How to Have Fun in January

Personally, I had a blast at the Procrastinator’s.  It may not however be for the reasons you may assume.  I was sick, just a bad head cold and unrelenting headache.  I missed about 3 day’s work the week before the party and didn’t feel much better on Saturday.  So no, I didn’t have my woo hoo party hat on.  So why did I enjoy the party you may ask?   

Here’s what happened for this year’s party to come about.  We had a change of venue, which entailed about three or four officers/events committee meetings.  One of our members spent dozens, yes dozens, of hours chasing down leads for a restaurant to host the event.  Not too pricy a menu, a room we could privately use without an absurd room charge, a good parking area, a diverse quality menu, no unrealistic minimum, no $40- $50 per head buffet, a room that we could roam around and mingle, a central location.  Not a small order when six people are throwing suggestions at you to contact and scope out. 

The officers/events committee then agreed the White Elephant gift exchange had pretty well run its course.  It seems that the past several years fewer and fewer people were participating and it gets boring fairly quickly if you’re watching someone else open gag gifts.  So if no White Elephant, then what, if anything?  It was decided in about September, to attempt to collect door prizes.  We didn’t know how many we would get, we didn’t know if we would get anything more than two size extra small T-shirts.  We divided up the businesses we normally frequent and who was going to make the contacts.  As it turned out our begging garnered a door prize for everyone attending and allowed everyone back into the drawing for the three grander prized worth over $100 each.  We had numerous door prized valued between $50 and $100.  We even had a gift certificate from South Side Johnnies, the party venue.  Several of our members personally donated prizes of significant value.  These weren’t cheap junk they had laying around the house and these members aren’t business people hyping their business.  These are simply members wanting to give something back to the club.  Two of the three top prized were obtained by one of our newest members, for the good of the club.

There were untold phone calls and e-mails to coordinate RSVPs, collect the door prizes, notify the membership through multiple media of the where and when of the party, design and purchase the custom cake, get permission to bring our own food (cake) into a restaurant (that sells desert.)  There are more details than any one person will ever know.

The day of the party, several people were on site hours before the party and several people stayed long after most  went home.  It takes quite an effort to organize and distribute nearly 80 door prizes; the room was set up with about 55 seats when we arrived, not nearly enough.  I counted more than 15 people helping in one way or another during the party.  We realized that we didn’t have a plan of how to cut and serve 80 pieces of cake.   A relaxing evening like this involves hundreds of details and one can only hope most have been thought of and planned in advance.   We got to watch our glorious Bronco’s end their season on the big screen if we chose.  All and all the party ran like it was coordinated by a professional planner.  No stress, no forced structure, no one commanding.  

We had 74 people attend Procrastinators, a record number from anyone I talked with.  Our local BMW dealership had a representative in attendance, a welcome addition.  We had teamwork; we had numerous members offer heartfelt thanks for a well hosted party.  We had an incredible number of members involved in the planning and execution.  I have named no one as I don’t want to leave even one name out.  You know who you are and most of our members know who worked so hard to create this event.  I thank you one and all.  All who attended and all who made it possible.  And that, my fellow members, is why I had a blast at Procrastinators. 

Ride, RIDE, RIDE,

Stan