ESR Holiday Party

This evening was the ESR (my running club) Holiday Party. I mentioned earlier I am Social Chair, so this is actually "my" event.

When I became chair, the catering, band, and venue were already booked. All I had to do was send invitations, and take care of final details, of which there were dozens. This boiled down to stocking up on the usual party stuff - forks, knives, plates, cups, napkins, sodas, tea, coffee, extra desserts, tablecloths, and so forth. I wound up shopping all afternoon at various stores to get everything, from ice to poinsettias to garbage bags. We had a lot of stuff leftover, now stored in my garage, so someday I'll do an inventory. For now, let's just say we won't need to buy napkins or utensils for a LONG time!

Everything went really well, except for two minor issues. One was running out of food - we had some people show up last minute, and thus were short by about 5 dinners. A quick call for pizza solved this. In the future, we'll adjust our fudge factor a bit higher and that should happen again. The catering company did do a great job and we'll all work better next time to get a more accurate estimate of how many people we expect, including a larger fudge factor.

The other hitch was the liquor license - we weren't serving any alcohol (it was a "bring your own" event), but we still needed a one-day permit. The laws surrounding alcohol are intricate, as I found out - I didn't realize the hall we were renting provided security, which was key, because I wasn't issued the permit without that little fact. Another member, Barbara, went to get the permit while I was busy getting more last minute items.

Anyway, the event did proceed and attendees did seem to enjoy themselves. I ate with some friends, danced a bit, and helped with the cleanup. I've gotten a few nice congrats emails from various members, so that was nice. My next event will be a spring meeting, probably in April, so I get to be a lazy board member for a few months!