I know this is a little off-topic, but our two guests that were going to come with us decided to not to go because of financial issues, so we have two open spots. I am willing to sell their spots for half the cost if anyone is wanting to go at the last minute. I have two - one covers dinner for the nighttime, the other doesn't.

Please PM ASAP if you want to go!! Thanks!!!

I believe that would be $50 for whoever wants the dinner ticket and $25 for whoever wants the gen. admission ticket. Please let me know!!

This is neat! We have a Panache here in town and OHHHH they do such a great job! My friend works there and she does nails and everyone that works there is just so talented. I'd love to try out another one! :D :D

Count me in for making the sacrifice in the bar :cool: lol

Just thowing some ideas out there...

Lisa, I know a bunch of us are meeting up in the park on Friday. What about having the hotel make up some sandwiches and having some canned sodas and we can pre-pay for those to eat at the park. I could easily see paying $8-$10 each for something like that... I know when I get done flying, I'm going to be starved.

Another idea...I'm sure some of us will eat Friday dinner and/or Saturday lunch at the hotel. You should ask if they'll apply any amount YTer's spend on food and drink towards the minimum.

Please let us know how much the deficit is. No one here wants you to take this on your own.

We can come up with something. :thumbup::)

I agree with Misty and Teri-if you could let us know how short we are/how much we each need to buy in raffle tickets/bar, etc, that would give us an idea ahead of time so we can watch our budgets :) I would much rather spend a little extra on raffle tickets and win something cool, or have a few drinks at the bar than just kiss my $ goodbye :) Let us know what we can do to help so this isn't all on you. We appreciate you organizing and coordinating, and want to do everything we can to make this meetup FUN!

ITA Misty and Suzy! Any way that we're already going to be spending money, if we put it towards that minimum would be perfect! I love Misty's idea of sandwiches/sodas/etc because we are going to a baseball game pretty much right after the meet-up and won't have time for food anyway and also, like she said, many will be traveling beforehand and therefore hungry!

But yep, I'd gladly buy more raffle tickets if I had a "ballpark" figure of what we're aiming for...rather than you, me, or ANYONE just throwing $ at the hotel!

We'll figure it out...I know we will :thumbup:

Thats what I thought After I sent that message... Cute Cute!!

Ditto that Suzy!I'll do it too.

Well, unfortunately, unless the hotel will give us a break (I haven't heard back yet), the money will be going to them regardless - either in the form of "free money" or food expense. If we bought more food, we'd also have to raise enough more money to cover the associated taxable service fee (20%) plus taxes (9.73% on their food for some reason). That means we'd have to raise even MORE money before we'd show a profit. That's why I've resigned myself at this point to just giving them "free money" to meet the minimum, and at least we can save the associated service fees and taxes that would've gone along with that food had we consumed it, and that's where I'm hoping we can still eek out a small donation to a rescue. I'm trying to "cut corners" where I can, while still giving us a nice meet-up. For instance, I REFUSE to pay $40 for a microphone for a 1-hour breakfast on Sunday, so if there are any last minute "announcements" to be made before everyone leaves, I'll just yell really loudly :D:thumbup:!

Well, I could definitely give you a ballpark (I have it all figured out to the penny at this point), but I'd rather not. I know some people are very strapped for cash at this point, and I don't want them to feel like they have to pay an additional $X amount to pay their "portion". If everyone can just do what they can, that would be very much appreciated. Even $10 per person would really help out! If you can't do that, no worries. I just appreciate those of you that are attending, as that's a commitment in itself :thumbup:! THANKS!

I contemplated adding box lunches to our menu for Saturday to help cover the minimums, as they're $13.95 per person, and that should be enough to meet the minimums if most everyone bought one, BUT...then we'd also have to cover the associated service fees and taxes, which was my concern. I was just trying to cover all this using what I'd already collected from you guys, which wasn't possible. BUT...if you'd be willing to pay an additional fee for this food (so you could just relax at the hotel and not have to find a restaurant on the Plaza to allow you and the babies), then that would definitely be possible. With the extra fees though, the box lunches would be about $18.50 per person. Is this too much???? We could do box lunches for lunch on Saturday, or I could even see if we could do that for Friday. I could pick-up everyone's lunches at the hotel prior to the meet-up, and I could give you your lunch at the park. It may even be enough to tide you over for dinner since it will be late afternoon by that point. Thoughts?

Another option would be adding a "snack break", which is $9.95 per person ($13 per person with the extra fees), and they have options like chips and dip, or salted soft pretzels, or cookies/brownies/rice crispy treats. I'm not sure when we'd do this though, as it's probably not enough for lunch, and you wouldn't want more food after you just got back from lunch.

