Putting the FUN in fundraising

I have two fundraisers today, one for each kid's school. Both offer an opportunity to dress up. At the kids' disco, yours truly gets to don the awesome Hello Kitty suit, complete with oversized head, girly-girl shoes. Tonight the St. Mark's gala has a pirate theme, so I'd been on a mission to accessorize accordingly.

It's taken several visits to thrift stores but yesterday I was able to score skeleton earrings, a piece of fabric for a sash, and the all-important parrot. I was able to stitch together some cool fabric for a headscarf, borrow a cutlass, and make some hoop earrings and a necklace of gaudy beads. Because we know that pirates are all about the bling... I felt pretty good about my outfit. I had given it some thought, managed to procur it only by borrowing and thrifting, and it was on the fine line between semi-slutty and fun. Until I tried it on.

Ah, well. I have a lovely, reversible bustier from my days of Renaissance Fest and Morris Men. It was to complete the look. Apparently I've been in denial about a.) how long ago were those erstwhile days and b.) how much poundage I'd acquired since then. Nothing like a body-image bitch slap to bring you to reality. Perhaps if I had much longer laces and a maidservant to wrestle me in - and didn't have that pesky need to breathe - I could have pulled it off. So I've had to develop plan B (more like DDD) and it's ...okay. Provided the lighting is dim, I remain standing at all times, and much wine is involved, I'll probably look pretty good.

Back to the main point of today: fundraising. That's a touchy subject in the world of voluntary simplicity. If we're cutting back and have more money, we should be able to honor or exceed our usual charitable giving. But we're in a cash crunch right now. We're still reeling a bit from our Florida trip, and have had a bunch of expenses come due simultaneously - seminars, registration for school, car insurance, credit cards. And the visit to the tax man wasn't exactly reassuring.

The kids disco isn't too much of a challenge - I bought a bunch of tickets to give away, but everyone seems to be busy! And we can spend some reasonable amount on snacks, face painting, and the all-important photo op with - ahem! - Hello Kitty. These are all experiences vs. stuff, and basically affordable. Bob is providing the sound system and music, and the kids are really looking forward to dancing and seeing their friends.

The tough part will come with the Gala tonite, and the silent auction. The catalog is filled with many tempting items that probably won't be cheap. There are a few experiences (gift certificates, tickets, etc.) and we'll try to focus on those. I have the impression that we're not the only ones cutting back this year, and I worry about how well the fundraiser will turn out. I'll sit down with Bob today and come up with a budget and some parameters. Of course the last time I tried that, I had a few too many martinis and didn't realize how many things I was bidding on and didn't I just "win" them all ! The gift certificates are still here, but now they've expired.

Aaaarrrrgh. Them's the breaks, matey!