A little history first. Back in October while I was still pregnant my boss was in charge of my company's Community Giving campaign for the ENTIRE corporation - across the entire United States. Which by default means that I get a lot of the work. One of the things we did to raise money for the campaign was to have a high-stakes raffle. We sold a limited number of raffle tickets for $75.00 each for one big prize. The tickets were selling very well in the pre-sales before the official start to the campaign. When it came time for me to send out an email update corporate wide there were only two high-stakes raffle tickets left. I really did not want the hassle of figuring out who would be able to purchase the last two tickets, especially if more than two people emailed me at the same time. So I called the committee chair for the high stakes raffle and told him I was purchasing the last two tickets and would ask my husband for forgiveness later. (Hey the money was going to charity - a good cause right!?) While I was writing the check to bring over to him the committee chair called me back to say that one of the folks on his team wanted to buy one of the tickets. I said that was fine and I would just purchase the last ticket for $75.00. So when I sent out the email to update the company about the community giving campaign I could now say, "High-Stakes Raffle Tickets - SOLD OUT!" Saving lots of work for myself. *giggle* When I purchased the $75.00 raffle ticket I never thought I would WIN! Which I did! I won the Ecolab Suite at the Excel for a MN Wild game of my choice!
So I chose the Colorado Avalanche versus the Minnesota Wild on January 14 I thought it would be a 'suite' way to celebrate my birthday with my hubby and 16 of our fabulous friends!
However, I did not tell my friends we were sitting in a suite for the game. I let that be a surprise until we reached the arena! I just said that Dave and I were taking them to a hockey game for my birthday and left it at that. I was sneaky and broke the large group into smaller groups when I emailed out information so no one would figure it out on their own. A few of them figured it out before hand and I spilled the beans to a couple of others. It was just too hard to keep this a secret! I was a little excited!
Food was NOT included with the tickets for the suite. I did check into having food and beverages but let's just say that the catering menu prices are focused on corporate expense accounts and Dave did not give me $3000 budget to cater the suite. *giggle* So I kept it simple and told everyone food & beverages were on their own. Dave and I did purchase some snacks for our group but just kept it simple.
So who all went? Here is our group:
All the girls....Back Row: Karen, Natalie, Valerie, Megan "me", Wanda, Vikki, and Mary | Middle Row: Jody, Marie, and Kristina | Front Row: Carrie & Nancy
The guys and Megan....Craig, Brian, Eric, Rob, Bob, Dave and I
Craig and Karen
Natalie and Bob - the newlyweds!
Marie and Brian
Eric and Carrie
Carrie & Megan
Dave and Megan
Megan and Wanda
Vikki
Let's not forget the HOCKEY game too! Here's a collage of photos from the game...
The Wild lost to the Avalanche. Considering how many shots on goal the Wild had you would have thought they would have scored a few more goals but they just couldn't get past the Avalanche's goalie.
After the game a few of us ventured over to Great Waters for a few beverages. With all the snow half the group needed to head home which is very understandable! I also had not arranged for an 'after party' so it was a little disorganized at the end figuring out what the plan was. (sorry folks!)
It was a fantastic way to celebrate my birthday a little early! (My actual birthday isn't until next Wednesday.) Woooo--Whooo!
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