Kidzu Gala - Our Dreams Become Reality

All of the hard work we put into decorations, planning and publicity finally came together Saturday evening with the successful Kidzu Dreams Gala. While the heavens opened up and released torrential rain upon our outside event, our strong tent withstood the wind and rain and the party went on.

The theme of our event was Dreams. The gala raised money for the new Kidzu Children's Museum in Chapel Hill, so we imagined what children dream about and used it as inspiration for the party. We tried to tie everything into the bedtime/dream theme.

I've not seen the totals from the art auction, but the live auction went really well! One of the biggest challenges we had was how we were going to display the art, since we were outside and we really didn't have a wall. We finally came up with a solution to take free pallets and make them into a wall (with the help of a kind friend with power tools and talent). I loved the way it turned out. (See my painting????)

When guests got off the elevator and walked into the tent, they checked in by a bed we set up, and they were given their specially made Little Golden Book with their name and table number. The girls on the committee located more than 150 Little Golden Books, steamed the gold binding off of them, took the books apart, inserted the program for the evening, then put the front and back covers back together and glued the gold binding back on. They were amazing! I helped put the books together, so I picked out a Peter Pan book for my program (since my mom named me after Wendy).

The centerpieces were all original works of art as themselves. My sweet friend Laura came up with this crazy idea to take old toys, arrange them on top of books, paint them black and splatter them with the colors of our event. Then she placed flowers around and inside the items. They were gorgeous.  This picture doesn't really do it justice - you really have to see them to appreciate the detail.

One of my favorite areas of the event was the candy bar. Fosters donated candy, lent us their big candy jars and we served candy-themed cocktails to guests. Guests were allowed to fill up bags of candy to take home, along with a toothbrush and a note that said "Sweet Dreams, Don't forget to brush!"

Although I can barely hold my eyes open this evening, I am a bit sad that the Kidzu Dreams Gala has passed. No more midnight crafting sessions, afternoon spray painting, spreadsheet sorting or laughter with all of the girls that came together to produce the fabulous event.

No more until next year, that is.