If we did this though, I'd want to make it an OPTION for anyone who wanted to do that instead of getting food on the Plaza (I don't want to FORCE anyone to pay more, as I know this is already getting expensive for people), and the snack break would be hard because I don't want there to be any issues with only some people paying for it, but others trying to grab a "snack" and people getting upset. Maybe the box lunches would be better so it's "yours", and I would only order enough for those who wanted to participate.

I will also definitely ask my contact if the money you guys spend in the hotel restaurant would count toward our minimums, but our dogs aren't allowed in the hotel restaurant, so I'm not sure how many of you will be eating there anyway.

Okay...here's my opinion on what you just wrote...others may have theirs too...and that's great :thumbup:

My personal thinking is that I would rather spend $20 on raffle tickets than $20 on a box lunch :eek: for two reasons. One, I want to enjoy all the restaurants in the area. And two, that seems like a lot for a lunch, so I'd rather just buy more raffle tickets (rather get yorkie things than food? ME!?! NEVER! haha :p)

I also understand that you don't want to disclose the information.....I get that totally. How about if everybody tries to do $10 more in raffle tickets if you can. If you can't, totally understandable, like Lisa said, it's a commitment just to be GOING to the meet-up, and I know it's tight for some...TRUST ME. Those that can do more than $10 should do that, and then DRINK UP like there's no tomorrow :D:D (We will be doing our fair share of drinking :rolleyes: especially since we're staying right there at the hotel!!!! :p)

P.S. Have y'all looked at the list of raffle prizes??? Like, really, seriously, looked? The list is JUST incredible! Thanks to all who donated to that too :)

And thank you again, Lisa, for everything you've done!

Now, YTers, we're all in this together to have fun, not make it a stressful time, so if you can donate and buy raffle tickets, do so :) And if not, that's okay too! I so cannot wait for this :thumbup:

I am planning on buying more tickets at the meet up. 2 reasons;
1. I don't like dealing over the computer
2. The proceeds were going to a good cause (Was to be rescue, but looks like it is US now)

By no means rich (remember I teach school! LOL), but would like to do my part. I am sure others feel the same.

This is also JMO but I agree, especially about what the hotel food costs.

I also agree about the raffle items. There are sooooo many good things, I would rather take a chance on getting one of those than getting a sandwich and soda!!! And even if I don't win anything I will have enjoyed picking items out! Thank you to all who so generously donated items. I intend to do my part on the raffle, not a drinker, can't help out there.

And YES, THANK YOU LISA for all you have done and are still doing to make this an awesome meet up for everyone. I know it will be something we will all remember and will be talking about for some time.

This news is disappointing....I was really expecting more people to attend. I was still keeping my fingers crossed that more would register but I guess not. It's really disappointing that we won't be able to make a donation to a rescue group. Now I'm wondering if there will even be a 2nd meet-up, with such low attendance, who would want to take on the task of organizing another.

I bought extra tickets when I first registered, however I will be purchasing more when I arrive at KC.

Kudos to you Lisa for doing such a wonderful job!!!

I agree. $18.50 is a lot for a box lunch. I had no idea that the hotel was tacking on service charges onto everything :eek:. I, too, would rather sink extra into the raffle tickets, especially since it goes into the pot as pure $$$ towards the total. There are so many items:thumbup:, we all need more just to get a ticket in the bag for each item we want :p, LOL!

:thumbup::thumbup:COME ON EVERYONE! BUY MORE RAFFLE TICKETS!!!:thumbup::thumbup:

Thanks for reminding me!!! I'll be turning 42!!:eek::eek:

I will definitely buy more raffle tickets!! I don't drink alcohol but I'll buy some sodas for you!! Whatever we can do to help, just let us know!! Lisa, we all appreciate all the hard work and time you have put into this meetup!!

Lisa, you are seriously an angel for doing all the dirty work to get this together. I think we are all clear on how hard it has been for you, and what a wonderful, precise, job you have done. Down to the penny, wow! So I hope that you can not worry too much about it. Many of us plan to spend at least $20 more when we get there, be it for drinks, raffle tickets (I guarantee when I see the sundresses made by crb, I'm gonna drop another 20 bucks on raffle tickets! :D) or however we use our money. So I hope you can relax and just look forward to your trip and know that it will all work out in the end. It is going to be a great time and worth every penny, and it wouldn't be anywhere near as cool if you hadn't put your hard work into it. THANKS!!!

i agree raffle tickets are the way to go:)

Yes...it is very frustrating. I knew there were service charges tacked onto all the food (they made that clear in advance), but I've been going back and forth with the hotel the last few days to get everything correct on our BEO (Banquet Event Order), and I'm seeing now that they even tack service fees and tax to things like the vendor space, ballroom, and microphone. AND...what really frustrates me is that they add on the service fee, and then they tax the total of the service fee + the subtotal, which means even the service fee is taxable. I thought this was illegal, and I asked the hotel about it, but they said that is their policy. Since then, I've done a lot of reading about allowable taxation of service fees, and apparently it's allowable if it's a mandatory service fee :thumbdown. If it's truly optional (like a "tip"), then it is NOT taxable. RIDICULOUS!

