Jacksmommy2b
11-29-2009, 04:13 PM
Hi all - you are usually a mecca of good advice so I thought I would come begging for it yet again!
Okay - here's the deal.
I hosted (planned, slaved over and banged my head on a wall because) my 10 year high school reunion. (this was our first reunion as no one cared enough to plan the 5 year) The planning of this thing was a nightmare start to finish for a plethra of reasons including difficult attendees, lost contracts and two co-chairs that decided to not co-chair after all leaving all the work to the extremely sick pregnant woman whose 3 year old has been in and out of the hospital... :) sorry - not that I'm still bitter or anything. :)
Anyway - the party was last night and turned out (much to my surprise) beautifully. The reunion was held at a bar and restaurant close to the school we attended. The restaurant was chosen based on location and the fact that the previous class had a reunion there last year and that turned out very well. Quite a few of the attendees bitched and moaned about a crappy bar and restaurant and the date (although the weekend after Thanksgiving is traditionally considered 'reunion' weekend) - but tough for them contracts were signed.
So - the contracted price for the bar was $33 per person. This cost included the projected total for the room rental, the buffet (chicken wings, spinich artichoke dip, Chicken fingers and chips and salsa) two drink tickets (any beverage up to $6) and all the taxes and gratuity. (a total of 26% of the tab) This was pretty much the cheapest of the options - all of which I posted on our planning website so others could express an opinion and not one single person did. About anything! And not one single person stepped up to help with anything either!
On the invitations (and the facebook and myspace pages, newspaper ads, local school district TV channel ads, alumni paper etc.) I listed the ticket price per person at $35.00
($33 as contracted to the bar and to account for extra costs such as decorations, any other incidentals and a small cushion in the event of a lousy turn out.)
So we had a great turnout and even though some people still decided to bitch and moan about having to pay $35 everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. (we only had a few crashers and one guy that snagged some extra drink tickets) They even somehow managed to convince the manager to break out the beer pong tables. I'm sure the cab company will be offering holiday bonuses based on what they made last night. :)
So the next morning I am hearing that some people are still complaining about the cost! And I am pretty disgruntled. I mean - c'mon - if $35 a head is too much for you - don't go!
And personally, I don't think that $35 a head is unreasonable for 2 drinks, the buffet and all the party expenses.
When all is said and done there is a little more than $100 left over and I had planned to donate that money to a local chapter of the 'National organization of parents of murdered children foundation - local chapter' which was (locally) founded by the father of our classmate that was murdered a few years back. (I certainly am not dealing with opening a bank account and saving this money for the next reunion. It isn't enough to bother with IMO, and I refuse to be responsible for it for the next 5 years)
So the question is - do I need to offer a cost breakdown to the attendees? Part of me is still PO'ed and almost offended that I stepped up and did all of this by myself as everyone else backed out and they still have the nerve to complain even though they knew the cost (and what it included) well in advance, and I want to highlight what the event cost.
And the other part of me is just like - screw it. I'll announce the donation in the thank you notes (ecards so no extra cost) and they can bite me and find someone else to deal with the BS next go 'round as there is no way in h@ll I am putting up with this again.
So what would you do?
Okay - here's the deal.
I hosted (planned, slaved over and banged my head on a wall because) my 10 year high school reunion. (this was our first reunion as no one cared enough to plan the 5 year) The planning of this thing was a nightmare start to finish for a plethra of reasons including difficult attendees, lost contracts and two co-chairs that decided to not co-chair after all leaving all the work to the extremely sick pregnant woman whose 3 year old has been in and out of the hospital... :) sorry - not that I'm still bitter or anything. :)
Anyway - the party was last night and turned out (much to my surprise) beautifully. The reunion was held at a bar and restaurant close to the school we attended. The restaurant was chosen based on location and the fact that the previous class had a reunion there last year and that turned out very well. Quite a few of the attendees bitched and moaned about a crappy bar and restaurant and the date (although the weekend after Thanksgiving is traditionally considered 'reunion' weekend) - but tough for them contracts were signed.
So - the contracted price for the bar was $33 per person. This cost included the projected total for the room rental, the buffet (chicken wings, spinich artichoke dip, Chicken fingers and chips and salsa) two drink tickets (any beverage up to $6) and all the taxes and gratuity. (a total of 26% of the tab) This was pretty much the cheapest of the options - all of which I posted on our planning website so others could express an opinion and not one single person did. About anything! And not one single person stepped up to help with anything either!
On the invitations (and the facebook and myspace pages, newspaper ads, local school district TV channel ads, alumni paper etc.) I listed the ticket price per person at $35.00
($33 as contracted to the bar and to account for extra costs such as decorations, any other incidentals and a small cushion in the event of a lousy turn out.)
So we had a great turnout and even though some people still decided to bitch and moan about having to pay $35 everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. (we only had a few crashers and one guy that snagged some extra drink tickets) They even somehow managed to convince the manager to break out the beer pong tables. I'm sure the cab company will be offering holiday bonuses based on what they made last night. :)
So the next morning I am hearing that some people are still complaining about the cost! And I am pretty disgruntled. I mean - c'mon - if $35 a head is too much for you - don't go!
And personally, I don't think that $35 a head is unreasonable for 2 drinks, the buffet and all the party expenses.
When all is said and done there is a little more than $100 left over and I had planned to donate that money to a local chapter of the 'National organization of parents of murdered children foundation - local chapter' which was (locally) founded by the father of our classmate that was murdered a few years back. (I certainly am not dealing with opening a bank account and saving this money for the next reunion. It isn't enough to bother with IMO, and I refuse to be responsible for it for the next 5 years)
So the question is - do I need to offer a cost breakdown to the attendees? Part of me is still PO'ed and almost offended that I stepped up and did all of this by myself as everyone else backed out and they still have the nerve to complain even though they knew the cost (and what it included) well in advance, and I want to highlight what the event cost.
And the other part of me is just like - screw it. I'll announce the donation in the thank you notes (ecards so no extra cost) and they can bite me and find someone else to deal with the BS next go 'round as there is no way in h@ll I am putting up with this again.
So what would you do?