OREANDA-NEWS. The magical winter atmosphere set in on Saturday on December 19 at the snow-covered SKOLKOVO Campus. The students and alumni, partners and friends forming our big close-knit family at SKOLKOVO gathered to celebrate the coming New Year.

The New Year party held in the format of a Family Day welcomed over 500 guests of all ages. The party itinerary was wholly developed by the School students and alumni. The centrepiece of the event was SKOLKOVO Kids Alumni Fair presenting the projects of its alumni focused on family and children, and inspired by Alexey Bokov, producer and SKOLKOVO alumnus.

"Friends are the family we choose. I sincerely believe in these words and find them very true when speaking about the SKOLKOVO FAMILY. I feel we are a kind of brotherhood: we empathise with each other, help each other, and communicate, and we are excited that SKOLKOVO School of Management has united us and enabled us to find each other. When you come back to the student life being a grown up person, you enjoy the new breath of freedom and serenity students would feel, but you have the experience, values, awareness, and skills acquired during your life. Even ordinary universities with students in their twenties sometimes give rise to joint business projects, life-long friendship, or solid marriage, and SKOLKOVO, with us being more mature here, provides even more chances to discover all development, communication, and creativity opportunities so that we can fully enjoy them. Each of you discovered something important for yourself at SKOLKOVO, learned something new or revisited and deliberately embraced hilarious student years — that is why the SKOLKOVO FAMILY unites us all. That is why "we are the same deep water as you", Alexey Bokov commented on the SKOLKOVO family get-together on the New Year's eve.

Unilever company became the general partner of SKOLKOVO Family Day.

Friendly Monsiki monsters created the New Year mood with the participation of the Father Frost and Snow Maiden loved by both children and adults. The Monsiki Valley set up at SKOLKOVO Campus offered the Father Frost's Assistant Course which included a quest with fortune-telling on snowflakes, chimney rides, and snowmen assembling/disassembling. Funny characters with various talents and skills were there to help and share their expertise with young pupils of the winter school.

With over 20 projects developed by SKOLKOVO alumni presented at the Fair, the guests could learn more about children's education, professions of the future, and even learn what they are skilled to do best. Valuable assistance was provided by Kids MBA Educational Centre, CrashPro job of the future school, Profilum professional navigation service, and One!International School educational service for children and adults. The guests could buy hand-made gift sets and bright souvenirs and do a good deed via Galchonok Charity Fund and Sweet-Scented Joys factory charity desk jointly with the Leukaemia Control Fund.

The participants who bought charity draw tickets at the Good Deeds Bureau booth competed with each other in guessing what children were saying and what words they were explaining during the popular Kids Speak quiz anchored by Maxim Vitorgan.

New Year designer toys were sold at the booth of Lela Kavtaradze Design Studio. Lucky Child, infant designer clothes, and FAMILY LOOK projects presented their It's Snowing New Year clothes collection helped to create the New Year look for children and their parents who could purchase warm and homey New Year gifts. For those who wish to arrange a home holiday for children during their winter vacations the Cubed Holiday team offered their kid party turnkey project. All adventure fans had the opportunity to enjoy the virtual reality by testing Samsung special game helmet.

Parents could discover a professional on-line health consultancy service with paediatric physicians, and received gift certificates at the booth of Paediatrician 24/7 project. The guests enjoyed small pies generously baked by writers, psychologists, and designers who write memoires and company stories, at the booth of Rodnye Ludi Literature and Biographic House. Healthy sweets and delicious treats from all over the world were provided for tasting and purchasing by the Sweets of the World project, AnderSon family-owned coffee shop chain, and 4Fresh.ru project.

The most valuable contribution was the educational and entertainment part developed by many participants of the SKOLKOVO Alumni Fair specifically for the event. It included exciting activities for children and adults alike. Young portrait painters were involved in making a large-sized face of their favourite character using bright wooden lego bricks at Shusha project playground. Children with their parents could enjoy their favourite cartoons at CINEMOOD cinema tent launched under the Multikubik project. Young dreamers could hug a real snowman in the Holiday Workshop, and create New Year knick-knacks and unusual New Year cards for their near and dear under the Exciting Kindergarten and Creative Desire projects.

The Christmas readings arranged by the MoreThan.Travel project provided aspiring theatre stars with the opportunity to act in a Christmas play. The most active dreamers, designers, and inventors dived in the breathtaking science, technology, and engineering world specifically built by Robolab Kids and Kids Inventors robot engineering, programming, and design school for children and adults. The guests could have their pictures taken with a real robot by MTI.

The playground with animators, workshops, and a carousel for the youngest guests was provided by the team of Baby Club, a chain of intellect care centres for children 8 months to 7 years old.

AnderSon, a family-owned coffee shop chain, delighted the guests with their New Year treats as well as an interactive New Year tree, an exciting show with the Father Frost and Snow Maiden, and welcomed all participants with sweet gifts.

The festive magical atmosphere was enhanced by the choir of KIDS Republic international creative movement, and the New Year spruce 'forest' which was 'planted' at SKOLKOVO Campus by the School partners and friends. Vokker noodle chain gave delicious spring rolls to our SKOLKOVO elf team facilitating the event.