Dine by Design... A Feast For Your Eyes!

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I consider that true and therefore think the women of a local Grapevine, TX church should be feeling pretty flattered right about now. I don't know when or where, but someday I will copy this idea... and might I say, I hope I do it half as well. EVERYONE will love this idea, but particularly my student affairs and higher ed friends will see its utility. By now, hopefully I have peaked your curiosity... but first... some Monday Maintenance

Monday Maintenance

• Flat Stanley. Helena, let us know when you are ready to move Flat Stanley along. Remember, it doesn't have to be the world's greatest adventure. Any thing he does is better than being stuck under a bulletin board (the story behind how he got flattened).


• I am waiting to see if anyone logged on yesterday between 4:16 and 5:16 p.m. CST. If so, you know what to do.


• Three people have referred someone to my sight and had them post to comments. Cassie P, Katie K, and Treye are all in the running for the $25.00 gift card (to a location of your choice). They have each had one person post a comment. That makes it a tie between the three of them, but not hard for any one of your to catch up with. The contest, to see who can refer (and then get their referral to post) at midnight on Wednesday (4/16). The winner will be announced bright and early on Thursday.


• Today's letters are (you snooze you lose, though you had extra opportunity since I forgot and left the letters posted longer than intended). To win the prize, collect them all (also by Wednesday) and be the first to decipher the code.


• IMPORTANT NOTE: Three days left and we can do this. Hope springs eternal. We have finally tipped the 3,000 mark (that means it is down hill from here). We need 1,943 hits between now and Wednesday at midnight. Sounds like a tall order to fill, right? But, hear me out... If 80 people a day visit (and we've been averaging more like 100-120) and those 80 people just got 8.09 people to also visit each day then we would be there. So if you work... walk down your hallway and ask eight colleagues of yours to participate. If you're retired, walk out your door and ask your neighbors. If you're staying at home with your kids... tell each of the moms you see at play group. If you're a student, then tell your classmates. Each of us gets 8 people today, tomorrow, and the next day. That's it. No strings attached and they never have to return again (although we want you back!!!!!). This will be a good test as to whether we, as a nation, can do our part to stop global warming. We have to. So take this small step and let's prove that with just a little bit of effort and maybe even inconvenience, we can make something big happen!!!!!

Creativity is contagious in every way shape and form. My creative neighbor knows I love creative ideas and am always on the hunt for something new. She caught me in our culdesac on Saturday afternoon and asked if I would like to accompany her for 30 minutes to a local church where a fundraiser was being held - something she thought I would not want to miss. Parenthetically I should say, my neighbor is the real-kind of creative... as in... she can make stuff. She knows how to draw, paint, make table arrangements, sew... the Martha Stewart stuff I would never even attempt. I knew when she said this would be something worth seeing, that I shouldn't miss out.

The concept behind this church dinner is that 75 women (and a small army of their friends) each sponsored a table. To sponsor a table is to agree to develop a theme for the table and subsequently to arrange for the corresponding plates, napkins, utensils, centerpieces, chair covers, party favors, and the list goes on and on an on! Imagine all of the planning, plotting, crafting, and creating that a group of women and her friends could produce if they had ALL YEAR and all that energy was being loaded into ONE table for ten people.

Now imagine that times 75. Yes, 75 gloriously decorated tables around every imaginable theme. We're talking chocolate, travel, books, games, Barbie, Nancy Drew, lemons, m & m's, Valentine's day, Christmas, summer, gardening, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, cowboys, and my neighbors table... tennis. I'm naming a fraction. In fact, I was so overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the event and yet... the amount of attention that was paid to the smallest of details, that I didn't make a single note. I took some pictures I will share with you, but I will have to leave the rest up to your creative imaginations.

I spent a good amount of time looking at the tennis table, because my friend worked on it, so I will recall all the that I can to give you some idea... The plates were clear glass, but painted on the bottom to resemble a tennis ball (the EXACT color, I might add). To the left of each plate was a napkin with a monogrammed sweat band as the napkin holder! Beneath the plate was a table mat to look like a tennis court. Above the plate was a place card holder in the shape of a tennis ball, and centered in the table was the most perfect topiary made with tennis balls. Each woman received a package of handmade note cards "sporting" a fun tennis saying. I can't remember if there was anything draped over the back of the chair , but I do remember that all the women sitting at this table were coming to the dinner dressed in tennis attire (just like all the women at the Who Want to be a Millionaire table dressed in identical and slinky, black and white cocktail dresses).

