Disclosure: There are affiliate links below. If you make a purchase from clicking on one of my links I may receive a small commission.

Here we are, a month after Diner en Blanc 2017, and I’m just now getting around to sit down to write this long overdue post. Not only have we been dealing with bouts of sickness, but I helped with a charity event for a dear friend who was raising money to help get kids hearing aids in Peru. If you know me at all, you know that Kids + Hearing Aids = helping however I can. So time was kind of sucked up into a whirlwind of busyness. (If you’re comparing the published date to what I say in the first paragraph, let me say- no, your eyes do not deceive you. We had some major life events occur and I wasn’t able to publish this post until now…seven months later…)

But, since I promised more Diner en Blanc articles, this is me making good on my promise (if a bit late). You’re welcome.

If you haven’t read my recap of Diner en Blanc Albuquerque 2017, you definitely need to check it out. But if you have, then you know that I had the privilege of trying some new product from White Appeal, and guys, I’m not gonna lie. I’m in love.

Are you ready to add 3 must have items to your Diner en Blanc list?

Back in August the totally awesome Jonathan of White Appeal reached out to me about the possibility of us working together. To say I was stoked might be a bit of an understatement. Seriously. I’d seen their stuff before and was super intrigued to check it out. Unfortunately, between school starting for the kids, my husband taking care of work stuff and a bunch of other factors (my love/hate relationship with e-mail…I pretty much hate writing them), I took my sweet time getting back to him. Thankfully he’s super gracious and understanding, so when I suggested trying out some of their product for our Diner en Blanc 2017 event, he not only hopped on it, agreeing to send it to me, but got it to me in time for our September 7 event (as in, over a holiday weekend- that’s commitment people!).

I was getting my hair done when I got a text from my husband letting me know it made it here on time. I may have squealed a little.

Now you guys know how much I love Diner en Blanc. If you don’t, then you can read any of the articles listed on the tab above. It is seriously SO fun. But one of the things you really have to consider when you go is space. You have to think about what you are bringing, where it will go and a whole other slew of items. In the past we’ve used a purple soft sided bag for carting our food around. While it got the job done, it also meant that we had to think about where it would be stored (under our table obvs- we couldn’t leave it out because it wasn’t white. I feel like the bag Jonathon sent us was a perfect solution. Especially since I was a bus/table leader this year and that meant we got to sit at the head of the table (re: extra space to put your crap- but ONLY if it’s white).

Now before I go any further, I want to clarify a few things. Lest you think I’m getting paid a crazy sum of money to drum up this company, I’m not. I’m part of their affiliate program (that basically means I get a small commission if one of you lovelies makes a purchase using my link. It doesn’t cost you any more) and I was sent a few of their items to try out and write about. I didn’t get paid for this post and I definitely wouldn’t drum up their products if I didn’t believe in them, because that’s just not cool.

So what made this bag (The White Insulated Cooler Bag + Stacking Kit) so great that I felt I needed to share more info with you?

1. It’s white. That’s kind of an obvious one, but as I said, if you can keep a bag by your feet and not have to dig around under the table, that’s a definite win in my book.
2. It has space on each side for wine, battled water or other drinks. You don’t have to use it for that, but I definitely loved that it had room for drinks already built into it. Bonus? It uses velcro dividers that act as padding. But if you don’t need it for wine (and we didn’t because it’s against the law in our state so ours was already pre-purchased and on-site), you can stack water bottles in it. I was able to fit 5 standard sized bottles into the space on each side. Quick tip- Chill your water beforehand and throw an ice pack in there with them. Which leads me to my next point.
3. It kept food and drinks cold. And you guys, I’m picky. Like really, really hate drinking warm water picky. It wasn’t ice cold, but it was cool enough by the end of the night that I was a happy camper (and honestly, the bag had to compete with New Mexico heat and being placed on the pavement, so I feel like it got the job done.) If you get the deluxe one, it comes with some ice packs designed specifically for the bag. #winning
4. It holds a LOT of food. Six boxes on the stacking kit (if you get that one). I packed for four of us and we probably still had too much food. But better too much then not enough. Am I right?
5. The stacking kit. I really liked that I didn’t have to DIG to get to the next course. Because of the design of the bag, I could unzip at the front and easily slide out the next course. That was definitely a nice advantage. Honestly, it was a really interesting design. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a bag like it before and was pretty intrigued by it. It gives you some flexibility with your packing and I’m a junkie for options.
6. I liked the shoulder carry strap. We didn’t have much need for it as we used a wagon this year, but it was comfortable enough that I wouldn’t have minded having to carry it. There was also a short handle to easily grab and maneuver the bag.

