I genuinely tried to organise the office Christmas party this year for Signal Studio and our developers.
What could possibly go wrong?
As it turns out, quite a lot.
From trying to find a date everyone could make, to choosing a venue, an activity and a meal, it quickly became a festive puzzle that refused to fit together.
First, I discovered something important. You cannot drink alcohol before axe-throwing. It may sound obvious, but it didn’t occur to me when I confidently booked and paid the non-refundable fee.
The venue then informed me that we would each need a wristband to prevent us from buying drinks until we had completed the one-hour axe-throwing session. My friend and excellent coder “Phillis” put it perfectly when he said it would be great to “stand around drinking lemonade for an hour, with a top up during the axe hurling.”
Tempting, but no.
Then I thought a BBQ-style meal afterwards would be ideal. Brilliant idea, until I realised the venue only has outdoor seating. Lovely in July. Less charming when it is December and everyone is in festive outfits rather than padded, Arctic-ready jackets.
I work with fantastic marketing minds at lots of excellent companies every day, so I tried to imagine how they would sell this to the team. No matter how creative I tried to be, there was simply no positive spin strong enough.
That is when I realised something very important.
December is already chaos. Why are we adding to it?
So we are now having an after-Christmas get-together instead. A calmer time, when diaries are not bursting and spirits are a little lighter. And who knows, we might even get to throw that axe after all.