I love this idea, not only because it is creativity...MANIFESTED in the most tangible of ways, but also because the very idea is creative. Raise money by involving 75 different groups of people and then guarantee a lot of buzz and a good turn out - all because of the lengths these women could not resist going to when doing their "EXTREME DECORATING." Genius. I'm a great example. I moved to town in November and only heard about the idea three days ago. I, like many community members, only "toured" the tables this year, but you better believe that next year I will want to get one step closer by attending the event. I like being creative as much as the next person, so it won't take me long before I want to roll up my sleeves and coordinate the design of a table myself. And, this is not even a church I attend!

Melanie, Heather, cspgradstudent, Tera... someone... steal this idea! Heather, picture a fundraiser where each student organization was developing the table decorations for ONE table. Their goal... identify a theme and then develop it to its nth degree. Then those same students sell tickets to faculty, staff, administrators, their parents, and alumni (ooohhh... even the Homecoming Committee could use this idea). The church sold tickets for $15.00 a piece - reasonable, especially if you could get food donated). This has great possibilities for not just churches, but student organization, PTAs, Women's League groups; a neighborhood; girl scout (!) troops... the list goes on.

Ok, I hope I did this beautifully executed idea justice. If not, it's because I was overcome by the sheer creativity of it all and - being the internal processor that I am - two days was just not enough time to soak it all in and then turn around and describe it. Of course it's also Monday and I'm just warming up for the week, too.



Pictures say a thousand words, so be sure to spend some time checking out the pictures I've included... and then go recruit your 8 people!.

Signing off until tomorrow...

Free For All Friday: From Fundraising to Fun Packaging

And... today's letters are... (you snooze you lose...oops there gone).  For those who have no idea what I am talking about, see yesterdays post for April 10 (Whacky Whursday).  It's not to late to get in on the fun and games.

Quick Update:

We can finish the work week strong!  Yesterday 140 people visited our site, bringing our grand total to 2,855 viewers.  Let's make today the day we reach 3000.  That means 145 viewers today and 2,145 by next Wednesday.  Katie and Cassie P. are the first two readers to have referred someone to the site and gotten the newcomers to post a note, since yesterday's contest started. Welcome Emily and Samantha to our fun community.

And now to the business of the day.  Today is Free For All Friday... the day of the week when readers get to post a challenge to the rest of the group.  We submit our creative suggestions and... voila'... through synergy and the group's collective creativity, we improve the reader's idea or initiative.

Last week Melanie posted her challenge to generate profitable fundraising ideas. She is traveling with a group of students to Belize and the group needs to raise money to cover travel costs as well as loans for the Microlending program they are supporting.  All of this is in an effort to help underprivileged women in the country.  Unquestionably a good cause.  The group has already covered a lot of ground from car washes to selling concessions to seeking local sponsorships from like minded organizations in her city.  A number of our readers also weighed in, including: Tera, Treye, Patrick, Cheryl, 2 who shall remain anonymous, and the ever distinctive Anon.

 

The risk I run, by waiting until Friday to reply to the Free For All Challenges is exactly the problem I am running into today... much ground has been covered and excellent ideas have already been shared.  I decided, rather than compete with some of the great ideas already shared, I better carve out a special niche for myself.  That way, my suggestions won't have to compete with what's already out there.  So, my few suggestions will focus more on potentially high-dollar donations, as opposed to many of the thoughtful ways to gather a dollar here or a dollar there.

• Frequent Flier Mile Donations:  The University assuredly acquires frequent flier miles when faculty and staff fly to conferences, etc....  I might appeal to the VP of Finance to see if he would be willing to donate frequent flier miles to help purchase your groups tickets to Belize. Along the same lines, perhaps you could post to the University's Daily Announcements.  Faculty and staff might have spouses who fly and who are willing to donate their miles.  Darn it, if I couldn't have done that last year at this time.  Richard was traveling to Dallas, so much we certainly could might have covered a ticket.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) he doesn't travel near as much and the few miles we have are being used to fly Rebecca and Allegra to TX for the Ultimate Pen Pal Weekend (See Post 3/4).
  
• Mothers Helping Mothers: With Mother's Day only weeks away... maybe you could appeal to people's sense of "responsible or philanthropic" giving.  Instead of purchasing their mother a gift this year, maybe people could bake a simple batch of cookies and then donate the $15-$40 they might otherwise spend.  You develop a small card telling of the donation made in their mother's honor and send it in exchange of the donation.  I just got of the phone with my mother.  She wanted a $30.00 Martha Stewart book from Barnes and Noble, but she's willing to settle for a batch of my famous lemon bars (see 4/6, Yankee Seeking Yummy...) and a donation to Melanie's great cause. Even better... she agreed to match my $30.00 donation.  Wait... there's more....  Then, since I was on a roll, I decided to call my mother in-law.  She also agreed, instead of purchasing her a gift (of $30.00 also - gotta be fair), that we could donate the money toward your trip. Now we're up to $90.00.  The funniest part... She said, "Fine, as long as you bake me those lemon bars!!!!!"  Can you believe it... they both, within 5 minutes of each other, asked for Stacey's Infamous Lemon Bars.  Now you really have to check out the recipe.  Melanie, you work up the donation card, because a minimum of $90.00 is on it's way to you.  Anybody else?
  
