2023 LTH Holiday Party

As I posted here, I'm starting this discussion in order to explore the viability of having an LTH Holiday party in 2023. The event will need a leader and some additional volunteers (the latter of which I'm happy to sign up for). Please post your thoughts here. Hopefully, we can get something going.

Thanks,

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:As I posted here, I'm starting this discussion in order to explore the viability of having an LTH Holiday party in 2023. The event will need a leader and some additional volunteers (the latter of which I'm happy to sign up for). Please post your thoughts here. Hopefully, we can get something going.

Thanks,

=R=

Happy to help but would like to know up front what the go-forward threshold will be—would hate to put a lot of planning effort in and have it canceled because we only got 30 sign-ups and that was determined to be insufficient. Last year’s party seemed well-attended and was a lot of fun.

boudreaulicious wrote:Happy to help but would like to know up front what the go-forward threshold will be—would hate to put a lot of planning effort in and have it canceled because we only got 30 sign-ups and that was determined to be insufficient. Last year’s party seemed well-attended and was a lot of fun.

That will be up to the Event Leader (and likely the hosting restaurant). It's a bit of a ballet (a mix of art and science). The restaurant will likely want a guaranteed minimum but ideally, they will provide a min to max range. That and most of the details will likely be a function of negotiation, etc.

Last year, a few of us came up with the venue, after which I got in touch with the chef/owner to figure out what made sense for her and for us. The rest was just some back and forth until it was worked out.

=R=

I had a lot of fun planning the GNR dinners back in the day and would be happy to take the lead on this if there’s a consensus we want to do it and some folks to help with the planning/execution.

I'm happy to pitch in... after October. I'll be traveling a lot that month.

JoelF wrote:I'm happy to pitch in... after October. I'll be traveling a lot that month.

I’ll start a list! Thanks, Joel.

I'll be happy to pitch in.

I would like to help. However, I eat out so rarely, that I would not be able to give input on the venue.

We have a couple of initial ideas for venue that we’re going to investigate but if anyone has thoughts on places, please PM me. It will need to be somewhere that can accommodate at least 50 people (preferably 60-70) and allows/serves alcohol and either serves food that LTHers would appreciate or permits it to be brought in (we’ll take suggestions for restaurants, bars/lounges that would allow us to bring in food and food that could be brought in).

All at a price point that is in the $50-70 range for all. Extra points for central location and parking.

Once we confirm a place, we’ll need help with all the details so I’ll continue to assemble a list of anyone wanting to help, either in the planning or at the event.

Excited to see interest and looking forward to a fun night!

Hi,

I recently hosted an event at Revolution Tap Room on Kedzie for 55 people. This location was surprisingly listening friendly. If you cannot hear the people across from you, I consider that an unfriendly environment.

Each table of 10 had a refundable reservation fee of $50. If you did not show up, then away went the money. I also paid a non-refundable $50 fee to reserve a beer tour for 20 or 25 people. People who wished to attend paid $10 plus whatever taxes.

Food was brought in for this event. People ordered and paid for their own alcohol, which I prefer as a non-drinker.

Expected net loss for the evening was $50.

I would consider doing this again, though I favor a well run restaurant. At a restaurant, the space and food are discussed with one business instead of two different businesses who need to coordinate.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I recently hosted an event at Revolution Tap Room on Kedzie for 55 people. This location was surprisingly listening friendly. If you cannot hear the people across from you, I consider that an unfriendly environment.

Each table of 10 had a refundable reservation fee of $50. If you did not show up, then away went the money. I also paid a non-refundable $50 fee to reserve a beer tour for 20 or 25 people. People who wished to attend paid $10 plus whatever taxes.

Food was brought in for this event. People ordered and paid for their own alcohol, which I prefer as a non-drinker.

Expected net loss for the evening was $50.

I would consider doing this again, though I favor a well run restaurant. At a restaurant, the space and food are discussed with one business instead of two different businesses who need to coordinate.

Regards,
Cathy2

This is great, Cathy. We have a food idea that would require a separate venue so this could be a winner.

I'm happy to assist also, let me know what I can do.

I am also happy to help with any tasks
Elaine

Swamped with event planning for work but raising my hand to assist once things calm down.

In the last few years, I've wrangled the food drive and my husband Chouxfly has announced the gift exchange (Cathy2 handed out the tickets). I would be delighted to volunteer both of us to continue those things if they would be useful.

When a date is known, please advise. I am keeping the first Thursday in December hoping this date may be a repeat.

Cathy2

We have a date: December 7th! Stay tuned for details on place and menu but I think this one is going to sell out quickly so make sure to block your calendar!

Pearl Harbor Day, too!

I put this on my calendar months ago and hoped I got it right.

CAthy2

It's on my calendar.

boudreaulicious wrote: We have a date: December 7th! Stay tuned for details on place and menu but I think this one is going to sell out quickly so make sure to block your calendar!

