Thread: 2010 Animal Shelter Halloween Fundraiser

Tweet

The animal shelter where I hang my hat usually holds its biggest fundraiser, a combination dinner/auction/pass the hat event, in very early November. The coordinator who usually handles the planning is being gently eased out in favor of some fresh blood with new ideas. I recommended moving up the date a little to the weekend before our big weekend, and do it with a Halloween theme. The in-fact-if-not-in-name new coordinator loves the idea although she has some concerns about resistence from the religious right. She has promised me, however, that if I give her a Marie Antoinette-style wig that contains a bird cage, she'll ensure that Halloween is what we go with.

Joking aside, although the selection of the theme is far from a done deal, I would like a few ideas to pitch to the Powers That Be when the time comes. I guarantee you I'll be given no prep time and I don't want to doom a promising idea by lack of advance thinking. Look, folks, the old coordinator wants to do a sock hop. Please prevent this preventable tragedy.

Key to the look and feel is that we want something lighter and more fun than previous events, but also more upscale. For reasons of cost, we may skip the sit-down dinner in favor of drinks and small, light items. Although the ticket prices are being lowered from previous years (maybe this year I'll finally be able to afford to go! even people who volunteer 20+ hours a week year-round are not given tickets) the entry fee is still going to be pretty steep so we're going to have to give them something to justify the cost. As far as I know, very few young'uns will be in attendance. Definitely no live animals.

Many of the staff and volunteers are Christian in some form, but few if any strike me as the types to associate the holiday with devil-worship or some such nonsense. I have to assume the donor pool will be something like them.

We would have to steer away from gruesome images, and that's what concerns me most. Most people are already skittish about how they think animal shelters operate (not that they're wrong, just that ours isn't like the stereotype) so anything overtly dark is out. I'm not saying it needs to be or should be cutesy Skeleanimals, but I'm going to have to be extraordinarily careful about tone and death imagery. Tombstones, fine. Severed limbs, not a chance.

Enough long-windedness. Thoughts, comments, suggestions, spare change? I'm thinking Martha Stewart might be a good place to start for the appropriate level of fun spookiness without gore. Pumpkins, spiderwebs, black cats, mummy tables, ghost mirrors .... what else? I'm at a loss here, folks! The PTB are extremely visual people so it will help a lot if I can show them pictures of the general look and feel I'd aim for.

Any recommendations regarding crowd control and handling the fundraising portion? Suggestions for centerpieces and similar decor? I've never done anything like this, the person who is actually in charge of it has never done anything like this, and the person who used to do this ... is being eased out for a reason (she's very talented in many areas, but as soon as someone described her as having K-mart tastes, every head nodded).

Maybe do a Vampire's Masquerade Ball? Not sure how well it will go over with the religious, but you can make it really elegant. I've never done one but I searched google images. Below are links to some random photos I found.
Dining Tables
http://www.invitel-int.com/Root/Reso...ampire/003.jpg

Invite and Costume
http://www.nezzyidy.com/jpg/vampire1.jpg

Costumes
http://media.photobucket.com/image/v...9/IMG_2693.jpg



I'm sure someone on this forum has done one before, and can probably give you a lot better ideas, but I wanted to get the ball rolling.

You might also think about a Egyption Mummy UnWrapping. Found that somewhere on this forum before as well. Can't find it right now though.

Good luck. Let us know what happens!

JahRah, I had no idea such events existed and it tickles me to the bottom of my toes to learn they do. Some of those pictures show sets that are absolutely stunning, and make me even sadder that (as I just learned) the shelter is going with the ... sock hop. I want to beat them over the head with that picture of the table setting.

Your efforts are not in vain, however. I am doing a Monster's Ball in 2012 and you've opened up a whole new world of research possibilities. THANK YOU!

This thread has some great example invitations for a vampire theme
Showcase your Halloween Invitations, past and present

You could also do a "Face your Fear" Party, or "Fears and Phobias". I saw these last year somewhere on this site, people had some really great ideas and stuff. Different fears in different rooms. People came dressed as their biggest fear/phobia. Stuff like that.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. They're missing out, but hopefully the sockhop will be good fun and help raise a lot of money for the animals. .