WE. HAD. A. BLAST.
Check it: ^^A missing spot for RJZ ;)
I'm going to share all about our big night, including the extra info for the other adopting mamas who are fundraising and had questions!
It took a few hours Friday night and most of Saturday to set up. By 4:00, the food was ready, all auction items were out, and the place was completely transformed.
The items that ended up with bidding wars: both handmade quilts, the "LOVE" accent (you can't tell, but it's HUGE and handmade by Justin Gregory), the wine cooler, both wreaths, handmade by Danielle Sanchez and Eye Has Not Seen, the wine cooler, all of the gift cards for downtown restaurants/experiences, bags (Coach, Thirty-One), the jewelry, paintings, the crocheted elephant, and the Vapor Empyre basket.
We also set up two "Buy It Now" tables- with new/gently used items that weren't quite auction items- like a super classy yard sale. Some were our's and some were donated by friends & family. They were available for a donation of your choice and did pretty well!
We had two friends at the door: one taking dinner donations (or letting folks make their donation in a big jar) and one taking pageant entry forms and assigning numbers, etc.
We ended up having about 100 people in attendance!
We had NO idea what to expect, so we were happy to see so many faces. Especially since we knew several friends were stuck at the ballfield all day and others were out of town for spring break.
We used chaffing dishes for the pasta, and kept the sauce in crock pots (three varieties at a time on each table).
We also had salad, rolls, brownies, and not enough cupcakes.
I didn't actually get a chance to eat, but I'm told everything was wonderful :)
One of my favorite parts of the whole thing: the table decorations my sweet friend, Jordan, made. LOVE.
Our musicians were awesome! I gave them full reign to choose their own music, and it ended up being a great variety.
Justin Goff provided the night's first music set and was incredible, as always. He also ran sound for the remainder of the evening- huge HUGE help!!
My cousin, Andy and his darling wife, Rachel were up next. Andy has busy schedule traveling the world and all, so we were thrilled that he happened to be in town and came to do this for us! And, of course, our crowd was thrilled that he brought his fiddle!
Thank you both, so so much.
And last, but not least, my buddy Trevor- we both work the Nashville industry and have worked together quite a bit. Always fun and he did a great job, as usual!
At the end of the music sets, the pasta bar was broken down and we shifted gears! We kicked off with a fun hip hop performance by the Smartt Steps Pee Wee Company dance team, including our Brynnie!
Aren't they the cutest?!
This was their debut performance (video on FB), they were missing a dancer, dancing in a space much smaller than they are used to, and had to adjust to the stage/steps at the last minute. So proud of them! Before their dance, Brynn said her heart was pounding. After, she said, "I live for the applause." She had so much fun! She was clearly still on a performance high, because she came over to tell me that she needed to make an announcement. Another favorite moment: She wanted to thank everyone for helping bring her brother home. My sweet girl.
Next up... WOMANLESS BEAUTY PAGEANT!
One word: HYSTERICAL.
The pictures won't do it justice. These boys went ALL out. I could barely get through it, I was laughing so hard at them on stage AND at what was I supposed to read off their cards! Hilarious. Guys- Thank you so, so much for being such good sports!! You were amazing!!
{Side note: I wish ya'll could see the texts exchanged between Nathan and I while he was at Goodwill shopping for his attire. I really, really do.}
There was a $10 entry fee for the pageant. We had three judges (and several assistants) who scored each contestant, and then bags were passed around with each contestants name for additional votes by the audience. One point for each dollar was added to their score.
That part was a last minute idea a couple of my friends had. Honestly, I wasn't sure about it. The bags were passed around for maybe five minutes... and brought in an additional $150. Whoa, Nellie!
Each contestant was given a (party store) medal. The winner received a gift basket with manly scented body wash, deodorant, and other toiletries (all donated and acquired for next to nothing- thanks to coupons!), plus a macho coffee tumbler, and a gift card to Bass Pro Shop.
Another favorite moment: Nathan giving a sweet 'Thank you for coming' speech... still in his pageant makeup.
We had just a small handful of auction items that didn't have any bids, so a family friend suggested a live auction- which worked wonderfully to get them sold! Every dollar counts!
It really was a GREAT night. We can't thank everyone enough. Thank you to all who donated items for the silent auction and Buy It Now tables. Thank you everyone for coming, for bidding, for buying, for cheering, for encouraging, for praying- just THANK YOU! Some of you were extremely generous! Our parents for donating time and food, helping throughout the night, AND being active supporters throughout the night. So grateful.
And... to the best friends a gal could have. I owe you a golden biscuit. And you totally earned your spot at the airport!
I love you.
We are still waiting on a couple of auction payments and we know there are donations in the mail headed this way... but with the dinner donations, silent auction, Buy It Now, and pageant entry/votes...
We walked out the door with
$3, 714!
Can you believe it?! Holy Moly.
I believe I'll throw in another THANK YOU!!!
We call that a successful night after a lot of hard work!!
I'm going to talk to our agency today to see exactly where we stand on our remaining fees (there's some confusion with the agency change and all), but we have made some amazing progress with more good stuff to come :) YOU ROCCCKKKK. Thanks for loving our son home!
{Also, there will not be cupcakes this week! Today (baking day) is our Layla's birthday and we are going to spend it with her instead of in the kitchen. It's also Spring Break, so we are going to take the week off, recover, and then come back to finish this!!}
2 comments:
Whooo Hoooo! Glad it went so well! Looks Like a BLAST!
Awesome!!! I'm so glad it went well! And it looks Like it was A ton of fun!
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