Okay, so that was the good, the things I really liked about it.

What about the bad? Honestly, there weren’t really any negatives- EXCEPT that one of the buttons that was supposed to hold the stacking kit up (because it can be taken out if you don’t need/want to use it for other events), didn’t seem to want to stay snapped. At one point during the evening I had a total collapse in the bag and ended up stacking the food containers in just because I didn’t want to take time to figure out what was wrong at the event. Afterwards I contacted Jonathan to find out what their policy is on something like this happening. Here’s what he said, “For returns, we’ll stand behind our products and exchange or replace parts if issues such as these come up.  I had this bag custom-designed, so I definitely do want to see people happy about it!” And you know what? He 100% made good on that promise. After letting him know about the problem, he sent me a replacement insert. He also let me know this, “If you find the snaps are still too loose, this likely means that one of the snap buttons on the cooler itself is just a fraction of an inch smaller than it should be.  The quick fix for that is use a pair of pliers and just gently squeeze the loose snap button on the organizer, so that it will be a tighter fit.” So there you go. Excellent customer service and a killer bag.

So what else did I get to try out?

Well, the peeps at White Appeal were super sweet and sent me some wine and champagne glasses to try out. I gotta tell ya, I was super happy with them. When I saw them online, I wasn’t really sure my feelings about them, but after seeing them in person, I can 100% tell you I would purchase them without any hesitation. While you may already have wine glasses that you like and would prefer to use (I get it! Believe me!) I think they are definitely worth a look and some consideration. They are plastic (and not like cheapy looking/feeling plastic), super light weight, and chic looking. Event better? They won’t break in the event you drop one (or worse- the wind picks up and some of your table gets blown onto the ground- yes, this did happen to one of the people in my table line this year).

I was also sent a light for the bottom of our wine bottle, but in the moment, I completely forgot to try it out. So here’s what I did. I used it at home (hey! I had to give you some honest feedback!). Super fun and perfect for adding more lighting/ambiance to your table.

Anyway, definitely give White Appeal a look and see if they have anything that may work for your event. What’s your favorite item on their site?

How the heck can this girl have MORE to say about Diner en Blanc? She’s already written a handful of blog posts and an e-book. What else is there to say? And to you I would say, there is always more! That’s the beauty of the event. There is always something new, something different, something awesome to share. It’s my joy and privilege to extend that knowledge to you, sweet reader, because I KNOW how overwhelming the event can be. I know what it’s like to try and figure things out, wondering if I’m going to inadvertently break a rule or feel completely out of place in a new and possibly uncomfortable environment (because new things are scary, right?). I get it. And I want to help you (and if I’m being totally honest, I really love sharing the eye candy from the event, because it’s beautiful.)

Now, before I get carried away with the deets for the evening, if you’re looking for a comprehensive list of what to expect, you can check out my ebook here. I also have a shorter (but still long!), blog post here. There are also some tips and ideas here, here and here.

To get started, let me tell you how I did things a little differently this year.

1. I was a BUS LEADER!! Yes, my friends, this year I decided to step up and volunteer and learn something new so I would have MORE to share with you all. It was a blast (albeit slightly stressful because I am still a crazy person who likes to go big on my table. For a normal person volunteering to be a bus leader, it won’t be that crazy…and my website was hacked a week before the event so we were dealing with that…joy. Do you hear the sarcasm all the way over there?) Anyway, while I missed my Cool Bus peeps, I found new peeps on the “Q” Bus (see what I did there?).

