Some background. I was at a PTO meeting awhile back (last year) and they were taking about potential fundraisers and I asked if they’d ever done a bingo night (our favorite event at Halley). They hadn’t, so I gave them the basics, then contacted the Halley PTA for their info so I could pass it on. They were happy to have the head start, and I assumed they’d contact me when they were ready to plan it so I could help…and then I forgot about it. And then at one PTO meeting about two months ago they announced a date for bingo! Well okay then!
We were excited but I honestly wasn’t expecting too much—the flier they sent home didn’t have too much information on it (and of course I was expecting something closer to what I’d given them as an example). There were no pre-paid family deals, they didn’t tell you what any of the prizes were, it said extra bingo cards were $1, it didn’t tell you how much food cost… So we figured it would be a total crap shoot.
We show up about 15 minutes early hoping it’s early enough to find a parking spot and…the lot was basically empty. Oh boy. And there were only about 10 of us waiting outside. Right then I had this feeling it was going to be a failure and I was already feeling horrible that the idea was a bust and I should have been more proactive in helping plan it… And I was worried about everything.
But then they let us in and wow. It was game on. Organized to the Nth degree. Tons of helpers. People selling 50/50 raffle tickets. Food set up in one gym (pizza slices, popcorn, water, and bundt cakes from the delicious local bundt place). A line to pick up your free bingo card and buy more. (It was here I ran into my neighbor who was very surprised when I told her bingo was my idea. She said she’d wished she’d known! I agreed!) The second gym was completely full with tables and chairs and balloons. The bingo screen was projected on two walls (they used Google sheets to keep track of games).
There was a huuuuuge line of prizes.
Runners walking around to check bingos. (They’d give you a ticket if you won, then you’d go up to pick your prize and turn in your ticket to the desk.) Bingo chips instead of daubers.
Crazy kids at the tables. 🙂
And it was fun and lots of people were winning. We weren’t, which of course was a bummer because we were all so close so many times. And then Tom won. And then on the very last card of the night I won, too. Yay!
Before we knew it the night was over. On our way out the PTO president thanked me again for the idea. I apologized for not following up and helping organize and she said not to worry about it—she basically gave them the idea and my notes and they ran with it! Yay!
We took our picture when we got home, though you can’t really see all our spoils (magic rocks, a Woodland sweatshirt, and a gift certificate to a sub place).
