The topic of COVID-crucified travel has come up a lot these past few years, both on the blog and off. But travel wasn’t the only—or even the first—pandemic-related casualty in our house. With great reluctance, we had to pull the plug on our Travel Bucket List Party & Fundraiser.
Just ten weeks earlier on a plane from Cambodia, unaware of the horrific jet lag that was about to pummel us, the husband and I pondered how to help the demining efforts we’d learned about at Siem Reap’s moving Landmine Museum. Tossing ideas around, we landed on hosting a travel-themed fundraiser. Once the Time Zone Torpor finally subsided, we got to work planning, prepping, and inviting.
And then . . .

But this past spring, with COVID expected to be in retreat in the Midwestern states all summer, we began to resurrect the idea of holding the party. And at long last—after weeks of baking, concocting, creating, decorating, shopping, borrowing, and renting—we finally made good on those plans. I genuinely wish I could have invited all my blog buddies, but since that’s ridiculous, I’ll give you a virtual tour.
To get people talking, we hatched the idea of “Mingle Trivia,” which involved assigning each guest a wine glass bearing a travel-themed trivia question.


With a wine glass, a trivia answer book, and a plate of food, it was a lot to juggle, but our guests are nothing if not talented and managed it all without incident.

A big draw was the many-flavored Gin & Tonic Bar. The husband—a potion-master (chemist) by trade—enjoys mixology and got to show off his infusions to a thirsty crowd.


My own contribution was 80 gallons worth of rum punch, but I couldn’t compete with his ten unique gin flavors.


But I did have something the Ginmaster didn’t have:

To soak up all that alcohol, we also provided food.

We’d solicited area businesses for donations that we used as trivia prizes.


But the biggest donation came from Solgaard®, the luggage company I gushed about here . . .
. . . which donated both a Check-In Closet and a Carry-On Closet Plus! With a combined value of $650, this immediately generated a new feature for the party: a mini silent auction.

So people ate and drank and bid and talked travel and answered trivia questions.



Until it was time for Desserts From Around the World (which, in my “like a chicken with her head cut off” hosting manner, I forgot to take proper pictures of) . . .
. . . followed by a short speech from the husband about The Landmine Relief Fund‘s demining mission as well as a heartfelt thank you to our generous guests and the businesses that contributed. Then came the revealing of trivia answers, the determining of winners, and the choosing of prizes.



And then, just like that, it was all over.
The guests collected their baggage . . .

