Student Employee Appreciation Party

Date: Friday April 8, 2011 3-5 pm
Location: Blind Duck Pub, Mississauga ON
Guests: 50
Budget: $500

*to protect the privacy of the guests, no photos of guests will be shown. This makes for very boring pictures, so I apologize. 

Not much going on here, it's a pub after all.....

 Menu:

• Mozzarella sticks
• Onion rings
• Jalapeno poppers
• Sweet Potato Fries
• Chicken wings
• Chicken tenders
• Tempura
• Unlimited fountain pop

Games and Entertainment:

• Unlimited use of pool tables
• Photo booth
• Alphabet game
• Raffle-draw for $50 gift card

Alphabet game:
This game is really easy and requires very little in the way of preparation. All you need is a paper and pen/pencil. The idea is to split up the guests into groups (or indivudally for small groups). The object of the game is find an object that starts with each letter of the alphabet, using only what you have with you-what you are wearing, in your pockets, purses, bags, etc. The first team (or person) with the fastest complete list wins!
Whenever I play this game, I am always delighted at the creativity of the answers!

Photobooth:

I set up a photobooth on this curved glass wall here, it's away from the main traffic area. I use a roll of white paper, and taped up three long sheets to serve as the background.  I debated for some time over what exactly the background should be- coloured, patterned, a scene of some kind, etc. In the end I went with white to allow the props to really stand out. I made two  frames out of cardboard and painted them silver. In retrospect, I should have picked up a few frames from the thrift store. After awhile, the cardboard lost it's shape, and we abandoned the frames. I also think a dark frame-brown or black is better than metallic silver, the flash bounces off the shiny paint.

I provided a whole range of fun props-cowboy hat, fedora, scarves, gloves, feather boa, tiara, masks etc.

Some of the props-I had many more too! The masks, boa and bunny ears were the favourites.

I brought my compact HP Photosmart printer, and set up a print station to print out the photos for the guests to take home as a souvenir. I brought two memory cards and an assistant printed from one card while I continued to take pictures with the other. This is really important to keep the flow of guests going to make sure everyone has a chance to visit the booth and to have the prints ready before the end of the party. Each print job takes about 1.5 minutes, not including time spent choosing and editing the images.

Image source: http://reviews.cnet.com/compact-photo-printers/hp-photosmart-a636/4505-13252_7-33190854.html

This is the printer I have, HP Photosmart A636. Lot of questions at the party-where to buy it, how it's works, how much it costs, etc.  The printer itself is not very expensive, I got it at Staples for about $80, and I have seen it on sale for around $60-$70. It prints directly from a memory card or usb stick, and even has bluetooth to connect to smartphones. The paper is a bit pricey-I buy it at Walmart or Staples. Staples occasionally has a sale buy one get one free for about $17 for a 100 pack so when there is a sale I stock up. The printer can do either 4x6 or 5x7. The toner is about $29 or so, Walmart is the cheapest source. You can get about 50 prints per cartridge. So each sheet print work out to about 64 cents each. Not the cheapest way to print photos, but certainly the most convenient. You may remember this printer from the guest book/scrapbook I set up at my wedding last May. Here is the link to that post.

Here's one of me! You can see how the frame lost it's shape

All in all, the guests has a great time and I received many compliments from guests on their way out. High praise for the activities.

Another sucessful event!

Staff Holiday Party

Date: Friday January 17th
Venue: Faculty Club
Guests: 31
Catering: Chartwells
Decor: Provided by venue

Menu:

• Festive Punch
• Chicken supreme with pink peppercorn sauce
• Vegetarian crepes with mushroom, asparagus, and spinach
• Parisian Potatoes
• Mixed Vegetables
• Mixed garden salad with raspberry vinaigrette
• Assorted desserts
  
• Coffee and tea

Coffee and Tea Station

Punch and Beverage Station


Desserts


Centrepieces

Activities:

Guess the object photo game:
I confess this game is not my idea, it was developed and executed by two colleagues. Common objects that can be found around the office were photographed, then distorted using Photoshop. Guests had to guess what the object is. The guests with the most answers correct won a Starbucks gift card. The game was harder than it seemed. Some objects used were: the arm of an office chair, a fire extinguisher, and a pattern from upholstery fabric.

Gift game:
Guests were give the option to participate in a stealing gift game. To participate, they were asked to bring a wrapped gift of a value of $10. Guests drew numbers from a basket. Guest number 1 unwrapped a gift, showed it to everyone. Guest number 2 had the option of unwrapping a new gift or stealing the first gift. If stolen, guest number 1 returns for a new gift. And so and so on. I capped the stealing at two steals per item to save time. Great fun had by all! Wine and liquor proved to be the most stolen. A surprise popular item was a singing penguin. It was stolen the maximum amount, and I'm sure it would have continued to be stolen if the rules allowed.

Toy drive:
Guests were given the option to bring a new unwrapped toy to donate to charity. I collected 17 toys for the Salvation Army Toy Mountain.

Carol singing:
Two guests volunteered to play the piano and flute to accompany carol singing for the final fifteen minutes of the party. Song sheets with lyrics from common seasonal songs were passed out to the guests for a sing-a-long. A rousing way to end an excellent party!

Staff BBQ

*To protect the privacy of the guests, no names or photos of guests are included in this post

Date: Saturday August 28th 1-4 pm
Guests: 40, staff plus families
Location: Erindale Park, Mississauga On

Menu:

• Hamburgers
• Veggie burgers
• Chicken breasts
• Sausages
• Assorted condiments and buns/pitas
• Potato salad
• Pasta salad
• Coleslaw
• Assorted drinks
• Watermelon slices
• Chocolate or vanilla ice cream cones

I also opted for biodegrable plates and cutlery, to green up the bbq a bit. I hate to leave so much garbage behind.

Catering by Simply BBQ, see website for more details

Simply BBQ provides all the necessary equipment and handles all the set-up, which includes a trailer bbq and service canopies.
They even bring along the music! The staff was fantastic and very easy to work with. See the photos on their site for more information.

Details:

Since we had a mixture of very young children, adults and teenagers I allowed for a free form event. Nothing was "scheduled". I added additional service time for the bbq in case some families with young children were a bit late getting to the event. The atmosphere was quite casual, and I think the guests enjoyed the ability to relax and mingle with colleagues and their families in an informal environment.

I supplied lawn games such as frisbees, nerf toys, lawn darts, ring toss and horsehoes and allowed the guests to structure the games any way they wished. The nerf football and frisbees proved popular with the teenage boys.

The battery powered bubble machine was fantastic. However-it sure went through alot of bubble solution very quickly. I'll be sure to bring a large jug next time I use it.

The picnic area features a playpark for the children, which they enjoyed throughout the afternoon.

Here is the site before the event-not much there

The weather was quite windy, more than I expected. I managed to jury rig tie downs for the plaid tablecloths with some twine. Some early arrivals helped me out. Thanks guys!

The weather forecast indicated it would be quite hot and humid. Knowing the picnic area is a wide open grassy field, without much shade I brought along a pop-up gazebo tent, similar to a camping dining tent.

This was the best idea of the day! Guests quickly labelled it " the baby tent". Six babies have been born to the staff in the past year, it was great to see them all, and for the parents to all meet each other.

I knew it was successful when the guests lingered long after the official end date of the event-especially the babies. They were amongst the last to leave!

Lootbags were provided for all guests, with specific items removed or added depending on the age of the guests. Some examples of items-pencils and erasers, bubbles, balls, hair clips for younger girls and socks for the babies.

Overall-success!

The Credit River