When planning an all-campus party it tends to be a given that no one will arrive for the first half hour. For whatever reason, Vassar students tend to embrace the idea of being "fashionably late" and won't make an appearance until well after the party's start time. So, when security approached us at 11:03 p.m. saying that we needed to hurry up and open the Halloween party because there was a line of 50 people waiting to purchase tickets and get in, we knew we had a big night ahead of us.
Halloween is the biggest event the senior class puts on, and it's one of the biggest all-campus parties of the year. While we as a council were fully aware of this, none of us entirely comprehended the amount of work that was going to be required. The initial discussion of the event began in September with Terry Quinn, director of campus activities and advisor to the senior class council.
Though we were originally planning on simply putting on a party as in years past, we were warned early on that this may not be the best idea. Given the history of the party and the high number of people with negative experiences due to alcohol, it was becoming more difficult to justify having such an event. After meeting with a number of campus officials, the message was clear: something needed to be done to try and prevent the excessive drinking that happens on Halloween.
Our class council took our mission seriously, and decided to offer a multitude of activities to give everyone the opportunity to participate in programming that didn't revolve around copious amounts of alcohol consumption. We had the perfect Halloween planned: a costume fun run in the afternoon, trick-or-treating at every residence hall as well as at the President's House and the Pratt House, a movie screening in Blodgett Hall, pizza delivered to all the houses, all followed by a bonfire where everyone could (soberly, of course) celebrate the spirit of All Hallows' Eve. Afterwards everyone would migrate to the party, which would have a fun house, movie screening, costume contest, and—obviously—a great dance party in the VIllard Room.
Of course, as those who did participate in these events know, everything did not go as planned. We were unable to convince all the houses to participate as some were planning their own events; pizza arrived late; the bonfire was canceled due to the weather; and our fun house, while well-conceived, for various unforeseen reasons ended up being, well, unfun.
As happens whenever the perfect plan doesn't turn out perfect, we were more than a little disappointed. However, the events that did take place were great successes and we are incredibly grateful to Terry Quinn, Maureen King, Ken Oldehoff, Don Marsala, and Renee Pabst for all their help in putting the event together, as well as to President Hill and Dean Roellke for opening up their homes for trick-or-treating. And of course the party had it's own highs and lows.
Highs: Free beer (though we didn't actually get around to drinking much of any), some fabulous costumes (Bud Light Year, the Morton Salt Girl, Marvel characters, and iPhone all walked away with sweet prizes), and just the pure entertainment of soberly watching your friends act less than sober.
Lows: not drinking; belligerent kids lying to your face about having a ticket and then getting mad when you call them out for lying; the high number of EMS calls; falling on your face and looking like your wasted when you're actually incredibly sober; realizing how hot and disgusting the Villard room actually is; crazy girls turning on the lights and then not understanding why that's not the best idea; having to clean up a ridiculous amount of Styrofoam belonging to a certain rice cake costume, and did we mention not drinking?
The party was stressful, and chaotic. We simply had no preparation for the amount of planning, man-power (fine womyn-power for my gender studies majors), and hours that were necessary for a successful Halloween. You should all thank 2010 Secretary Christina Peltier and Treasurer Brian Kim, because without them this party would have shriveled up and died a month ago. All four of us would have probably cried at the party if it hadn't been for the help of our class council, along with our brave and resilient Daisies and Violets.
The saddest part is, there's not a single photo showing that either of us attended the party. Our disco ball and sushi costumes are remembered only in the fuzzy memories of everyone's festive night. That said, we don't want to linger on the bad for a party that was, in our humble opinion, a success. After refilling the water jug for the final time we saw one our peers in a fantastic Lady Gaga get-up. Though it was more poker-face disco-stick attire, Gaga's immortal lyrics ran through our minds and we knew it was time to "just dance." Even though we were only being treated to the vocal stylings of a certain sassy sophomore, we felt, with sudden, blissful relief that everything was "gonna be ok." All we had to do was dance, enjoy the party for what it was (and wasn't), and be glad to have had this one final Halloween dance with our friends.
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