Two Days to the Big Night!

Well, we are less than 2 days from the big night- our Project Smile 8th Anniversary Celebration. I can't believe it is almost here. Things are looking good for the event, although I am super anxious, but that is hardly new. I was up until 3am last night getting the bid sheets for the silent auction ready. It is a fairly simple task, but it does take quite a bit of time. It is always a trick to pick the right starting bid- you don't want to start too low or too high. Tomorrow, I am picking up our delicious cake at Konditor Meister in Braintree and our sports items. I'm also picking up our programs and new Project Smile sign at Staples in Watertown. I have one more auction item to pick up in Franklin, then we are done. One of the big ticket silent auction items arrived on Monday. I heard back about the other big auction item- it should be arriving shortly. I don't want to keep nagging the donor, so I didn't email today. If it doesn't arrive by late morning tomorrow, I will email- because at least that leaves enough time for it get overnight mailed. There are still a couple of other donors whose items I don't have and it doesn't look like I will be getting them. It is disappointing, but at this point there is nothing that can be done about it. I know that people get busy, but when it is frustrating when people say they are going to donate- repeatedly, then either disappear or make it so difficult to get the item that it becomes impossible. The good news is that we have over 100 silent auction items, so other than waiting for the last big item, we are all set. I confirmed with our guest speaker tonight, confirmed with our balloon company and musicians and spoke with the hotel. I plugged in our credit card machine- it keeps having issues when it gets unplugged for a certain period of time, but it is back on track now. The girls who helped run the door last year are coming back to help and we have two more volunteers helping with the auction payment portion. I still have to write my speech, but I need to relax for a few minutes before I can write. I feel like I still have so much going through my head. I keep feeling like I am forgetting to do something for Friday. I hope we get a good attendance- that by far is the most nerve wracking part. One does all this work- over 9 months of getting sponsors and donations, doing calendar photos, planning the event- it is a ton of time and effort- and it all comes down to nothing if it isn't a success. This event takes on even more pressure with the struggle that we've been having with fundraising. I don't know how else I could get people to attend. I've done everything that I know how to do to try to get people to come. It has worked well in the past, so hopefully we will stay on track. I get so nervous thinking about it. Well, that's it for tonight. I'm off to do the last couple of bid sheets and print out some more displays. Until tomorrow friends...