Firebird Fest 2022

31 May 2022

On Friday 13th May we celebrated our belated 21st Birthday, hosting ‘Firebird Fest 2022’ and WOW what a party it was! With over 200 industry professionals and venue contacts in attendance, we welcomed guests on a fantastical festival themed journey of entertainment, dancing, glitter and fun!

Held at the iconic Great Fosters in Egham, it’s fair to say that our vision for ‘Firebird Fest 2022’ was a little out of the ordinary, but the Great Fosters team were truly amazing and gave us free reign to create something just that little bit different!

Having worked with the venue for many, many years (far too many to count!) and knowing the events space extremely well, we immediately knew that Great Fosters would be the perfect venue to host our celebrations... Boasting its very own events wing, with private courtyard, leading into the Painted Hall, Orangery, Tithe Barn and Terrace, we set to work and utilised all these spaces, creating a very immersive festival feel throughout.

As guests arrived via the private courtyard entrance, they were greeted by an array of entertainers including fire performers, stilt walking butterflies and our very own dancing mirror ball unicorn and bunny!! We also created a festival themed entranceway complete with glittery rainbow arch, giant wellies, over-sized flowers and a golden lion. To enable guests to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the festival party vibe in the courtyard, arrival drinks were also on hand. Showcasing the best of ‘what we do’ and watching guests’ reactions as they arrived was just fabulous!

After collecting festival lanyards from our hosts, guests made their way through the rainbow archway and past giant mushrooms into the Painted Hall. Here we had a retro selfie booth, allowing guests to choose their favourite festival props and strike a pose before making their way through to the Orangery.

Transformed into a chill out festival space, the Orangery looked super cool, complete with draped ceiling, lighting, casual seating, circular cocktail bar with a tree in the middle, more mushrooms, giant boombox DJ booth, glitter artists glamming up guests and last but not least a sequin photo opportunity wall adorned with colourful balloons and a giant unicorn! (Also perfect for a surprise guest to have photo’s in front of later!!)

Whilst guests sipped their cocktails, mingled and took in all there was to see, bowl food was served to allow maximum time for networking and partying. In-keeping with the festival theme, there was a variety of bowl food on offer, including cheeseburger sliders, pulled pork burrito bowls, falafel wraps, berry Eton mess and churros with chocolate sauce – delicious!!

From here, guests made their way out onto the Terrace, where they got to experience the toe-tapping ambience of our acoustic band The Herringbone Cocktail Club. Complete with oil drum poseur tables, lanterns and the venue’s stunning stretch tent with twinkling fairy lights, this area was really buzzing with guests enjoying the festival atmosphere. We also had one of our fantastic close up mix and mingle magicians who worked the crowd and kept guests entertained.

Now ready to open up the Tithe Barn, we welcomed guests through, where we had a contortionist set and ready. She performed an awe inspiring ambient set on top of a rotating mirror ball, with beams of light reflecting all around the barn, it really was mesmerising.

A bespoke build, comprising of no less than three-tiers, controllable LED lighting and clusters of impactful festival style props either side, the Main Stage at Firebird Fest really did look amazing. To complete the impactful feel, we also installed colour changing festoon across the length of the ceiling (plus lots of other lighting!), which provided us with the ultimate party atmosphere.

Once guests were gathered in the Tithe Barn, our MD Paul Griffiths took to the stage, welcomed everyone to ‘Firebird Fest 2022’ and said a few brief words, before SPARK! took to the floor, performing their incredible LED drummer act and kicking the event into full on party mode!!! 

We then went straight into the band’s first set with The London Function Band taking centre stage! Oozing sophistication and energy, the band wowed our guests and gave the party real pizazz!! Alternating with our DJ, the Tithe Barn became the ultimate festival dance floor, with professional dancers performing on podiums, the stilt walking butterflies joining in the fun and even our giant Firebird Ted making an appearance!

To keep guests re-fuelled as the evening went on, we had fresh pizza’s served outside on the Terrace and a nitrogen ice cream cart in the Tithe Barn. Using an advanced liquid nitrogen injection system our guests got to see instant ice cream being made, right in front of their eyes! Pretty cool…

Now for the finale of our festival line up, storming the stage at midnight, our surprise act, the one and only Peter Andre performed live alongside The London Function Band!! Singing a selection of songs including ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ and the well-known classic ‘Mysterious Girl’ he really bought the house down!! Guests also had the opportunity to have their photographs taken with him after his performance. Peter was a real gent and took his time to chat with guests and soak up the atmosphere. The look on guests faces whilst chatting to him was brilliant, for some of our guests it was their teenage dream come true!

The evening really was a celebration of all things fun, giving guests the opportunity to re-connect with colleagues from within the industry and the Firebird Team. It’s safe to say we LOVED every minute and really wish we could do it all again!! 

We’ve had some fantastic feedback from our clients, so here’s a selection of quotes that really did make us smile

I just wanted to say a massive thank you for inviting me – it was an absolutely AMAZING night from start to finish and seeing Peter was the icing on the cake, it couldn’t have been more perfect. I loved the theming, the food, the entertainment, and being my first face to face event since before Covid, I will never forget it.  I was beaming from ear to ear all weekend, I literally couldn’t stop smiling! - Yvonne

Thank you so much for inviting us to Firebird Fest. It was a great evening, and we could not stop smiling from start to finish, every time we re-entered the room, or turned our head something else was happening, a great mix of entertainment / food. Many thanks again for the invite and to your team for putting on the best night – Nick

Thank you to everyone at Firebird for the absolutely amazing Firebird Fest! We had such a brilliant evening! You guys seriously smashed it!! - Laura

Here’s to lots more fabulous events in the future - roll on the next 21 years!! 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dbnze7JeILk