“Yeehaw!” – Avionte’s Annual Holiday Party

Avionté’s year-end parties just keep getting better and better!

That’s how we felt after last Friday’s country-themed year-end party at Green Acres Event Center, a historic barn used for weddings and other celebratory events, located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Avionté’s nearly 100 employees and their spouses and significant others began arriving at the barn at five p.m., and the party went on all night as we all celebrated our company’s successes in 2014.

This year’s event venue was a two-story, beautifully-lit barn, with bars on the bottom and top floors, and a large open space on the top floor, where we had most of the night’s events like our dinner, hogtie and lasso competitions, and dancing later in the night! It was the perfect venue for the country theme we were going for, and everyone dressed to impress in plaid shirts, cowboy hats, boots and more! A few even went above and beyond with their costumes…

After everyone got a chance to tour the space, take some photos and get some drinks, we all made our way upstairs for the main meal, which included chicken, steak, vegetables, pasta, and more. A fire pit was going all night outside, with s’more supplies for dessert!

Everyone was having a great time chatting with coworkers and getting to know all of the spouses and significant others. For all Avionté events, the management team always make an emphasis on bringing spouses and significant others along to join in the fun, as Avionte is one big family.

We had some great activities planned for after dinner, including the lasso game and hogtie competition! Folks partnered up and raced to be the first ones to hogtie the legs of the stuffed cows we’d brought in. Soon, the games turned into a competition to hogtie … each other!

Soon after the competitions wrapped up, we all met on the dance floor again to work off some of our dinner calories and to get schooled on country line dancing. A local dance instructor came in to teach us all how to dance to some popular country songs, like Cotton Eyed Joe and The Tush Push. The whole floor was buzzing with energy as everyone caught on to the beat!

And what’s a Avionté party without some awesome prizes? We gave away a ton of cool stuff, like PlayStation 4 consoles and other electronics, a fire pit, a tent and more! Our employees were all given tickets when they came in, and had the opportunity to win more by participating in the games and dancing activities. And we gave extra tickets to the few brave folks who volunteered to do karaoke!

Our year-end parties really paint the picture of how fast we’re growing.  With nearly 200 people at this year’s party, the venue was alive with the energy. We didn’t want the night to end, and as Great Acres closed their doors, many of us made our way to The Prairie Tap House to continue the party.

It was a great night! You can see all the photos from the night on the Avionte Facebook page!