This weekend was my first fundraising event I’ve hosted [like…ever]. It was a lot of fun. I had a great group of people who came. The event was a wine tasting. Each person paid an entry fee and brought 2 bottles of wine. The first bottle went into a box for blind tasting and the other went into a ‘Grand Prize’ box. People were permitted to join the tasting without bringing the wine, but were also unable to win the Grand Prize.
My friend, Liz came to stay the weekend from St. Louis and she helped me out with answering the door and wrangling the dog when the doorbell made him go crazy. My teenager was responsible for keeping the two younger kids entertained. I got some cheese and crackers, summer sausage, and made spinach artichoke dip with toasted bread. I offered iced tea (sweet and unsweet), Pinot Grigio, and a Red Blend wine . People seemed to enjoy the Red Blend prior to the start of the tasting.
I took all of the bottles from the tasting box into my dining room. I’d used 2 separate pages to write names of people and the name of the wine they brought. I randomly pulled bottles from the box, removed the paper bag I’d wrapped them in, and marked them with a letter of the alphabet along with tagging the paper bag and using a rubber band to ensure blind tasting. Each taster got a scoring sheet that asked them to assign a number 0-5 to each one they tasted and then give them to me. We had a few Red Blends, a Pinot Gris, a wine that appeared green, and a Gewurztraminer. I had a chance to taste them, but not vote on them, since I knew who brought which and didn’t want to show favoritism.
Once the tasting score sheets were turned in, I invited a $1 donation to add points to specific wine letter that was particularly good. A few people added votes to their favorites and I tallied the scores. I double checked the scores and wrote each one down so they could easily be referenced afterward if people wanted to see how their wine fared with the group. The point adding actually broke a tie between two of the entries, so it was a good addition.
In the end, a Red Blend came in dead last. I announced the wines from fewest points to the winner to keep up a little mystery up until the end. The winner was the Gewurztraminer. I honestly had studied very little on this wine because I hadn’t seen it very often in the store or at parties. It was the wine with the most points, though.
I also gave out tickets upon entry for door prizes like a magnet that said “Will Run for Wine,” a couple of wine glasses with fun sayings on them (filled with chocolate), and a few of my homemade hot cocoa mixes.
The event went really well. When everyone had left, I was adding up the numbers. My friend told me to look closer at the check in my cash box. I was writing the wrong dollar amount in the total and it was for much more than the suggested donation amount. Altogether, the party raised $216 toward Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America! So my fundraising total is up to $396 of the $2000 that I plan to raise!
I intend to do more fundraisers, of course. This one went so well that I was much less worried about trying to put things together in the future. I got to meet some new people and I got to try some new wines that I hadn’t before. Someone walked away with a box full of wine, too!
If you want to donate, my link is MomJennGoal262. I am hoping to raise money by August even though September is the actual deadline. I have 2 more fundraisers in the works and am considering another tasting that might involve beer.
Thanks for reading! I hope you’re doing well with your plans for racing this year! Some days, I feel like I’m starting all over. That’s okay, though. I still really enjoy running!
Jenn's Journey 