Wednesday, April 10, 2019

The BIG Celebration: A Night at the Races


As some of you may know, I have been a Big Sister with Big Brother Big Sister (BBBS) for the last year. It has been a wonderful opportunity to mentor my Little every week (in reality, we get to hang out for an hour, chat, and do fun stuff like make slime or paint/draw) and see her grow and develop.


This past weekend, BBBS held their annual BIG Celebration fundraiser and all their Bigs (mentors) were invited! I never turn down an invitation to get dressed up so I immediately grabbed tickets for Cody and me and planned our outfits.


I blogged this Tatyana dress pretty recently but if I am being honest, I didn't actually wear it anywhere since! It's a tough dress to rock - it kind of straddles the line of fancy and casual. The material and length certainly alludes to a fancier frock but the plaid and colors give a casual vibe.


I am still not sure if it''s a work dress (there's a lot of boobage on display here, after all) but when I saw the invite for the BIG Celebration and saw that the theme was A Night at the Races, I knew I found my event to debut this sassy number.


There was just one thing it needed - a fascinater, of course!


There was going to be awards given for hats and attire so I knew I needed to invest in some head gear. I hopped on Etsy and found SO MANY options but found the perfect one from The Hat Hive to complement the vibe of this dress.


Cody also got dressed up. He wore the smoking jacket he rocked at our wedding rehearsal dinner in November. I love that we got a chance to get all dolled up and dapper together again. It was just so damn fun when we did it for our wedding!


The event took place in Worcester, MA at the AC Hotel. There were pretend Kentucky Derby races with wooden horses that you could "bet" on with raffle tickets, Black Jack and Roulette tables, and fabulous live & silent auctions at the event along with an assortment of finger foods to nibble on (I found a delicious quinoa salad that had chunks of avocado on top - YUM!).


Upon arrival, we received raffle tickets for the horse races and $2,000 pretend money to cash in at the tables to play with. Cody spent most of his time playing Black Jack while I mingled and met some new people and kept an eye on our silent auctions. In the end, we won two silent auction items - Cody scored a Boston Pub Crawl for 2 (he'll bring Andrew along for that experience) and I snagged two tickets to Cruel Intentions: a 90's Musical, which is coming to my area for one night only in May (I'll be bringing my actual sister to this one!).


With a few cocktails in us, we even participated in the live auction. There were a few Boston getaways on the list as well as a trip for 2 to Vegas so we decided to have a bit of fun and bid. We knew we would NOT win (the Vegas trip went for $3,000 in the end!) but it was fun to raise our number and throw our hats into the ring. It was thrilling! I can see how it can be dangerous...


Cody and I sprung for a room at the AC Hotel that night so we didn't have to worry about driving home. It's fun to make a night of it, even if the event is local to home. The hotel is brand new and the rooms were very nice and modern. We loved having what we call a Party for 2 - whenever we get hotels for weekends away or nights away, we grab drinks and snacks at a package store (I usually get mini champagnes or wines) and sit in the hotel in our PJs and watch crappy TV all night long. 


All in all, it was a fun adventure to break us out of our normal Saturday night routine. It was a lot of fun supporting an organization that I am a part of and knowing all the money raised that night was going somewhere really good. I hope to get the chance to attend more events like this in the future!


Want to learn more about the BBBS program I am a part of? Their website describes their mission as: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass & MetroWest is a one-on-one mentoring program that makes a real difference in the lives of the nearly 2,000 youth and volunteers we serve. Connecting children facing adversity with caring adults truly makes an impact. In fact, after just one year being matched with a Big, 76% of Littles improve their self-confidence, 74% improve their academic grades, 67% say that they feel more social acceptance and 42% are less likely to engage in risky behavior.