Ahh yes, the festive season is upon us. Am I ready? No. I’ve been nattering on about it for weeks on the Dead Good Show but I still can’t quite get myself into the holiday mood. Now you’re all rolling your eyes thinking, well you’re Muslim and you’re not celebrating it anyway so what the heck am I complaining about… Regardless of whether I celebrate it or not, I usually find this time of year is filled with happy and joyful ambience.
But I’m just. Not. Feeling. It. Shall we blame the politicians, I mean who organises an election for the end of the year?!? Who has time and energy for that drama!!?!
Luckily for me, I was soon greeted by a lovely invitation to join a Christmas party. Not just any Christmas party, a Jet2 Christmas party. I stared at the invite, I was actually out of the country when it came through, and I pondered whether to go. I mean they’re inviting me as a blogger, but it’s been some time since I had been to a blogging event and I’ve had a really tough year. In an age where everything is Instagram-related or vlogs or stories or snapchat this was the first time in my blogging life where I felt really old and a little bit redundant. Does anyone write blogs anymore? Am I too old for this shindig?
The invite however was from a lovely Jet2 rep who I know back from my busy blogging days and I actually felt quite shocked and honoured that she had remembered me, even with my erratic 2019 existence. So I said yes.
The day arrived I put on my Christmas jumper, slapped on some lippy and arrived on time to kick off the celebrations at the host location, Food Sorcery. What I thought was going to be a simple Christmas mixer event, turned out to be an interactive get stuck in Christmas party and the best bit – I saw some OG blogger faces I hadn’t seen for so long!! It immediately eased my nerves (I really don’t know where they came from) and all my blogging love came flooding back.
What ensued was an afternoon of cocktail making – non alcoholic for me of course – cookery classes and the finale of the day, making our own wreaths. I have missed a number of Christmas parties over the last few weeks as Mo and I have either been out of the country or they’ve been on Friday nights when I’m working on the radio – but they were your typical boozy Christmas type parties which, let’s face it, isn’t really my scene. Now this, THIS was SO. ME.
Learning how to make creative drinks with the Harrogate Bar Tender so I can recreate them for my friends at home?
YES please.
Learning about all the beautiful locally sourced ingredients that can be found right here in Manchester and using them to knock up some party blinis?
YES please.
Reinventing how to cook brussel sprouts so that instead of them being something that I turn my nose up at I end up actually craving it?
YES please!!!
And to finally, FINALLLLY create my own festive wreath, something I’ve wanted to do for years???
YES. YES. YES.
It was the most perfect afternoon Christmas party, we chatted, we drank, we ate, we learnt so much!! (Can you tell I was in my element?). Food Sorcery as a destination was somewhat of a revelation to me, I didn’t even know this place existed in Manchester. I’ve been to many cookery courses in my time and I love how different they all are from each other, but I’ve not been to one quite like this in Manchester. Our chefs, Jason and Dan, have cooked all over the world and had some great stories to tell. Our different dietary requirements were all perfectly catered for and they both found ways to make me love new ingredients, which I will forever be grateful for (I can finally eat sprouts and wild mushrooms!!).
It had dawned on me that we were at a Jet2 event and I had never actually flown Jet2 before and I wasn’t quite sure what all this had to do with them? But I was having far too much fun to overthink the situation, so I carried on tending to my wreath. Can I just say that flower arranging is just as therapeutic as painting and I cannot recommend it enough! Our hosts graciously kept us in good spirits throughout, adding to the afternoon ambience by serving up warm spiced apple (which was delicioussss) and mince pies.
The time flew by and I really was quite sad to leave, it had been a wonderful afternoon spent with wonderful company.
That evening, I settled down to admire my own handiwork (I was a bit chuffed with my wreath, I’ve gotta say) and emptied out my treats to share with Mo whilst browsing through the brochures… and it all made sense. Jet2 were highlighting that they appreciate holidays are all about the experiences and creating memories and that’s what they did for us today, with the help of some lovely friends. The more I’ve started asking around, about people who have used Jet2, I’ve realised I seem to be one of the very few who hasn’t embarked on one of their trips, and everyone seemed to have only good things to say, which is intriguing.
(Small insight into where I’m considering…)
As Mo and I have now completed all our trips for 2019 and with nothing in the pipeline for 2020, it’s nice to be sat down looking at some options. I mean come on, is there really any point in working these days if you haven’t got some form of adventure to look forward to 😉
At least I can now start weighing up my options ready for when those New Year’s sales kick in and seeing as I am determined to make 2020 my year of new experiences – travel will never stop being my number one on the list.
*** Huge thanks to Jet2 for inviting me to their fabulous Christmas Party, it was just the pick me up I needed! All opinions and images here are mine, and writing this post, like all other posts I write was my decision to share.
Some links you should check out –
Jet2 –https://www.jet2holidays.com/ https://www.jet2holidays.com/city-breaks/christmas-markets– (I’ve heard on the grapevine the indulgent range is worth a peak btw)
Food sorcery – https://www.foodsorcery.co.uk/
Living Flowers – https://www.instagram.com/livingflowers232/
Harrogate Bartender – https://www.theharrogatebartender.co.uk/sevices