Anyway...now that I've said all that about the hotel...I just read my e-mail, and they are going to work with us :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:. First of all, they are going to leave the microphone in the ballroom for Sunday, so we can use it during breakfast Sunday morning if we need to at NO CHARGE! Also, she's looked at where we're at currently with our food expense, and she said she's not going to hold us to our minimum agreement :angel2dl:. She said, "Just try to encourage guests to hit the bar!! Still, you wont be held to a minimum there." So...thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

Without being held to the minimums, it looks like we're back in the positive, and we'll still be able to make a donation to a Yorkie rescue :happyboun!!!! This is GREAT news!

Speaking of Yorkie rescues...one of the questions on the evaluation form I've created (yes...I have an evaluation form that I'd appreciate you filling out after the meet-up so that we have some feedback regarding the meet-up in case we opt to have another one in the future) is regarding what Yorkie rescue you'd like to see our profits donated to. If you don't already have a favorite charity, please do some research before the meet so we can find a great organization to help out with our money! I'm so pleased we'll be able to make a donation after all :thumbup:!!!

I just wanted to thank everyone for your full support on this. I won't lie and say it's not a lot of work or disappointing we're not having a larger turnout, but I'm so thankful for those who are going, and we're going to have a GREAT time! It makes it so much easier to do something like this when you know the people you're working so hard for appreciate it! You've been so generous with your raffle and goodie bag donations, and so understanding to help us "pull through" and make a profit for the Yorkie rescue! You're the best! My husband tells me I'm doing more than I should :rolleyes:, but I know you'll enjoy the details. I can't wait!

Oh, thank heavens!!!! I didn't want this looming over anybody's head, and now it won't be!!! Guess our prayers got answered, didn't they? But don't worry, I'll still "support" them by getting a couple drinks...after all, let's remember, they didn't HAVE to do this for us!


I also agree that's crazy how many "fees and taxes" there are on such things :eek:

But yay!!! I'm so excited this is going to work out! Thanks again, Lisa! You rock!!!!

I haven't gotten far back to find out what was just resolved . . . but I just want to thank LISA for making this a reality :) . . .I know we will all have a blast and find that the weekend is NOT enough to get-together . . .

Evaluation Form
 

Speaking of Yorkie rescues...one of the questions on the evaluation form I've created (yes...I have an evaluation form that I'd appreciate you filling out after the meet-up so that we have some feedback regarding the meet-up in case we opt to have another one in the future) is regarding what Yorkie rescue you'd like to see our profits donated to. If you don't already have a favorite charity, please do some research before the meet so we can find a great organization to help out with our money! I'm so pleased we'll be able to make a donation after all !!!


I think an evaluation of this 1st Meet-Up is an excellent idea. How will we know what people liked/disliked if we don't ask and I think it will make it easier for the next meet up committee. You see, I'm thinking positively that there will be sooo many people who will wish they had come to KC that they will already be planning and saving for the next meet-up:D!!!!!

I don't want to give hubby too much work so I will just take cash or check :) . . .prices will be much lower than my website :)

WONDERFUL NEWS re: hotel and the minimum!!! :thumbup:

Lisa,

You're the only one who could do this, and do it with such finesse! :thumbup: Thank you for the countless hours (days, weeks, months :rolleyes: LOL) you have put into this.

I'm getting really excited now. It's only a FEW DAYS AWAY!

OMG...:eek:

WHAT AM I GONNA WEAR???!!! :eek::eek::eek:

:p:cool:

Teri, at my age I am trying to see if I can get past it without celebrating . . . :) shhhhhhhhhh

You're right...they absolutely could've held us to our minimums! So THANK YOU to Holiday Inn for that! I guess my frantic e-mail last night worked (I was freaking out a bit :eek:...or a LOT :rolleyes:), and it may be in our favor too that the guy I was working with got promoted to General Manager, so now I'm working with a new gal, and she's aiming to please :rolleyes:. We'll have to make sure the hotel knows how much we appreciate them! We also need to remember they're the only hotel on the Plaza who would even allow us to stay with all our dogs (and I called them ALL)!!! That alone deserves a round of thanks!

don't worry i will bring some . .they are the easiest to pack so definitely . . .