike Shed which was buzzing on a Saturday evening in town.

Another bottle of wine later, and it was time to head over to the Drag Bingo we had tickets for. I was unsure of what to expect but needless to say we had a fabulous time!

Sure enough we ended our night tearing up the dance floor in another bar. Being friends since infant school, anytime we get together we have such a laugh and never take ourselves too seriously.

I think this picture beuatifully sums up my true happiness and joy following a day of love and laughter with my very best girlfriends; let’s stay forever young at heart. ❤