2. We changed our table design and didn’t use an arbor this year. We still went high (really high!) but I had a harebrained idea like 12 days before the event and jumped on it. Because Pan. Enough said.

3. I tried some new products from a great little company called White Appeal. More about that to come, but let’s just say I’m pretty excited to share some of the items they sent me to try out. They were pretty cool and will definitely be making a reappearance at future en Blanc’s! (Affiliate links are used throughout this post,. In the event you make a purchase after clicking one of my links, I get paid a small commission from the order. It’s no extra cost to you, but rules say I have ta tell you about it, and as you know, I prefer to play by the rules.

So here’s the thing. When you volunteer, things are different, but not SO different. You still have to pack your table, find an awesome outfit, pack or buy your food and do all of the prep work beforehand, there’s just a little more that goes along with it. Keep an eye out for a new blog post on how to be a kickin’ bus/table leader, but for now, know that it was awesome and I totally want to do it again.

Okay, so this years Diner en Blanc Albuquerque (DEB from here on out- get hip with the lingo people!) was AWESOME. I feel like I say that every year, but it’s true. Sorry ya’ll, but it is seriously one of my very favorite events of the year. Ranks up there with Christmas and the Pumpkin Patch. High praise indeed.

This year we had a couple of places in mind where the secret location might be based on some of the clues the hosts were dropping, and while we had the general vicinity correct, we didn’t have the exact location down. This years location was completely out of the box and was pretty amazing.

What’s really interesting to me about this year’s event was that the secret location was pretty unique and different. Unfortunately, there were a few people who didn’t see it for what it was- a beautiful view of the mountains, lost of space for dancing, mingling and a killer sunset. I feel like this year our hosts really embraced the natural beauty of New Mexico, highlighting those features. To the naysayers, please, by all means, volunteer or host if you don’t like how something is done.

So where was Diner en Blanc Albuquerque in 2017?

The 4th floor of the parking garage at Sandia Resort and Casino. It may sound weird you guys, but it was really cool. And the professional pictures REALLY show that. Case in point…

Like, seriously. Gorg. Can I get an amen?!

Here’s the thing about Diner en Blanc. It’s about highlighting the beauty of your city and creating community, the location is a backdrop for the awesomeness, not the main event. And I think our hosts nailed it.

So we started the evening getting to our meet up location super early to make sure we had time to take out everything for our bus peeps and our table stuff. Better safe then sorry right? (Also, just a quick note- I spent most of the day getting my hair and nails done for the first time EVER instead of doing them on my own. I liked that I had one less thing to worry about, but making sure I was good on time was a little tricky. Luckily we had packed everything the night before so that helped with everything! Pack ahead people! That’s the moral of the story).

Okay, so not all bus leaders will do this (and it’s definitely NOT required), but our bus leader in Dallas did (what? did she just say Dallas? Yes my friends, I did. We won a trip from Southwest Airlines last year and it was a BLAST. You can read about it here.) and I loved it so much I adopted it. Because who doesn’t like a little VIP treatment? So after checking in with my Group leader (hi Mika Lou!) and finding out where our bus would be (we actually unloaded in the perfect spot. High five!), we set up our drink stand and waited for our guests to arrive. In true DEB fashion, it was very much a hurry up and wait event. We hurried to get there, waited for people to show up, hurried the last of our guests onto the bus and left for the event. But in the between times, there was this:

and this:

and this:

Our theme this year was Peter Pan and we pulled it through everything. From the letter board we had guests pose with, to our outfits and our table, we really embraced our theme this year. (And it’s sort of how I convinced Greg to do something new when we had the arbor already. Thanks babe!)

After loading everyone onto the bus and checking them all in, I went through a list of things they needed to know, did a little giveaway from my “leader bag” and we arrived at our venue (more on that in the bus leader post).

They warned us this year that a rolling cart would be helpful and comfortable shoes were a must. So we borrowed my mom’s wagon, and I gotta tell you guys, next season when these are on sale again at Costco, one is coming home with me because it was pretty epic. Really SO helpful. I think Greg liked it a lot too. If you don’t want to wait for Costco, you can find them here.

