To celebrate the opening of our new warehouse our company threw a Christmas party for all our employees. The theme was Christmas Under the Sea and it was held in the new warehouse. I wondered how the corporate party coordinator would be able to make it look more than a decorated warehouse, but the night of the party, I was amazed by what I saw.

My first indication this was a classy party was the valet waiting to take my car when I drove into the parking lot. The first thing I saw when I came through the door was bunches of cloth seaweed. Strips of green cloth had been twisted together into long pieces stretching from the ceiling to the floor, around the perimeter of the party area. Leaves of sheer iridescent, green cloth had been tied around the seaweed “stems”.

I couldn’t tell you where the giant coral, giant clam and ship wreck props came from, but I bet it must have been rented from of some theater prop warehouse; they really made the Under Sea theme come alive.

A pianist on a grand piano near the 12-foot Christmas tree was playing Christmas music. The tree was decorated with faux seaweed and seashell garland with realistic sea life ornaments.

Each table was covered with pastel linens and the matching chair covers were tied with iridescent pink, green, peach and purple organza ribbon bows. The centerpieces looked like pieces of coral reef. Realistic plastic sea creatures and shells were glued onto the colorful fake coral.

A dinner buffet took up a row of tables to one side of the dining area. The buffet had so many choices: Prime rib, marinated chicken breasts, turkey, baked fish, mashed potatoes, yams, mixed steamed vegetables, and buttered rolls. It was so hard to decide; everything looked so good. An ice sculpture of a pair of leaping dolphins decorated the space on the table between the dinner buffet and the dessert buffet. There were so many kinds of dessert: Cakes, pies, éclairs, Bavarians, cheesecake, and tarts; it looked like the caterer had cleaned out the bakery.

The bar was decorated like a giant clam and served beer and wine to the guests. During dinner, the pianist played Christmas music, but I noticed a band was setting up on the stage in front of the Christmas tree.

After dinner, the Calypso band started playing festive island music and guests began dancing. A photographer strolled among the guests capturing candid shots of the guests enjoying themselves. I danced for a while then chatted with friends until late. It was a great party.