“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”
– Norman Vincent Peale –
The Annual Christmas Gathering organized by the Club Service Avenue of the Rotaract Club of University of Kelaniya, CHIRSTINZEL ‘22 was concluded as one of the most memorable evenings in the RACUOK calendar, on the 29th of December 2022 at the University premises with the participation of 100+ lovely club members.
With the main purpose of strengthening the bond between the members and to distract them from their monotonous lifestyle of academics, the Organizing Committee of Christinzel ‘22 had planned out the eve with a very engaging agenda filled with joyous carols, fun games, mesmerizing voices and many more.
Commencing the project planning in the last week of November, the OC gave their fullest throughout the month of December to mark the year-end unforgettable to all the participants. From the decorations to the agenda to the entire event, everything was well planned to give the members the biggest joy of the season.
The party room was blacked out and with the countdown, all the scintillant lights filled the room grabbing the cheer of the audience, making them attracted towards the decorations.
The hosts for the day Rtr. Kandakumar Gangadaran and Rtr. Wickshi Kalani introduced themselves and invited Rtr. Chathuranga Mendis, the Co-chair of the project to officially welcome the gathering.
Then, just as Buddy the Elf says, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear”, the Christinzel Carol Team passed the message of Christmas to the audience with a carol event, and everybody enjoyed their soothing voices. With a mashup of few famous Carols that we do hear everywhere during this season, the team was able to get the crowd to join them in singing.
The hosts then conducted the ‘Sweet Selfie’ contest where the audience was grouped according to their seating arrangement and was asked to capture a unique group selfie photograph of them, post it on the official RACUOK Facebook page with a creative group name and grab the most number of reactions. All the groups actively participated in this contest and was busy like bees searching for best photo locations; the Christinzel decorations. Even though the party premises were limited with space, it was not a restriction for creativity. The photogenic members of RACUOK were able to click unique poses giving the Christmas vibe and the FB page was filled with the lovely captures for voting.
Adding more colours to the Christmas night, Rtr. Dewminie Fernando, the winner of the Spotlight singing competition organized by the Sports and Entertainment Avenue of RACUOK, took the floor to entertain the audience with her melodious voice.
It was then time for the most enjoyable fun game; selecting the ‘Sweet Couple’ where the guessed sweetest couples among the audience were given a dare. This segment surely was the item which made the eyes watery with tears after laughing loud.
A special ‘Secret Santa Gift Exchanging’ was conducted by the Public Relations Avenue of RACUOK where the participants were informed prior to the party to bring a gift along with them and those gifts were jumbled and given back to the attendees where the gift giver was not disclosed.
Guess what? The Christinzel ‘22 Secret Santa has been among the crowd throughout the party. The OC was incredibly careful not to disclose the identity of the Santa until the hosts announced that the guesses for the Secret Santa through the WhatsApp group is now open.
Rtr. Manula Pethiyagoda, President of RACUOK for the year 2022/23 expressed his thoughts about the event and consequently, handed over the prizes and gifts for the lucky Christmas winners.
The Most Creative Video Content award selected by a judge of the Creative TikTok Christmas Video Contest conducted parallel to the Christinzel ‘22 project, was won by Rtr. Sandepani Godage for her talent in dubbing and the Most Popular Video Contest award selected through the highest likes for the original video in the official TikTok page of RACUOK was won by Rtr. Lakshika Manori for her craft; a cute Santa Claus.
The ‘Sweet Selfie’ award was won by ‘Team Christmas Chaos’ and two couples were awarded the ‘Sweet Couple’ for their entertaining and emotional acts for the day.
Rtr. Thedini Herath guessed the Secret Santa correctly as Rtr. Dushyanth Rathnayake, Co-director of the Professional Development Avenue of RACUOK for the year 2021-22 after analyzing the three hints; many finds it difficult to pronounce his name, he defines himself as a leader just as his surname says, and he is a mixed rice lover.
Coming towards the end of the party, Rtr. Dinura Liyanage, Vice president of RACUOK for the year 2022-23 and Rtr. Pamudi Vithanage, finalist of the Spotlight singing competition unveiled their voices with a duet. This segment added another colour to the entire event and the faces of the participants showed how much they were enjoying the moment.
The proceedings were then handed over to the Co-Directors of the Club Service Avenue of RACUOK for the year 2022-23, Rtr. Minduli Perera and Rtr. Vishwanee Alahakoon. They thanked the audience for being with them at the party and specially took time to appreciate the hard work of the OC for lighting the CHRISTINZEL ‘22 Christmas Gathering bright for everybody to remember.
After the Vote of Thanks delivered by Rtr. Manilka Shalindha, Co-chair of the project, the event was officially concluded remarking the end of the year 2022 with joy and stepping towards the New Year with a celebration.
“The CHRISTINZEL friends met as strangers and became the CHRISTINZEL family with tons of memories in a very short time.”
