The 2021 AFOL Christmas Dinner at LEGO House
/A few days ago, I went to Billund, Denmark for the now traditional AFOL Christmas dinner in LEGO House.
Last year it was only an online event for obvious reasons… it was nice, but not the same as the real thing. If I have to be completely honest, I wasn’t expecting the dinner to actually happen this year; the day before the Danish government had introduced new restrictions and when, later that day, we received an email from LEGO House the first thing I thought was, “This is it, they’re canceling it!”
But amazingly they weren’t—the “dinner” would happen, we just had to follow some more rules… which were nothing special or hard at all. Masks, distancing, vaccination and/or tests… the usual stuff that we now see everywhere. When I arrived, I saw that LEGO House was decorated for the holidays in spectacular fashion as always.
Now, I use quotes around the word “dinner” because the whole event lasts five hours (4-9 pm), and the actual dinner is maybe 30 minutes long, so it is basically just an excuse to meet up and do something else!
In this case, the schedule for the evening included:
A presentation by Henrik Andersen who talked about his work as a designer in The LEGO Group (TLG) and specifically about the new 75313 UCS AT-AT
A traditional lottery/raffle for a few LEGO set prizes
A traditional Danish Christmas dinner
#BuildToGive activity in the Red Zone and random socializing in the Masterpiece Gallery
Dessert!
The event took place in the LEGO House Forum, the same place as it has happened in the past. There were a few tables spread in the room where we would sit for the presentation, the lottery and the dinner. We all found a polybag and a small set (a BrickHeadz or a Christmas decoration) at our seats.
Astrid Müller, who generally hosts these evenings with Jan Beyer, was at home sick (not COVID!), so Annette Gram Sørensen took her place, and she sure did so brilliantly.
Henrik Andersen’s presentation. Sorry for the angle!
Henrik Andersen’s presentation was very interesting. He’s an awesome guy and has been with the company for more than 20 years, now. Of course, the last part of the presentation was focused on the AT-AT he designed… and yes, that infamous sub-assembly was mentioned. It was more than mentioned, actually—he explained that it can actually be taken apart, showed us how and even brought a bunch of them already assembled to let us all try and do it. Even I managed to take it apart, which means it’s not that hard (since Technic parts are not really my thing.) After a few days, TLG posted a video on YouTube where he explained this to the rest of the world too.
The lottery happened at various moments between activities. When we entered the forum we could choose a random LEGO part out of a box, and then later, a second set of identical parts were drawn from one by one by Jan Beyer for a prize. Some sets were small, some sets were big, so it’s a matter of luck (it is, after all, a lottery) but you’ll always bring something home. (I got a 70429 Hidden Side “El Fuego's Stunt Plane” set that barely fit in my luggage, so that was great!)
In previous years the actual dinner used to be a buffet, but this year for safety reasons, we had it served at our tables. And to be honest, I think it worked even better than the other years. The food was traditional Danish Christmas fare (so don’t ask me what it was in detail… I remember duck and potatoes), but it was very good!
After dinner, we went out into the Experience Zones (closed to the public by that time) where we could build stars as part of the general #BuildToGive initiative. Or we could just walk around chatting in the Red Zone and the Masterpiece Gallery. I did not really build much, because I’m so bad at these things. Well, I kind of “built” something… but don’t laugh too much when you see it in the photos.
Finally, we went back to the forum to have the traditional Danish dessert: æbleskiver (some kind of pancake balls) with gløgg (mulled wine, also in the alcohol-free version, if you’re so inclined). A delicious way to end the evening!
One thing I noticed this year was that there were many, many new faces. Generally after a few years, you tend to recognize most faces at these things. I can’t say I personally know everyone, of course, but you know you’ve seen the faces before. This year, most of the faces were completely new to me! I’m not sure why… the event was announced during the Skærbæk Fan Weekend and I remember many AFOLs saying “I’ll book when I get back home” and by then it was already sold out. Another reason could be the new flow of adult fans that these years of pandemic and the new “Adults Welcome” sets brought. In any case, it’s certainly refreshing to see new faces… but at the same time, you wish that all the people who missed out could be there too. They should consider having these evenings in LEGO Square in the LEGO House main area instead of the Forum side room—that could fit a lot more people!
For now, no further evenings have been announced, I’m sure they’re waiting to see how the situation will evolve in 2022. Currently, LEGO House is closed for COVID until January 22. Let’s hope for the best that it can open again soon!
In any case I strongly recommend everybody to participate in the AFOL Christmas Dinner in the future and all the other AFOL evenings for that matter—they’re definitely worth it!
What are traditional Christmas foods where you are from? Let us know in the comments below!
Do you want to help BrickNerd continue publishing articles like this one? Become a top patron like Charlie Stephens, Marc & Liz Puleo, Paige Mueller, Rob Klingberg from Brickstuff, John & Joshua Hanlon from Beyond the Brick, and Megan Lum to show your support, get early access, exclusive swag and more.
