Christmas came early for a group of business event organisers, who were treated to an intimate festive-themed dinner inside Hamilton’s Claudelands Arena on Friday night (6 December).

Dubbed ‘Twenty-Two Trees’, the dinner included a delicious three-course Christmas meal from Claudelands’ catering partner Montana Food and Events, festive tunes by pianists Paulo Galceran and Bayley Milne, and carols by members of the Waikato Rivertones Chorus.

The name ‘Twenty-Two Trees’ was inspired by the 20 locally-grown Christmas trees, one digital on-screen tree courtesy of AV supplier Vidcom, and one custom-built tree that adorned the arena for the event.  

The 8m-high custom-built tree was created by H3’s Technical Services team using around 300 metres of festoon lights. It included a 5m circular truss provided by Rotorua-based Dynamics AV and other components obtained from local organisations such as The Meteor, Hamilton Operatic Society, Event Technique and ACLX.

Following the dinner, the 20 trees sourced from Waikato Christmas Trees were gifted to Women’s Refuge for families throughout the region to enjoy this Christmas season.

H3 Business Development Manager Melissa Williams says the bespoke dinner was a valuable opportunity to showcase Claudelands to this important group of guests.

“We always cherish the chance to host business event organisers at Claudelands and show them exactly what our venue, team and partners are capable of,” says Williams.

“This was a chance for us to tap into the creative minds and innovators throughout our business to deliver something really special that would leave a lasting impression.”

The dinner was part of a three-day famil of the region hosted by the local convention bureau, Business Events Waikato. Other locations visited by the group including Waitomo Caves, Hobbiton Movie Set, Vilagrad Winery, Zealong Tea Estate and Hampton Downs.

Claudelands is managed by H3, a unit of Hamilton City Council responsible for managing Hamilton’s premier event venues.