So we hiked up a hill to the top of the parking structure and were directed by our beautiful hosts to our table line. I cannot TELL you how amazing it was to see their smiling faces as we walked up. There was so much joy in those smiles (and maybe a little bit of exhaustion). Standing at the top of the hill was one of the “wow” factors of the evening, a drum line. Gotta tell you, I loved that. It was a brilliant entrance.

We found our designated line and I had our guests set up. Because our location was more spacious then in previous years, we didn’t have to be tightly packed in and were able to leave a small “pass through” for guests to navigate through a little easier.

Our guests set up their tables and I went to help with mine (do you see a bit how this might be a little difficult if you are crazy like me and have a crazy table plus bus/line leader responsibilities?). I’m super thankful to our tablemates and amazing husband for getting it rolling and setting things up.

After set up, we were able to get some shots of our table and our line while we waited for the next wave of arrivals. The napkin twirl happened at 7 and was lovely (and this year I remembered to get a photo, but it was blurry so we are using the one Greg took for this post). Dinner and some conversation followed before I left to walk around and look at other tables and get some shots. In addition to those shots, I also picked up our tables sparklers and dropped them off to each guest so they would be prepared for that portion of the evening. The band was great and I really enjoyed listening to their music.

Okay, so here I need to add a little note. White Appeal sent me some product to try out at this years event, and you guys, I COULD NOT have been happier. They sent me this amazing bag that we packed all of our food and water in (since we can’t bring outside alcohol in). I didn’t have enough time to freeze their ice packs (my fault entirely, I delayed in communications with them), so I used some of ours. My water was still cold (not icy, but cool) by the end of the night, thank you very much. That’s a BIG deal to me, because I DO NOT like warm water. So yeah…keep an eye out because I will have another post devoted entirely to the other stuff they sent my way, but know I was super pleased. (Bonus points that since it was white I could keep it out and easily access our food! See:below.)

(Also, I just want to note here, that if you make any purchases through my links to their product/site, I get a small percentage of paid to me. While they sent me their product, I wasn’t paid to review it and all opinions are my own. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t tell ya about it.)

To end the dinner portion of the night was another “wow” factor, a contemporary dance from the NM Ballet Company.  They did a beautiful job and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them. The end of the dance began the lighting of the sparklers followed by the dance parties!

So I will tell you, one of the tips I gave the guests on my bus was to get Photo Booth pictures EARLY. NO kidding, in the 5 DEB’s I’ve attended, this was the first that I’ve actually gotten my picture done in because we always wait until it’s too late (thinking the line is way too long). This year, we went EARLY and got them done. YES! Score!

The dancing was awesome, but then there was this goodness.

Yes, this was an interactive projection screen which was the third “wow” factor for the night. It was legit. I loved it and had so much fun.

Other things I really liked? There was so much space. In a lot of ways I didn’t feel like I had enough time to do everything and see everyone.

Our hosts outdid themselves again this year and I’m so thankful for their hard work, time and efforts. Thank you to Cat, David, Taylor and the newly minted host Sarah for a truly magical evening.

Looking for more Diner en Blanc experiences? Be sure to check out my other posts here,  here, here and here.

Don’t forget to come back in a few weeks. I have more posts coming! Between editing pictures, writing posts and life in general I haven’t had time to get them all hammered out, but they will be coming soon! Also, I took lots of pictures of tables and fashion but they will have to wait for the next posts because this one is already out of hand.

I hope you all are having a great day!

PS- I loved being a bus leader for multiple reasons, but it was super fun to have friends on my bus and I could not have asked for a better group leader.

PPS- I forgot to tell you about the after dark light up stuff! A post will be coming about that, but until then, I’ll leave you with this:

***This post contains affiliate links.***

It really shouldn’t be any surprise then, that I wanted to create a place on this blog for highlighting some of the books I think are worth the time. There are so many amazing authors and stories out there, it would be a shame not to tell people about them.

Today I’m going to highlight a book called, The Ghost of You and Me by Kelly Oram.

