Heya All

Now I know that some of you probably hate Christmas but I love it - spending time with family and friends, any excuse is a good excuse!!

So Mark and I both had the idea of having an EF Christmas Party. But I need a little help with this, so please any ideas are welcome !!

Date : mid week or weekend?? I think a weekend is better as we will all have time then to enjoy it and not have to worry about work the next morning

Venue : being relatively new to Zürich I have no idea of where to start looking for a venue. But a couple of ideas that I have are :

1. Restaurant?? People can then order what they want ,
2. Public Park ?? Find somewhere with a BBQ and claim it for the day this was people can all bring a dish/salad/ dessert ,
3. Hut/Cabin/Scout Hall type thing : Maybe we could rent a venue and cater ourselves like the public park idea, maybe we could all bring a favourite dish from home

So let me know what you think and any ideas and lets see if we can get this organised

kt

Date: I would say weekdays were better, because many people (ie me!) will already be planning weekends away.

Venue: It's a bit cold for a public park! I'd go restaurant myself. I think the group's close (maybe next year), but isn't big enough to go and hire a hall yet.

Awesome idea.

Date: Weekday - preferrably Wednesday or Thursday.
Venue: A restaurant that can seat at least 30.

Having seen a similar thing a few years ago I would actually suggest a hut / room. Why? Room to move around, meet other people, bring some music, dancing, etc. If everyone brings a plate of food from their home country there is plenty to eat, and the cost for the whole event is much lower.

I would suggest that a good first step would be to organise a small group of people willing to work together to organise it. Due to my own efforts on this forum, as well as a planned absence in the second half of November I don't really want to be part of the organisation, but happy to offer suggestions and help if required.

So if anyone would like to help Katie out, please put your hand up. Someone who has experience of locating a venue and can speak German would probably come in very handy.

I'm putting my hand up to help.

I don't have a preference between weekend of weekday, except of course if it's weekend then the party can go on longer. Katie, I suggest you/we decide on 2 or 3 possible dates immediately, then take some votes for a few days, before deciding exactly which day. Otherwise, we'll be chasing a moving target.

We might also have to be non-democratic, as the possible votes of a low number of people cannot represent the majority of active members.

I'm also in agreement with hut or otherwise dedicated room.

=DM=

Excellent work Diem! The earlier that the dates get set the better -both to secure a booking and also to get commitment from people. I reckon you guys probably need a team of about four people. I'll keep chipping in with organisational suggestions if that's ok

Other things to consider:

• Find a volunteer to be a DJ - I'm sure there are many people here who have probably had some experience in this regard - rather than just subjecting everyone else to their own personal tastes in music.
• Consider the financial aspects - if a room has to be hired then there would have to be some sort of entrance fee (like 20 francs). This money would have to be collected - perhaps offer some sort of bonus (or penalty) to encourage people to register and pay early? In other words, make tickets available on the night, but at a higher price. Any excess profit could be put into some sort of fund for subsidisation of another event?
• Accomodation - it would be great if we could also encourage forum members from other parts of the country to join us. If we could locate a venue close to a source of accomodation this might help them out. I've no idea if anyone would actually come and stay overnight, but it might be nice for them to have such an option?

That's all I can think of for the moment.

No need to get a DJ just create a playlist on on iPod and hook it up to some speakers, everyone can suggest songs they want etc.... and someone with an ipod can set the playlist up, I did this for a new years 80's party we had a few years back, i created an 80's playlist that lasted about 4 hours or so and had no need then to worry about the music

Well when I said DJ I didn't mean like with turntables and stuff, just someone with a laptop and some decent speakers. I actually did this a few years back, but since there was a diverse crowd and an area for dancing there were a lot of requests from people and we often had to change the playlists to suit the mood of the crowd throughout the whole evening. After all - if nobody is dancing then the wrong song is playing

The static playlist idea is nice - but I think we could do better, especially with someone who knows their music and has a large collection?

Edit: Does your participating on this thread mean you'll actually come to the party Nicky?

True, but you can't go wrong with some 80's and Come on Eileen, it's a guaranteed floor filler

Doubt it as we have visitors for most of Dec - but we'll see

I vote for a weekend. I've been looking for a good opportunity to make it up to Zurich to hang out with the folks from this forum, and this would be a perfect reason to make the trek up from Lausanne. For people like me, I'm sure that the weekend would be preferred to midweek. Accomodation might be an issue for some people, but I think that many would be like me and have friends in Zurich that they could crash at (who may be persuaded to come along, too).

Not knowing German or Zurich, I don't think that I can offer much in the way of assistance, though, sorry.

Heya

Thanky for the link Jack . Ive had a look at a few but I nead a little help with translations as I am not always sure that I understand correctly. The Waldhut in Birmensdorf looks like a possibility. But Altstetten and Albisrieden are only available until 10pm so they are kind of ruled out as an option. Most of the others the language is a little beyond me.

Dates: I am thinking something along the lines of Friday 1st December, Saturday 2nd, Friday 8th or Saturday 9th. So let me know what you all think of this. Or even late November.

Personally I like the Hut Idea as 1 it will end up being I think a bit cheaper and 2 If we can get it over-night then there will be no worries about time/noise restrictions.

Thanks for the support. And EVERYBODY is welcome!!

kt

How about renting a "Saal" (room) in a Gemeinschaftszentrum (Community Centre). Check out this link http://www.gz-zh.ch/

Once we can settle on a date I'm happy to offer my services to try and make the reservation if you like...

I know im only a new member and not had chance to meet any of you yet, I have always thought wouldnt it be great to hire one of them party boats that you see tied up at Rapperswil, the only negetive point is once your on you have to stay the evening.

DC

It's a nice idea but very expensive... I checked the price and it would cost about 1900.- for 4 hours

Guaranteed to make me stay away.

The "huts" idea sounds great. It almosts give one the chance to shuffle-off the mantle of repectability.

dave

I also think the hut is a good idea but i'd like to make a few points.
The person who's name on the rental has full responsibility for cleaning damage etc.

There should be a kitty paid in beforehand as drinks etc will need to be purchased and cooled before party.

The more the merrier on the hosting commitee otherwise someone is going to need a whole weekend organising cleaning etc.

The person who rents the hut must be up and back there the next day for the inspection and handing over the key.

All very well everyone bringing a plate of food but it should be organised otherwise you can end up with a very onesided menu e.g 50 salads and 3 desserts. Bowls and plates should be disposable or someone is going to have the job of storing and solving the puzzle of who's is who's.

It's been my experience for this kind of do, to keep things simple, less hassle, less cleaning and more time to enjoy the party.

It's all right saying everyone will "muck in" but people do leave early, get drunk or fall in love!

Often in a Gemienschaftcentrum the room needs some form of decor to create atmosphere, the old huts usually just have it.

This is just food for thought and not putting a downer on things. We may be a little late this year for this kind of organisation as many places are booked way ahead. If i can be of any help please pm me.
Oldhand.

howay Dave you old grump, its a classic!!! along with Wham's club Tropicana!!

I think the boat is actually a great idea... I am not sure how expensive they are here around the holiday season, but i remember in Lausanne that we did this for my b-school class (probably about 60 ppl), and between buying all of the drinks and renting the boat it was only 30 CHF per person! I was a little shocked, actually. Anyone know what those ZH boats go for?

Great idea!

Definitely up for it.

Can we do it before all of our relatives gate here? Perhaps before the 20th of December. I know that a lot of us are ether going home for vacation or having relatives visit.

How about having it as a house party? It would defiantly feel more Christmassy.

Does anyone have space at home? Or a heated marquee or something that would be able to host us?

=DM=