Another big day for the Activities Team. We're feeding 169 dinner. A sit down dinner, we'll serve you dinner. All from a kitchen that belongs in a small apartment.
The pork loins were cooked yesterday so that was a huge portion of this dinner out of the way.
We had a problem in the breezeway this morning and this is what it looked like when I arrived this morning.
Yes, its all blocked off, the carpeting has been pulled back and it is going to be closed off until just before dinner. The problem has been solved and it will all work out. I hope.
First things first, the team got started in setting up the Carnival Room for tonight.
The row down the center of the room is for the guests who are here for the dinner only. Everyone had a choice of dinner or dinner and dance.
Here is a painted canvas going up that pictures will be taken in front of tonight. I don't know how many pictures we'll take this year because we had this last year so I'm guessing only "newbies" to the park will have them done.
Here it is up and ready for photo subjects.
And here's Dona and Jeannie, playing around.
Ladies, ladies, ladies, when are you going to learn that nothing is safe or sacred when I'm around with my camera?????
Even though I had typed out a list yesterday of the jobs that needed to be done and had assigned jobs, one staff member felt her coworker needed some extra help in remembering his job, so she made this for him.
Now I didn't read the recipe for the potato dish we served but somewhere it must have said to beat the potatoes.
The potatoes were good so this must be a necessary step in the preparation.
It takes a lot of lettuce to make salads for this many people.
In the meantime, decorating was still going on. I had bought some wooden roses and they needed some dressing up for the tables.
We think they were very pretty when done.
The cakes had arrived and everyone was oohing and aahing.
After everything was set up I had staff member Steve put a pink or red heart we had cut out of poster board under one chair at each table. At some point during the dance everyone would be instructed to look under their chairs. Those who found a pink heart would be given a small box of Valentine's candy and the two who had the red hearts were given a large heart shaped box of Dove chocolates. Yummy!
Right before everyone was to arrive we found out that the breezeway would not be ready for use and everyone had to be diverted through the KITCHEN! It was a pain for the staff as they were putting the finishing touches on the dinner but they dealt with it beautifully.
For a little something extra this year we had everyone fill out a child's valentine when they arrived. Remember the ones you filled out in elementary school and gave to all your classmates? We had them put into a box decorated in white tissue paper and red hearts. (You can see it in the first picture sitting on the table) We didn't tell them what they were for and they had to wait until half way through the dance to find out.
It was time to get the dinner served. We were serving pork loins with a cherry sauce, cheesy potatoes and a California blend for the veggie. Every single dish went out the door piping hot. Ann had worked her magic again with the team. This fantastic group managed to serve 169 dinners in just 24 minutes. They worked and moved like a well oiled machine.
The team was called into the Carnaval Room after dinner and were given a standing ovation for their efforts. It was well deserved and they accepted the praise graciously.
It was time to raffle off the 29 items I had accumulated over the past several months. It was done a little differently this year than last. Last year, I held the item up and a winning ticket was pulled. This year, a paper bag decorated in the Valentine theme was placed beside each raffle item and every one who bought raffle tickets could put one in the bag next to the item they would like to win. This seemed to go over pretty well so it might happen this way again next year.
It was time to get the dance started and the tables down the middle of the floor were taken down and Ted and Sue got ready to entertain us. And entertain us they did! This duo is so much fun and they know just what to play to keep everyone on the dance floor.
Remember the valentine's everyone filled out on arrival? Well, it was time to put them to use. Jeannie provided two gift certificates to be awarded to our "Sweetheart Couple". Ted pulled a valentine out of the box and I explained to the audience that the winning valentine would determine who got to lead a special dance to a romantic slow song and would also get the two gift certificates for a date like they would have enjoyed back in the day when they were just sweethearts. A burger and a movie! That went over really big with everyone! We received lots of compliments on the extra steps that we took to insure everyone had a good time.
The Activity Team can mark up another successful event.
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