Work Social Event Ideas

It was an absolute blast working with WeWork as a part of their brilliantly curated Christmas activities and experiences for their staff. The lovely Annick had done a terrific job creating a varied and inspiring range of pursuits for both WeWork employees and members as client events. We set up ‘Pop Up’ cupcake decorating area and we were absolutely inundated by people wanting to have the opportunity to try their hand at cake making. I was really impressed by the standard of cake decorating and their were a lot of really imaginative cupcakes being created. It always surprises me when people talk about cake decorating being a women’s thing. On this occasion there were definitely a lot more men than women taking part. And there was a lot of competition between them. I always find this when we are doing team building and conference activities, the guys always take it much more seriously than the women do. It’s such a great idea to create all these varied experiences for their member’s to get involved with and fosters a real sense of community and belonging as well as a great opportunity for some networking. I have worked for WeWork before hosting a cupcake decorating workshop as a team bonding activity for one of their monthly mixer evenings. It was really fun and they were a lovely group. I was really impressed by the London Bridge venue and loved the concept of what they do and how they do it. This time working at Devonshire Square I learnt so much more about the company ethos and discovered just why their employees love working there. They are a really young company and have such a fresh approach to running a business. They are really into sustainability and have a no plastics policy. They also support refugees as their priority charity. As you know this is close to my heart with my fundraising for help Refugees through my initiative #Bake4Refugees. A lot of businesses are wary of showing support for this cause as it has become so politicised so I really admire and respect them for this. We had such great feedback from everyone and they were so appreciative of what we offered we are really looking forward to going back to do more cake events with them soon.

Kids Cake Making Workshop

Aquaclean had a fab idea for the product launch of their new stain resistant sofa The Monica (Gellar, natch). They invited a group of kids to set up The kids Kafe! They wanted to prove just how stain resistant their sofas were and what better way than by small people spilling sticky drinks and dropping food all over them? I was brought in to supply a fun cake making workshop for the kids to take part in between takes (The whole messy experiment was filmed to be shared on social media). The mummy bloggers and kids customers were also able to get involved in my cake class. As you can see the kids did a fantastic job with their cake making. They got vey experimental working sweets and licorice string into their cupcake designs. They even managed to master piping buttercream swirls! At the end of the cake decorating lesson they were very happy to have their cakes packed up for them to take home. A lovely surprise was seeing the fabulous Scummy Mummies who were there to interview the staff and customers in their own inimitable style. It is always a pleasure when our paths cross at various family blogger days throughout the year.

Cake Making Birthday Party

Camilla wanted to celebrate her birthday by getting together with her best friends and having a cake making workshop. They had a great time. Firstly they learnt how to bake the cakes from scratch using organic eggs and real butter as well as fair trade sugar and flour. I explained how much better ‘mouth feel’ and flavour you get using real butter rather than margarine which I really don’t think is good for you. I try and use organic and free range whenever possible in my baking lessons. There was plenty of time do chat over a glass of bubbly whilst the cakes baked. We even put on Heart FM for more of a party vibe. They were a really interesting group of girls. All of them lawyers in different fields and at different companies. Some of them want us to go into their offices to host one of our popular cake making team bonding, client and networking events. We’ve worked a lot with law firms over the years. They seem to really like how well are events work as icebreakers and bonding experiences. Once the cakes were baked I showed the girls how to trim the cakes using a cake cutter (a bit like a cheese wire) and a bread knife. Then I demonstrated filling and crumb coating the cakes. Finally I taught them how to ice the cakes with a palette knife and some different styles of decorations they could finish decorating the cakes with. As you can see they each did something totally unique in the cake class They were really thrilled with the end results and excited to take them home to show to their family and friends. What a great cake making birthday party Camilla had. And who knows, perhaps I will be seeing her soon at a cake making company event in her offices!

Conference Activity for 'What's Possible' Conference

The Specialist Works were having a conference for their clients. So, Channel 4, asked us to create a ‘Great British Bake Off’ inspired cake making area to remind the brands what great advertising potential the baking show created. It was a fantastic conference. As we were right next to the stage I heard most of the speakers. My favourite was the one called ‘Be More Pirate’. It was all about being a disruptor and creating ‘good trouble’- right up my street! Our cake making conference activity proved to be a big hit with the delegates. They had a brilliant time bonding with colleagues and making new connections whilst piping buttercream. The pop up cake decorating area was perfect for people to wander up to during breaks throughout the day. The guys from Channel 4 were great fun and embraced the cake making workshop wholeheartedly. In fact they really got quite competitive with their cupcake piping techniques. There were people from lots of different brands there and loads of interest in us providing cake making team bonding, networking and client events for them. The guys from The Specialist Works were absolutely lovely. I made sure I took plenty of cupcakes over to the reception area to give them a little lift at the end of the day. I had to leave before the party kicked off but they had gone to so much trouble with everything that I’m sure it was great bash. I did manage to see the brilliant ‘rap battles’ where opposing companies battled it out to see who had the ‘best game’. What an imaginatively curated conference it was.