Now first of all, I feel the need to disclose to you that Kelly Oram is one of my favorite authors. Seriously. I have read EVERYTHING she’s published and you guys, she’s amazing. Like a magical unicorn writer who can write everything from contemporary romances to supernatural stories that are un-put-downable. Which are honestly my favorite kind of books. I don’t know a lot of authors who can cross genres as successfully as she has. She’s like an eclectic collector— but of writing.

Anyway, back to the the book. The Ghost of You and Me is a contemporary romance with a bit of magical realism. It’s poignant, yet full of hope. Gut-wrenchingly honest, the characters deal with grief, guilt and the choices they make, struggling to learn how to communicate and work through the impact of those choices.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but the basic premise of the book deals with the tragic death of Spencer and the two most important people in his world— his girlfriend Bailey and his best friend Wes. Because neither Bailey nor Wes have worked through their grief and pain, Spencer hasn’t been able to find rest in the afterlife. So he comes back to help them work through things.

The characters are lovable, interesting and real. There were times I just wanted to hug them. There were times I wanted to smack some sense into them. And there were times I wanted to hang out with them. I cried with them, laughed with them and cheered for them.

This book is just beautiful and at times a bit haunting. I had all the feels— in the best possible way. Even if I did feel like I’d been shattered and glued back together multiple times throughout the book, I would read it again. And again.

If you like easy to read brilliantly told, give-you-all-the-feel books, The Ghost of You and Me is for you.

The Nitty Gritty (May Contain Spoilers):

Goodreads Rating from me- 4.5 stars because it rocks.

Violence- Unfortunately I can’t remember exactly, but there may be one fight scene with fists. I promise to take better notes in the future.

Sex/Nudity- There is some kissing and a few suggestive jokes made.

Profanity- Again, I didn’t take the best notes on this book and have since read many more, so I can’t remember exactly, but maybe one curse word?

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking- This book does deal with some underage drinking themes and the repercussions of that.

Frightening/Intense Scenes- Only if you find friendly ghosts frightening. Most of the intensity that was found throughout the book came by way of emotions. If you have triggers with death, underage drinking or cancer this book may not be the one for you. Age Recommendation- 13+

If you enjoyed this book, you might also like (but the age rating recommendation would be different for these).

Have you ever wondered about all of the things that have to happen on the other side of Diner En Blanc? All of the work that goes into creating the magical evening of elegance and entertainment? All of the hours put in by hosts and volunteers to plan and execute an event that has hundreds, if not thousands of attendees?

I certainly have.

I’ve often wondered when the hosts start planning, how they make decisions, why the rules are important, where they find volunteers, and why they do it. After all, what’s in it for them?

Fortunately for me, I was able to sit down with the incredible, AMAZING hosts of Diner en Blanc Albuquerque to find the answers to some of those questions. Taylor Trodden, who’s been a host since the first DEBABQ back in 2014, Cat Hanna, who joined as a host in 2015, but was a group leader in 2014, and David Stroud who also joined as a host in 2015, have worked tirelessly over the last few years to create a unique, community positive event that has doubled it’s size since its inception.

The hosts (and volunteers) work 9-5 jobs and work on DEB when they have time (in the evenings, on the weekends).

I met with the hosts two weeks after DEB Albuquerque 2016 to talk to them while things were still fresh on all of our minds. I had just come back from DEB Dallas 2016 and shared with them about that event. (You can read more about that here if you are interested).

Question: When does planning start for the next Diner en Blanc?

Answer: Planning begins almost immediately after the conclusion of the previous event. So basically a year in advance. (In fact, the day I met with our hosts, they had a potential site walk through immediately following our meeting).

Question: How much time is spent planning/coordinating Diner en Blanc?

Answer:  The hosts work about eight hours a week in their respective areas organizing, finding volunteers and vendors, brainstorming, and doing anything else that needs to be done. As the event comes closer, more time is invested into the event. By the six week mark, it has essentially become a full time job for the hosts (usually when ticket sales begin things really start to pick up).

