Halloween Success!

Our Halloween event was a success! We had a great attendance and lots of positive feedback. All of the safety participants showed up- even those who I didn't think we're going to show since they hadn't called back to confirm. Our volunteers were there and did a great job. It was a terrific event.

I want to thank everyone who helped make it a success- from our sponsors- particularly Paul Davis Restoration who are incredibly supportive, not only do we use their space, but they make a great effort to help put together a great event. It is wonderful when companies make such an effort, particularly in these difficult financial times, to help support our work and this great family event. Carolee, their marketing director, is always so helpful and I couldn't have done it without her. Thank you also to all the safety participants who attended- the Worcester Police, Worcester Fire, Mass State Police, Worcester Sheriff's Dept., CHIPS program, MSPCC- they all did a great job and without them, we wouldn't have a safety event. Thank you to the volunteers and my friends who were such a big help and everyone else who contributed. I never take anyones help for granted and I really appreciate all the people that came together and helped make this a success.

This year we added a balloon artist and a caricature artist- they were both incredibly popular and did an awesome job. The lines were so long for both of them and they stayed late to make sure every child was included. We also added cookie decorating which was a big hit as well.

I was so nervous for a short time on Saturday. For the past 3 years, we had a line at the door which started at about 11:30- last year, the line was well out the door. On Saturday, there was no line. When the event started, we had about 5 people come in at noon. I couldn't believe what I was seeing- or not seeing. I've always believed that as long as I came up with a great event, worked hard and promoted it well- we would have a success- it may be a small success or a big success, but either way, we would be fine. For a few minutes on Saturday, it wasn't fine. For the first time, I knew what it would feel like to have a disaster of an event and it is hideous. I stood, looking out the window- trying to see if there were any people walking over (I couldn't see any)- I can't even describe how I felt. It is a sinking feeling, and the reality of my biggest fear of no one coming to my event is literally breath taking. The idea of disappointing everyone who had contributed to the event, who had bought into what we were trying to do- was horrible. There was nothing I could do except push those feelings away, smile and stroll through the warehouse as if everything was just peachy. All of a sudden, everything changed and we had people! I could finally relax and I could pick up the costume prizes and start giving them out to the kiddies, which is one of my favorite things to do at the event.

Well, it is now 1:20 and I'm ready for bed. I wasn't even planning on blogging tonight. I was driving home and was thinking about our event and then decided that I needed to blog when I got home- which was about 12:30. I'm glad that our events are over, it is great to have a break and not have to work on any events for a little while. However, we do need to do more than 3 events per year. Events are very time consuming, so I need to work on finding a good event planner to work with (I never heard from the event planner who was going to call on Thursday). Tomorrow, I need to finish our October newsletter- yes, that is the same newsletter I've been talking about for well over a week. I have to catch up on letters that need to be sent, finalize things from the Halloween event so I can close the book on that and follow up with the people who I'm holding silent auction items for, so I can finalize that event as well. Then its back to regular work, calendar sales (I have 800 calendars to sell) and grants that need writing. I also want to add some new photos to my blog. Until tomorrow friends... Thank you again to everyone who helped make our 4th Halloween/Child Safety event such a success- I couldn't have done it without you.