Corporate Team Building London

Olivia from Expedia got in touch to see if we could host a team building event for her department at Expedia. Being a multinational with offices all over the world they work in the same department as co workers on all four corners of the world. So what they do is get together every three months to have some time together bonding as a team. Obviously we were only too happy to create a fun filled cake making activity for them to enjoy. We love doing company events. We took everything required for the cake event to their offices and set up in a conference room (one of the great things about our cake workshops is that we are fully portable). They had a brilliant time making cakes creating fabulous buttercream swirls. I was pretty impressed by the general standard of cake decorating. Then the speed cupcake decorating element brought out their competitive side and led to much hilarity with a couple of cakes ending up with so much icing they wouldn’t fit in the participants mouths! All in all it was a great team event. At the end of the 2hr cake class they decided to open up the meeting room to their coworkers for them all to enjoy the cupcakes together. This was a wise move as I’m not sure the cakes would have survived the flights home. It is always such a pleasure to work with Expedia and Egencia.

Brides Magazine Live

We were thrilled to be invited by Conde Nast Brides Magazine to do a cake making workshop at their live show as they thought it would inspire their visitors to do it as a fun hen activity. . I went to host the workshop myself and I took along a small film crew who are making a little promo for us. I really wanted to give the group of 16 a taste each of our different cupcake decorating levels. So they had the opportunity to work with cream cheese icing as well as buttercream. The girls applied themselves to the cake making lesson and got some amazing results. After piping a variety of swirls and leaves they did an amazing job on their buttercream ruffles and buttercream flowers during their cake class. Some of them were really keen on booking their hen parties with us. One girl wanted to know if we could come to Oxford for her hen do and I said that as long as it was a large group we would be able to do that. At the end of the cake decorating class they were very happy with their end results and we packed every ones cakes up for them to take home and share with their families. We are really looking forward to seeing ourselves featured in Brides magazine in a couple of months.

Corporate Summer Party Ideas

We Work wanted to do a fun corporate event that gave the opportunity for staff members from different buildings to get together. Needless to say we were happy to oblige with one of our cupcake decorating team events.  It was during a World Cup game and we took it as a good sign that three of the guys who were in the bar to watch it couldn't help but watch our cake workshop instead. We invited them to get involved and they had a great time- surprising themselves with the professionalism of their end results. At the end of the 1hr workshop we headed out onto the deck to capture the stunning London back drop in a pic. (We were in the London Bridge building) They were a lovely group who really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of our company event. It was a perfect icebreaker and the group really bonded during the session.They had a fantastic time at the cake making workshop and were excited about the prospect of us returning to do the next level cake class. 

Kate's Hen Do

What a great time Kate and her Hens had at her cake making hen do. Her mum had come all the way over from Oz with one of her oldest friends (Kate is Australian). The rest of the Hen Party where made up of stage managers from various west end shows. They did a fantastic job with their cupcake decorating creating some beautiful buttercream swirls. As you can see there was a lot of laughter between them all. As they were a small group it was a lovely intimate event and I was able to give them lots of individual attention. At the end of the cake class they couldn't help but admire their cake making achievements and were thrilled to be able to take back their beautiful cupcake creations to share with their friends and family. 

Mermaid Birthday Party

As you probably know by know I love cake decorating and there is nothing I like more than creating a cake table. They are a lot of work though so I only do them twice a year. Once for Teddy's birthday and once for Cosy's. Luckily they are six months apart which gives me plenty of time to recover! For some reason my husband always seems to be away in the lead up to Cosy's birthday which is frustrating as it's when I need him most. This year he was at his brothers stag party and didn't get back till the night before the party. That meant that as well as effectively being a working single parent for the week I had to work cake making night and day to get all the treats prepared for the cake table. When I say had to obviously I mean want to but it does always turn into a big commitment on top of everything else. This year I did a couple of things I haven't got round to before. One is I printed off some mermaid themed 'food cards' from Etsy which my talented adult daughter wrote on in calligraphy. I think this really pulled the whole look of the table together and made it look more finished. The other thing is that I set the table up and photographed it before the guests arrived to make sure I got some good picks before everything got mauled. Also, I got a pic of the mermaid birthday cake in situ before whisking it away to bring out as a surprise for the magical moment when everyone sings 'Happy Birthday'. Unfortunately the mischievous birthday girl snuck a good look at whilst I was taking the pics. Next year I may need to arrange someone to take her to the park whilst I do that. Having done all this in advance did mean that I was able to socialise a bit during the party and have a few drinks rather than my usual rushing around like a mad person. I did indulge in a couple of bottles of Corona beer and relaxed whilst the kids did a great job entertaining themselves. In fact I relaxed so much that it wasn't till everyone had left that I realised that I'd totally forgotten to do the Pinata! Still at least I didn't forget the cake! The funny thing was I had thought I was so organised, wrapping the parcel for pass the parcel (or parcel, parcel, as my kids call it) and prepping the party bags in advance. There's still always something I've overlooked!

Company Freshers Week Event

Our cupcake decorating workshop was the perfect activity for Capgemini's fresher week entertainment. The new recruits had been working hard getting to know the ins and outs of the company operations. So they were well and truly ready to have a few drinks and unwind whilst learning a fun new skill at this company event. They really enjoyed the cake making workshop and were thrilled with their results. We covered everything that we would do in a beginners cupcake decorating class. They soon got the hang of the buttercream piping techniques. As you can see they had really bonded over the buttercream and delicious cakes. They were soon laughing and giggling like old friends whilst enjoying a couple of drinks. It was a really fun team event and a lovely way to welcome the new recruits. I'm sure doing such a fun networking event really helped the new freshers settle into the company quickly and easy.