Nelson Labs Holiday Party

Nelson Labs wanted its December 2025 holiday party to feel like a destination rather than a company dinner. Fat Fish Media redesigned the team's existing event space in Salt Lake City as a winter festival, with a custom ski-lift photo experience at the center, full lighting and audio, and a stage for the evening's program.

The brief

The room was familiar to everyone attending, so the design had to change it completely. Nelson Labs asked for something employees would photograph and share, a program that kept the energy up through awards and toasts, and a build that could go in and come out around a working facility.

What we produced

The centerpiece was a ski lift: a real chairlift bench set against a printed mountain backdrop with the Nelson Labs mark, flanked by flocked evergreens, vintage skis and drifts of snow, with a photographer and a photo station so every team could take a seat and take home the picture. Overhead we hung draped fabric and washed the ceiling and walls in red and green, with lighting that shifted as the night moved from dinner to program to party. A stage with PA, wireless microphones, a confidence monitor and an LED screen carried the speakers and the awards, and a dance floor kept the second half of the evening going.

The night

Guests walked into a space they did not recognize, lined up for the chairlift before dinner was served, and stayed through the program because the room was built for it. The ski-lift photos filled the company's channels the next week.

The result

A corporate holiday party that behaved like a brand experience, and a repeatable approach we now bring to company celebrations: one environment-defining centerpiece, lighting that transforms the room, and a stage that makes the program easy to run.