Celebrating our Ximufully Party!
XIMUFULLY…?
Party Invite by our graphic designer, Sabrina of Prism Creative Designs.
Ximufully is actually a term created by our celebrity captain, Darren’s daughter, Kristen! It basically combines the names of both our sailing yachts, Ximula and Gracefully. It also sound staggeringly like “smoothly”, so if you think of it as an adjective… How does the sentence “Sailing Ximufully into the sunset” sound to you? :)
So you may ask, what’s this party all about?
To commemorate our 5+ years in business and the 6th birthday of Ximula & Gracefully, we wanted to bring together all our partners, clients and guests for a small get-together, so that we are able to thank everyone for their support over the years. We also thought how nice it would be for all our guests to meet & get to know one another, knowing that we are all happy, warm, and lovely people. (; We also wanted to take this opportunity to introduce and showcase Ximula & Gracefully’s bigger sister, Ocean Diva, a new addition to our fleet of partner yachts.
We organized a dockside party, where the yachts will be berthed side by side, so more guests could join us and move around freely across the 3 yachts to mingle with one another. (We have to thank our neighbours for being gracious enough to exchange their berths with us for that evening!)
PARTY HIGHLIGHTS:
#1: THE FOOD (DUH)!
It’s not an easy feat feeding almost 90 guests, especially when space has always been a constraint for us. To ensure that we had not just enough food, but also, a good variety of delicious food, we rounded up all our usual partner caterers that have garnered great feedback from our yacht charter guests over the years. We managed to present 3 different sets of mini-buffets from Catersmith, On & On Diners, and Tuk Wan Kitchen! Each yacht had a different cuisine, so all our guests get to visit all 3 yachts and taste various bites.
Take a look at the absolutely amazing spread:
#2: THE GIFT!
We’re sure you all know about ‘message in a bottle’ - writing a message and throwing it into the sea in hopes that someone else, somewhere in the world, would pick it up and read your message, an act made popular by numerous literary works such as Charles Dickens' 1860 "A Message from the Sea", which inspired an enduring passion amongst people all over the world to send bottled messages. We wanted to bring this meaningful ‘message in a bottle’ concept into our small event, as the idea of receiving a secret message in a glass bottle reminded us so much of all that we love about being out at sea (we hope the same for you too!).
It was a simple gift, but with many details. We decorated small bottles with twines, sea shells, sand, and a handwritten note from us (some were messages of gratitude while some were sailing quotes we love). Pretty neat eh?
During the event, we invited our guests to join in this gifting process, where they could write anything they wanted onto a small piece of paper, roll it up and put it into a random bottle. At the end of the event, we distributed a bottle to each guest so they bring home a little gift reminiscent of the sea (and Ximula Sail, of course!). It was heartwarming seeing our guests actively participating in this gift exchange!
#3: THE FRINGE ACTIVITIES!
Welcome Cocktails
What is a yacht party without drinks?! Other than food, we knew we won’t be having any guests if there were no drinks.
Hence, we were very excited when our alcohol supplier, Asher BWS, offered to sponsor cartons of beer and to set up a mini bar counter where guests are welcomed with a cocktail of their choice, from Aperol Spritz, Sparkling Margarita, to the Eastern One. We believe the bartenders didn’t get any breaks at all, because there was a constant queue at the bar. Just a heads-up: if you loved these cocktails, we’re setting up easy cocktail packages you can order & mix on your own (or hire a bartender on board) for your next yacht party! Stay tuned.
Wine Sampling
Another segment of the event was a closed door, wine sampling session by Gawler Wines x Geonbae. The small segment gathered around 40 guests, split into 2 short sessions. During the session, guests were able to learn more about the flavours within each type of wine, as well as how to pair them accordingly.
#4: THROWBACK time
When most guests have arrived and filled their tummies, we gathered everyone at to the bow of our yachts for a short appreciation speech. Our founder, Minqi started off with thanking all our sponsors, the team and all our valued guests for making this event such a success. Darren then followed up with sharing about what we stand for, stories of our sailing adventures and key milestones of the company.
But all of these were to prep all the guests for a surprise throwback quiz (insert evil laughter here)! For each question that was answered correctly, a pair of sunset cruise tickets were given out as a prize!
Do you think you can answer all our questions:
How many months old is Ximula & Gracefully?
How many footer is Ximula & Gracefully?
What is the license number of Ocean Diva?
What time does our sunset cruise start?
Where is the furthest that Ximula & Gracefully have sailed to?
Name one destination that we sail to for our sailing holiday.
How many open sailing holidays are we going to have next year?
Which yacht is the latest addition to the Ximula Sail family?
#5: HAPPY PRIZES FOR OUR WELL-DESERVED GUESTS
PRIZE WINNERS
We also wanted to take this opportunity to thank our strongest supporters over the years. These are the people who have booked a yacht charter with us or joined us on our sunset cruises so regularly that they have become so much a part of our Ximula Sail family. A big shout out to our winners:
Most Number of Charters - Tiffany Cook, Kay Fallows, Edel Lee
Top Sales Agent - Derek & Desmond from Yachtcharter.sg
Most Supportive Sunset Cruise Guests - May, Shi Hui, Bernadette
Best Open Sailing Holiday Guest - Didier
First Sailing Holiday Charter - Stefan (who eventually became an owner of his own sailing yacht, Rainbow Safari, and is currently on a sailing adventure around Southeast Asia with his family of 6, we are always so proud of him!)
Thank you all for being a part of our family, sharing your celebrations, parties, and milestones with us on board our yachts, and taking time off to join us in this joyous occasion!
BEHIND THE SCENES
The Ximula Team
The party may seem like a simple chillout evening, but our team worked tirelessly around our packed charter schedules to scrub, polish and spring-clean our yachts until they were sparkling and shining on this day, to coordinate with all our guests about the program, and to prepare all our food, drinks and gifts in place before the event. Throughout the event, our team also individually briefed all of the guests who came in, mingle and connected the guests to one another, and ensured that all the food, drinks, and gifts were in place to ensure the whole programme ran smoothly.
So here’s a shoutout to the hardworking team behind the scenes: Vanessa, Asyranni, Victor, Shawn, Richard, Lance, Darren, Evelyn, Minqi.
Our Sponsors
From the bottom of our hearts, the food and drinks were all amazing (as usual) and we couldn’t have had such a wonderful evening without them, thank you all!