The Rec Holiday Market was created with the goal of bringing everyone together to make them feel like an integral part of the event. I wanted to unite creators, inspire players to get involved, and showcase creators' works and rooms. By aligning the event with the holiday season, I aimed to create a space where people could come together, feel motivated to participate, and contribute to a shared experience. This wasn’t just an event we organized; it was something we all built together—where everyone had the opportunity to make new friends, learn how to create, and have fun. Ultimately, the goal was to foster community and collaboration, which made the Rec Holiday Market one of the most memorable events in Rec Room.

While directing a team of staff creators, we began with several key initiatives that my team was managing at the time, including workshops, classes, and addressing creative community needs. At that point, there were no plans for a holiday event, and we had recently launched new economy tools. We wanted to find a way to tie everything together, so we developed an event that showcased creators and celebrated the holidays. This collaborative event aimed to bring different parts of the community together.

We outlined the theme we wanted to create and identified key features for the event, including:

• Holiday Shops: Connecting creators’ work to the event.

• Holiday Rooms: Created by the community.

• Rec Room Holiday Storefront: Showcasing seasonal items.

• Fun Activities: Including building a snowperson.

• Holiday Workshops: Entirely run by our creative community.

This experiment came together in just over a week as we planned and coordinated with creators on the events, shops, and rooms they wanted to submit beforehand.

We designed the event layout to be mostly contained within one room to prevent the experience from feeling too spread out, while still offering enough space for players to explore, mingle, and participate in activities. All events and experiences connected directly back to the main event, creating a cohesive experience.

The event started with a cozy cottage theme in its first year and later became part of the Winterfest marketing effort. It also gained prominence through features in Invasion events. Over the past four years, the Rec Holiday Market has grown into a beloved yearly tradition.