Aarrgghh! Putting this on the first Thursday of a month puts it in conflict with the Chicago Beer Society's "Thurst Firsday" monthly event. This pre-dates LTHF.
Does it have to be a Thursday? What is the matter with Friday? I participate in a ZOOM chat with an organizer from New York city who seems to be at least aware of Jewish dietary laws, but schedules this on a Friday; which influences me to the point that we wouldn't exclude a chunk of possible attendees if this did shift to Friday.
A long time ago (September 2017), I recall missing an LTHF picnic because I had previously booked myself into Japan that day. So it is not significant that I attend every "LTHF-branded" event. Anyhow, if you compel me to choose between attending this LTHF event and the beers on offer at the C.B.S. event, it might be close in my mind, but the decision might result in an adverse reaction to the former. Which would then cause me more anguish that by not attending the LTHF Holiday Party, I might be adding fuel to LTHF's closure.
Essentially, I beseech you, do not make me have to choose. Pick another day for the Holiday Party.

pudgym29 wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote: We have a date: December 7th! Stay tuned for details on place and menu but I think this one is going to sell out quickly so make sure to block your calendar!

Aarrgghh! Putting this on the first Thursday of a month puts it in conflict with the Chicago Beer Society's "Thurst Firsday" monthly event. This pre-dates LTHF.
Does it have to be a Thursday? What is the matter with Friday? I participate in a ZOOM chat with an organizer from New York city who seems to be at least aware of Jewish dietary laws, but schedules this on a Friday; which influences me to the point that we wouldn't exclude a chunk of possible attendees if this did shift to Friday.
A long time ago (September 2017), I recall missing an LTHF picnic because I had previously booked myself into Japan that day. So it is not significant that I attend every "LTHF-branded" event. Anyhow, if you compel me to choose between attending this LTHF event and the beers on offer at the C.B.S. event, it might be close in my mind, but the decision might result in an adverse reaction to the former. Which would then cause me more anguish that by not attending the LTHF Holiday Party, I might be adding fuel to LTHF's closure.
Essentially, I beseech you, do not make me have to choose. Pick another day for the Holiday Party.

I don't want to speak for Jen but it's been many years since the holiday party wasn't held on a Thursday. The main reason for this is because overall availability of prospective venues is lower and pricing is higher on weekends, especially in December, when holiday festivities are in full swing. Places would typically have to sacrifice other business to accommodate a group our size on a Friday or Saturday, and no one wants that.

In order to maximize our options, keep costs down and boost attendance, Thursdays have proven to be the best choice. Plus, many people have long-standing annual holiday events on December weekends and it didn't feel right to step on those. For many years now, the LTH Holiday Party has been on the first Thursday of December. For better or worse, that's kind of become our tradition over the past several years. Holiday parties in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 (no parties in 2020 or 2021) were all on Thursdays, with only one of those not being on the first Thursday . . . Pearl's (RIP) on Thursday December 14, 2017.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

pudgym29 wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote: We have a date: December 7th! Stay tuned for details on place and menu but I think this one is going to sell out quickly so make sure to block your calendar!

Aarrgghh! Putting this on the first Thursday of a month puts it in conflict with the Chicago Beer Society's "Thurst Firsday" monthly event. This pre-dates LTHF.
Does it have to be a Thursday? What is the matter with Friday? I participate in a ZOOM chat with an organizer from New York city who seems to be at least aware of Jewish dietary laws, but schedules this on a Friday; which influences me to the point that we wouldn't exclude a chunk of possible attendees if this did shift to Friday.
A long time ago (September 2017), I recall missing an LTHF picnic because I had previously booked myself into Japan that day. So it is not significant that I attend every "LTHF-branded" event. Anyhow, if you compel me to choose between attending this LTHF event and the beers on offer at the C.B.S. event, it might be close in my mind, but the decision might result in an adverse reaction to the former. Which would then cause me more anguish that by not attending the LTHF Holiday Party, I might be adding fuel to LTHF's closure.
Essentially, I beseech you, do not make me have to choose. Pick another day for the Holiday Party.

I don't want to speak for Jen but it's been many years since the holiday party wasn't held on a Thursday. The main reason for this is because overall availability of prospective venues is lower and pricing is higher on weekends, especially in December, when holiday festivities are in full swing. Places would typically have to sacrifice other business to accommodate a group our size on a Friday or Saturday, and no one wants that.

In order to maximize our options, keep costs down and boost attendance, Thursdays have proven to be the best choice. Plus, many people have long-standing annual holiday events on December weekends and it didn't feel right to step on those. For many years now, the LTH Holiday Party has been on the first Thursday of December. For better or worse, that's kind of become our tradition over the past several years. Holiday parties in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 (no parties in 2020 or 2021) were all on Thursdays, with only one of those not being on the first Thursday . . . Pearl's (RIP) on Thursday December 14, 2017.

=R=

Thanks, Ronnie—this is correct. We aren’t quite ready to post the venue—we still need to iron out a few details next week. But it would not have been possible to do this particular event on a weekend and we felt that earlier in the week would have impacted attendance.

So Thursday, 12/7, it is. We know it’s virtually impossible to find a date that works for everyone but, hopefully, it’s a good night for many of you, so long as we get it in the calendar well in advance!

Pudgy, I saw you at the party last year.

Maybe this is the year you do the beer thing. Rotate back and forth!

CAthy2