It was such an amazing day, it's taken me a week to come down from the high and write this blog!It's pretty nerve-racking organising an event like this. We are very lucky that we are the charity that Pine Ridge Golf Course have chosen to support. It means we don't have the outlay we would otherwise have on hiring a venue, which is great. However, many people contributed things such as cakes, sweets, prizes, Pine Ridge put staff on the bar, etc and the last thing you want is to stand in an empty room with everything prepared, but no-one comes! Which is why we tried out hardest to sell tickets in advance for this event. Over 50 were pre-sold, but that was right up to even the morning of the event. Thankfully, over 100 people came on the day, making it a HUGE SUCCESS.
Most people chose the £5 ticket to include bowling, eventually selling out all the lanes. The rest of the time was spent partying, with the excellent disco and entertainment from Stefan the DJ, and an hour of dancing fun with Rachel from The Secret Stage School.
The mask making craft and biscuit icing for kids were included in the ticket and after a clean and tidy start, eventually everything was demolished (I suspect Pine Ridge's cleaners are still mopping up glitter!). But in the process, much fun was had by all and as far as we know, no-one ate glitter or iced a mask. Though I may stand corrected.The guests brought their pumpkins too, which looked great displayed in the fireplace in the Baronial Hall.
The tombola - items donated by Tesco (via a voucher) and some fabulous bath bombs and soaps from Caroline's Creations, proved a hit and everything went about an hour before the end!
And of course, everyone was very impressed indeed with the magnificent Halloween House cake so generously made and donated by Lou-Lu Cakes, which was our main raffle prize, along with some more bath bombs and soaps and vouchers from Make Your Day Mascots and Pine Ridge. Luckily the winner of the cake was still present when the draw was made so I didn't have to take it on another perilous journey in my car!
Some stupendous cupcakes were made and donated by Jane Oldfield, which were very popular with children and adults alike - the Rolo and Liquorice Allsorts spiders were definitely looking at people on the way in! And the sweetie bags from Annee Nesbit (Chocolate Trickly Treats) were soon snapped up.Leigh from Pear Tree Photography was kept busy throughout the day, taking some great photographic mementos of little pumpkins, devils and witches. All of his takings (£125) were donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care. And Becca from Little Faces painted so many faces, she didn't even know anything else had gone on in the room during the four hours!
Helpers on the day were very much appreciated - Angela, Marcia, James, Thomas, Jacquie, Tina and Annee.
All in all, a fantastically well-supported event which raised £535.
