Au Pairs from Au Pair in America had a true taste of an American holiday celebration at Ginopolis’ restaurant in Farmington Hills.

The holiday party started with a visit from Santa Claus who stood outside waving hello to the au pairs.   No one is too old for Santa and everyone wanted their photo taken.

After a lovely luncheon,  the fun games began.  One of the favorites was a gift passing game where au pairs formed one large circle and a holiday story about Mr. and Mrs. Right was read. Every time the word “right” was said, the au pairs had to pass their wrapped gift to their right and the same when the word “left” was read. Lots of laughter ensued as it was hard to keep up with the fast pace of passing the gifts.

Holiday singing followed with the group of 45 au pairs learning their part to the verses to the “Twelve days of Christmas” and singing all of the rounds.

The grand finale was a special version of TV show Project Runway where the au pairs had an opportunity to show their creative and artistic talents. Each of the five tables were given a bag of the same materials and told to select their model. They were given twenty minutes to design an outfit (dress and accessories). Pink and black was the color scheme and the materials were black gossimar paper, pink tolle (lace), a roll of pink crepe streamers, stick on jewels, two small pieces of aluminum foil, tape and scissors.

Each model walked down the runway while another au pair from her table described the dress and the idea behind their creation. Even though the au pairs are from many different foreign countries and all speak English, it was interesting how they used their language skills to describe the outfit and their model.  They did a wonderful job!!

It was very difficult to pick the best overall outfit since all five were so unique with very interesting and creative touches. The judges on the TV show Project Runway would have given lots of praise and positive comments and no one would have been eliminated.

Since the au pairs are far away from their country, family and friends,  they really enjoyed joining together for a holiday celebration.   Although missing their own special holiday traditions, they were eager to learn and experience new traditions while in the US and everyone left with big smiles and a great feeling of holiday spirit.