• Give 'til it Hurts:  I remember Rosie O'Donnell saying once that you're not really giving enough unless it hurts.  In other words, if I make a million (which let there be no misunderstanding, I DON'T), but only give $100.00 then yes, my contribution helps, but I ought to be doing so much more.  I like this idea of, "giving until it hurts" when applied to this concept....  Most people have some kind of guilty pleasure they treat themselves to on a regular basis.  This could be a fancy coffee from Starbucks (I'm guilty); dinner and a movie every Saturday night; a bottle of wine with a group of girlfriends after work one night a week; lunch out with your colleagues; a family dinner out once a week to give yourself a break from cooking; or a housekeeper.  I propose you start a campaign challenging people to "Give 'Til It Hurts" by foregoing a guilty pleasure for just ONE WEEK and then donating the money saved to you and your students.  Again, I'll give another example.  I am staring right now at my refrigerator.  There is a magnetic clip holding the same $60.00 for 2 weeks in anticipation of my housekeeper actually making good and showing up.  As many of you know (See Post 3/11), her record is spotty (at best), but her work, when she shows up, is impeccable!  My house is a mess and there is a layer of dust so thick you could make snow angels, but the silver lining?... $60.00 more dollars I can send your way.  Fifteen minutes of typing and the grand total is $150.00.  Not too shabby.
  

Now onto Challenge #2.  Packaging!  One of my favorite topics.  One of our official-soccer-mom-readers is looking for a fun suggestion about how she might package a creative team gift for the team coach.  The gift was her brainstorm and I think ranks right up there with among the most original.  She asked each of the six children and their parents to contribute three things to the gift (1) a bottle of wine, (2) a candle, and (3) a bottle of bubble bath.  As you are surmising, the theme of the gift idea is... r & r after a busy season of working hard.  Her question... what ideas do we have for gathering these items in one collective package.  I did a walk through of the Container store for my inspiration.  I'll be curious to see what you all come up with.

Soccer mom... for some reason I couldn't get past a green, black, and white visual.  I just picture the package being kelly green, black, and white (key colors when thinking of soccer... grass, ball, referee, etc...).  Bear that in mind as you read my suggestions.  Also, I'm practical, so I actually lean toward either making the packaging functional and part of the gift or making it something the coach will have no guilt about getting rid of.

• Jumbo Acrylic Ice Bucket ($19.99):  This is actually clear and big enough to hold all the wine, etc....  Bonus, the coach will be able to see everything inside.  I visualize it with green shred and maybe black cellophane around each bottle of wine.
  
• Crunch Can Canvas Bag ($9.99):  As noted, this is a canvas bag.  It's the right size to hold everything, though you won't be able to see the items until you dig in.  I like this container because it is functional.  The coach could even use it to hold soccer balls or sporting gear. 
  
• 6 Bottle Black Wine Rack ($15.99):  This is my least favorite, but I am mentioning it because - again - it is functional.  I picture each bottle of wine sitting on a piece of AstroTurf and in the wire rack.  Not quite sure how you would incorporate the candles and bubble bath.
  
• Apple Green Wine Cooler ($24.99): This is great looking (and as we know, a hot color this season), though it is the most expensive.  It is made of soft material and is insulated.
  
• White Cylinder Can ($9.99):  I really like this as an option.  It is a white, Lucite garbage can. What I love about the idea of using this is that each player and parent could sign the garbage can using a marker.  Then the garbage can is functional, but also sentimental. 
  
• White Picnic Box ($3.99): This is clearly the least expensive and probably something the coach would throw away after removing the contents.  It looks big enough to hold the items you mention.  It's white cardboard, so again... the players could decorate the box.
  
• Black Folding Mesh Cube ($7.99): I like this container too, as it could be functional and hold balls and who-knows-what-else once the gift was removed.  Again, I see using green shred and maybe white tissue paper to wrap the contents.
  
• Finally... not black, green, and red at all...  Maybe you could get five mailing tubes, paint them red, and then inside each tube place one bottle of wine, one candle, and one bottle of bubble bath.  Wrap them all together with yellow rope, so that when combined the package looks like a bundle of dynamite.  You could add fuses and say something about her being a "Dynamite Coach." 
  

Ok, everyone... Now it is your turn.  I should add that soccer-mom is also looking for fun "tag lines" she can add to each child's gift.  She is looking for soccer-related ways to say "get some r & r" (ie... kick back and enjoy some r & r).

Signing off until tomorrow...