This year’s Christmas in July dinner took place in the exclusive atmosphere of the Park Hyatt in Melbourne.
After beginning the evening with a glass of Glühwein (German hot mulled wine) and some time for mingling with the other attendees, the 70 guests were invited to make their way into the beautifully decorated Trilogy Room. The Chamber’s Executive Director Alexandra Voss opened the evening by welcoming all guests and thanking the participating partners of the evening: Supporting Partner Dr. Oetker and in-kind partners Gewürzhaus, Henkell Brothers, Park Hyatt and Villeroy & Boch.
She then handed over the stage to Sharon Kempton, an internationally renowned soprano singer and Dr David Kram, a distinguished pianist, conductor and music director. The duo delighted our guests with beautiful German and English Christmas songs as well as operatic pieces, which set everyone in a Christmassy mood for a festive Christmas dinner.
After two scrumptious courses, another special surprise awaited everyone – the Christmas raffle. After all, it would not be Christmas without presents! Caroline Stapleton, Events Manager Melbourne, and Fred Himstedt, Managing Director, Dr. Oetker Australia New Zealand Food Companies, were excited to moderate the prize draw.
Guests found a Santa-bag filled with little gift boxes on each table and were kindly asked to draw one each and to open their gifts. Whilst all boxes were filled with a small chocolate treat, some lucky attendees found a golden winning ticket for one of the prizes.
Steve Karro from LeasePLUS Group was the lucky winner of a Hamper Pack with everything needed to bake and create desserts and dish up pizza perfection by Dr. Oetker, while Gregg Fowler from Henning Harders will be able to get equipped on all sorts of delicious Christmas spices with his Gewürzhaus voucher. With a Park Hyatt voucher for High Tea for two guests, Onkar Kale from pwc will be able to escape the cold Melbourne winter for a nice afternoon treat and Joanna Donagan from Monash University will now be able to serve the next Christmas dinner on her Royal porcelain set kindly donated by Villeroy & Boch.
But our raffle winners weren’t the only ones going home with some goodies, as our sponsors Dr. Oetker and Gewürzhaus made sure that everyone got a delicious individual gift and nobody had to leave empty handed.
After dessert everyone was invited to have their very own Christmas picture taken in our photo booth. Thanks to Francine Schaepper guests had lots of fun putting on Christmas props to have their pictures taken.
The German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce would like to thank all guests for attending the dinner and our partners and sponsors for supporting the event. Merry Christmas in July everyone!
You can view the photos for this event by clicking the link here.