STARS Goes Troppo for Christmas

The Christmas Decorating Competition is always popular at STARS and this year was no exception with entries from across the facility.

The theme for this year’s competition was ‘tropical’, as decided by last year’s winner, Day Surgery. There were many wonderfully bright displays featuring palm trees, flamingos, pineapples and Santas wearing coconut bras and grass skirts. Entries were judged on theme, creativity, overall appearance and sustainability.

This year’s winner is 5A with their tropical, under the sea theme. Decorations included jellyfish, a yellow submarine, a Santa tiki bar, and a wonderful tree decorated with tropical flowers. Their winning prizes include a sweet treat hamper, kindly donated by the STARS Staff Council, and the very coveted trophy, designed and made by Rehabilitation Engineering. Best of all, 5A get to pick next year’s theme and get a jump on the competition. I wonder what they will pick – Aussie Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Christmas Movies or Twelve Days of Christmas perhaps?

Highly Commended this year goes to Patient Support Services and Endoscopy / PACU. Patient Support Services’ decorations included an amazing palm tree and tropical fruit arch, an interactive tropical photo backdrop, a Grinch with a Hawaiian shirt and a tree with personalised, laser cut decorations with the names of all the team members.

Endoscopy / PACU decorations cleverly incorporated the tropical theme into their speciality with a Santa’s bowel prep bar, complete with bowel prep mocktails. They also scored highly in sustainability, with palm tree decorations made completely from recycled materials, including saline bags.

There are a number of shout outs to other teams, including the most spectacular tree which goes to Rehabilitation Outpatients for their very impressive and tastefully decorated tree with tropical fruit and leaves.

Pharmacy gets a special mention for their sustainability score with pineapples made from pharmacy packaging and tropical birds made from paper rolls.

STARS Education Research Alliance (SERA) get a shout out for their efforts to decorate a large area. Their extensive display included palm trees that made use of the office supports, pineapples made from pinecones, a surfboard Christmas tree and wreaths made from paper drink umbrellas.

Finally, 4B are recognised for incorporating the tropical theme into their pet wall, with the addition of tropical bucket hats on pet photos.

The competition is a fantastic team building opportunity and also brings a lot of joy to patients and their families while they are at STARS. Well done to all our entrants.