When our parish school closed its doors in June 2008, my Religious Education Program became the only remaining "institution" serving large numbers of families ... and, as a result, became the primary community-building group for families. Incidentally, we also became the primary user of the school building with all the financial responsibilities that entails. So, the first school year, 2008-09, I inherited all the fund-raising formerly done by the school in addition to all I had previously done on my own. This school year, 2009-2010, I revived the Valentine's Father Daughter Dance.
Well, the snow stopped south of us ... thank God ... and I survived running my first Father-Daughter Dance for the parish. It was fun but exhausting. Since I wasn't really sure if it would be a go, I waited till yesterday morning to do all the shopping for beverages, snacks and door prizes. Just last week, it looked like we'd have to cancel since only 30 or so girls had signed on. But last night there were about 70 girls and their Dads dancing, eating, drinking [water bottles and Capri Sun pouches for the girls, coffee for the Dads] and having a grand old time. We staged a Chinese Auction for prizes ranging from an IPodNano [which I managed to get at Costco for only $133.50], an I love to read basket with a $25 Barnes & Noble GC and lots of goodies to eat, a Chix Flix bowl filled with microwave popcorn packs and a $15 GC to Blockbuster, a Pamper Yourself basket with a $25 GC to a local day spa and lots of nail art, nail polish and a light cologne, Simply Cotton, from Mary Kay. We also had a basket with a number of ITune cards in various denominations, all wrapped up and attached to ribbons ... as a girl's ticket # was called, she got to tug on a ribbon and keep the card attached. But the real joy was watching Dads in suits dancing with tiny little girls in fancy party dresses. One of the highlights of the evening was near the end when two of the girls got up on stage to announce that since they hadn't gotten to dance with their Dad - he was the deejay - then were going to give him a great big hug ... which they did to a standing ovation. I had a great committee who did the really tough stuff: getting the deejay, decorating the gym with white tulle bunting wrapped around fairy lights and huge red tulle bows, and helping with the clean-up.
Okay, so which old school tradition do I revive in 2010-2011: the Mother Son Bowling Tournament or the Christmas Pageant? You vote!
P.S.: not much stitching went on this past week ... surprise! surprise!
4 comments:
Sound like a lot of hard work! But I'm sure that everyone had a wonderful time.
I vote for a Bowling Tourney. Mostly because Christmas Pageants are everywhere but I haven't heard of a Mother-Son Tourney. Besides if you had a Father-Daughter event it's only fair to do the reverse!
What a neat idea. Glad that you were able to go ahead with the Dance and not be stopped by the weather.
The Christmas pageant!
What a wonderful idea for the dance. A great memory you gave those girls!
I don't really know what you call a Christmas Pageant, but I really love the idea of a Mother-Son Bowling tournament: I love bowling, & I think it's even more difficult to get sons to do things with their mothers than to get daughters to dance with their fathers.
Congrats for all the work!
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