Christmas Podding in July

Hosts Liam Renton and Vanessa Gibson of the popular Australian podcast Christmas Podding have gone big on Christmas in July, using the opportunity to experiment with new content ideas to enrich their podcast.

The Brisbane-based radio presenters hosted competitive Christmas in July parties to put all the Christmas tips and tricks covered in their podcast into practice and see how they each performed under pressure.

Over two weekends, they hosted Christmas-themed events with around 50 guests each, sharing their experiences with year-round listeners of their podcast.

Renton explained that he wanted to throw in something extra to see if going big would take the vibe of the podcast to the next level.

“Entertainment was a high priority this year,” he said. “I booked a full Christmas Choir, which performed as the guests arrived and helped to spread the festive cheer throughout the night.”

For Gibson, this year involved asking her guests to help craft a menu with a group spreadsheet to tick off favourite festive food they could bring to contribute to the night’s festive dinner.

“I had always wanted to do a Christmas party featuring a beautifully-laid long table, with festoon lights overhead, and July was the perfect opportunity to bring it to life,” she said.

Throughout the last six seasons, the podcast has discussed almost every aspect of Christmas from every angle, but investing in its own content creation is the next step in the podcast’s growth.

“We’ve happily commented on the way the world has celebrated Christmas, from the weird, traditions, to the big festive romantic gestures, we now see value in creating our own events, Christmas concepts and traditions that we can explain, dissect and commentate on, without having to wait for the world to do them first,” said Renton.

According to Gibson, duelling Christmas parties was all part of the fun.

“Although we’re not in competition with each other, we both have different skills and bring our own flare and creativity to our own events,” Gibson said. 

“Watching how each other worked under the stress of such a big party was a great insight into how our listeners share and celebrate the day, and now we will definitely use personal experiences, on our own podcast to hopefully help our worldwide audience get creative, be braver and see where mistakes can be avoided.”

Listen to this week’s episode of Christmas Podding here.