. . . the food was brought inside, one cat snuck the food and got diarrhea for three days, the decorations were taken down, tables disassembled, rentals returned, and The Little Whizzer was cleaned and put away, eagerly awaiting his next chance to urinate in public.
But this wasn’t just a travel-themed party; it was a fundraiser. We are happy to report that our generous friends, family, and neighbors, including several who had to decline the invitation but still donated, as well as—get this—our electrician, who was doing some work in our house, learned why the dining room looked like an explosion in a party favor factory, and immediately put $50 cash into the husband’s hand—nearly doubled our hoped-for fundraising goal. In all, we raised $1,955 for The Landmine Relief Fund.
It is our hope that one day this nonprofit foundation won’t even need to exist.
This is utterly fantastic… in so many ways. A good cause, a great theme, and a gin bar! Bravo to you both.
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Thanks. It was a lot of fun. The gins are all still sitting on the dining room table. Plenty left if you’d like to stop by.
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I’d love to.
Say 7:00ish?
😉
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Yes, hopefully you can stay and watch the premiere of The Rings of Power with us. You can meet the pets, too!
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If only I could…
🙂
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What a fabulous idea for a party! I love all of the details you put into your theme. Well done!
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Thank you. I really got in touch with my inner Martha Stewart (except for the financial law-breaking stuff).
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I love this- everything about it! You and the husband could have a second career as party planners. Seriously, great job and that’s awesome you were able to contribute so much.
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Thank you. I loved every minute of it but it was SO. MUCH. WORK. I think being a party planner is a lot like planning travel for me: it’s only tons of fun if it’s a MY party/trip. 🙂
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What’s the saying? “No good deed goes unpunished?” Hence, the cat diarrhea. But I guess it stands to reason given how good of a deed it was! You guys are incredibly talented and creative and it’s nice to see all that skill invested in a good cause. Nice work!
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Thank you so much! Tons of work followed by tons of fun followed by tons of ewwww.
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What a fabulous idea. And, wow, you put some work in – wonderful imagination too – and it looks like it was a fun, as well as successful! Could it be a regular thing, different charity each time..? 🙂
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Thanks so much. It could be a regular thing, except for the fact that I vowed never to do it again because it was so much work – haha. But actually, I couldn’t help coming up with some ideas for a strictly British-themed party, so we’ll see… The hardest part was soliciting businesses. It was a lot of work and quite disheartening. Such a large proportion of the requests I made were ignored. I understand that not everyone can give, but I didn’t think it would be so few relative to the number of requests I made. I’m not sure I’m up for that again. If we did something again it would probably be things/gift cards we purchase as prizes.
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Hmm – you’ve reminded me of the 80/20 rule. 80% of results come from 20% of the effort!
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Yes, there’s a name for that principle. Bear with me while I look it up . . . ah, yes. The Pareto Principle. Very true.
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Wow, this party looked like a lot of work to prepare! Good job!
PS I love that London underground tea towel
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Thanks! It was lots of work but mostly the kind of thing I enjoy.
Methinks a London Underground tea towel could be yours later this month, no?
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This looks like so much fun! Wish that I could’ve been there in person to participate: the double-decker bus Hershey’s are SO cute! And I would’ve loved to have stolen a baklava (or two). You raised a solid amount, and it’s definitely going to a great cause!
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Thanks! It was my first time making baklava and I was a little nervous because of working with phyllo dough, but it actually wasn’t bad at all. I’ll definitely be making it again in the future. I plan on making all the desserts into Travel Inspired Baking posts, but technically I can’t do it with the Baklava because I haven’t been to Greece. I’ll have to check with the Blog Boss (me) to see if she’ll look the other way on that one. Or maybe I should just go to Greece – haha.
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I’ve made baklava before, but I’ve only used pre-made phyllo dough. Saves a lot of time and effort as opposed to making the dough from scratch! Otherwise, I’ll just head to my nearby Greek/Mediterranean café to grab a slice (or ten) to-go, if I’m feeling lazy, haha.
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Yeah, I am never, ever, ever going to make my own phyllo dough. You can quote me on that. 🙂
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What a great idea, too bad we couldn’t come/weren’t invited 😊🤣 Maggie
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You were invited . . . in spirit. 🙂
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This is such a great idea for a party/fundraiser and it looks like it was a lot of fun! Also, I rather enjoyed the gin puns 🙂
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Thank you! I wondered if anyone would notice those. 🙂 Good eye!
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This looks like so much FUN! A great cause and the right atmosphere to get people in the mood to help and talk and eat. I don’t much like gin, but even I would have to try some of those drinks.
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We have a bunch of gin left if you want to stop by!
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If only I could…
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Man, I’m so sorry that my invitation got lost in the mail (at least that’s the only reason I can come up with for not being invited). You put so much thought and effort (and I’m sure some $$) into that party and it showed. I love how you carried the travel theme throughout. Bravo!
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Damn postal service! You hit the nail on the head! Thanks for the compliments. Yeah, it did cost us some $, but it was fun spending it and so worth it.
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It’s great to see life is returning to normal and people could socialize again. Nice article with good pictures.
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Thank you so much, and I agree about life feeling a little more normal. Things may change for the worse in the Midwest in fall/winter, but I’ll take any normal I can get while I can get it.
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What a fun and creative event for an excellent cause! Wish I had been in the neighborhood to stop by. 😊 I visited and supported a non-profit in Laos that provides prosthetics and training for victims of landmines. Fascinating group you might find interesting. http://copelaos.org/
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Thank you!
COPE looks like a fantastic organization – very worthy. So much destruction and death caused by landmines. It’s truly heartbreaking.
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Love this for so many reasons! So creative and using your love of travel to help the world. ❤
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Thank you!
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What a great idea! Looks like an absolute blast, too. And all those flavored gins sound ginuinely delicious. I want an invite to your next party! I mean, we ARE practically neighbors now…
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It’s an open invitation, neighbor (and there’s plenty of gin left). By the way, love the new name!
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What a wonderful event for such a good cause! I’m so glad you had such a success 🙂
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Thank you! It was a lot of fun.
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Whoa, you guys sure know how to throw a party. Gotta admit I clicked because I saw a Malaysian flag. Clickbait! 😛
I love the attention to detail you put into the party, and the cause you did it for. Throwing a party is a skill, and it seems like you and the husband are black belts at it. What a wonderful post. Thanks for sharing!
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Such is my ignorance of flags of the world that I didn’t realize that was on the photo! Actually, the string of flags had 100-some and there were so many we couldn’t identify. One of my many personal failings.
Thanks for the compliments and I love the karate analogy. It’s not often I’m an instant black belt at something, so I’ll take it!
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