About a month before tickets are released, there is usually a preview party and date announcement. It’s a time for the hosts to bring the assembled team together in a smaller, informal gathering. Old and new prospective guests can sample the wine offerings that will be sold that year, mingle with other prospective attendees, visit sponsor tables, gain table inspiration and have a night of anticipation. The hosts organize this event as well, using their talents and energies to stir excitement for the event.

Question: What kind of things have to happen to pull off an event of this magnitude? Having a secret location can create different difficulties for organizers. What kind of things need to be addressed?

Answer: There is so much that goes into pulling off an event of this magnitude. Even though we are a mid-sized city, many, MANY things have to happen before the event can happen— just as much as a big city— but with our own set of unique challenges. Here are a few of those MANY things:

1. VENUE- A venue that can hold all of the guests, sponsors, and vendors has to be secured. It also has to be kept a secret. After all, that’s part of the magic of Diner en Blanc.

2. BUSES- Perhaps one of the most important aspects for the evening is transportation. In some of the larger cities, public transportation (which I’m sure has it’s own challenges) can be used, but in Albuquerque, we use buses. The hosts have to secure over 40 buses (some charter, some school).

(Did you know that school buses are actually more expensive to rent then charter buses are?)

In Albuquerque we are limited with the number of charter buses we can secure unless we hire from out of state (which does cost more), so the hosts do everything within their power to make sure that they pick a date when the most buses are available to them.

Usually that means our event happens on a Thursday night. This is for a few reasons: They have to work around school bus schedules and other city events or tours that may be happening at the same time. It’s also why the hosts start planning a year in advance.

3. PERMITTING– Permits have to be acquired to host the event. Permits have to be acquired to host the event. I’m not even sure what all those permits are (I imagine there are some about fires, music/noise ordinance, alcohol and large groups to start), but I’m sure they are plentiful. And necessary. And not free.

Question: How is the date picked for Diner en Blanc?

Answer: There are a number of factors that go into choosing the date of the event. Number one (at least in our city), is bus availability. We need the transportation. Because a lot of the events have been in public places, government schedules have to be checked— in other words making sure that their won’t be other events happening at the same time in the same place, stretching resources. In addition, the weather has to be taken into consideration. In sunny New Mexico, a few weeks for an outdoor event can mean the difference between the high nineties and the high eighties. And let me tell you, that type of temperature change can make a difference. Venue also has to be considered. Can it hold and accommodate a group of that size on that date?

Did you know? The DEB hosts have a checklist of over 80 items they have to complete for DEB International? That’s a lot of work!

Question: How is the budget determined/distributed for Diner en Blanc?

Answer: Okay, so I have personally seen people make comments about the cost of this event and I need to say a few things to the grouchy mcgrouchers out there. (This is just my personal opinion and not that of the hosts.)

These events are NOT free for the hosts to put on. As great as it would be, for businesses to offer their services for an incredible community event, it’s not possible. They have to put food on their table, pay their staff and secure their rent. In other words, there is a reason that this event costs money for the guests to attend. If you compare it to a night at a professional sports game, or even a concert, it would probably be the equivalent if not cheaper (depending on what you do and if you attend more then once).

To all the nay-sayers out there- we all spend our money differently. It’s okay if this event isn’t for you. No one is forcing you to spend it. For those of you attending and unsure where all of the money is going, it’s going to buses, to vendors (photo booths, caterers, decorators, dj’s, photographers, videographers, and lighting to name a few), to permits, to the venue, security, bathrooms (if the venue doesn’t have them), clean-up crews, marketing (Facebook ads, signage) and to the WOW factor. There are so many other minuscule things that you wouldn’t even think about that cost money. For example, the food and drink tokens and the pouches to put them in. They aren’t free but are a detail that can’t be overlooked. And taxes. Let’s not forget about taxes.

The hosts of DEB Albuquerque try to budget for this event so it can be self sustaining. When they budget, they make sure they secure contracts that can be covered by ticket sales with a little left over for the preview party the following year. In addition to that, Diner en Blanc International receives some funds for allowing the use of their name and concept.

So what does that mean? It means that if tickets are $38 per person, $76 for a couple (as they are sold), and $8 goes toward processing, with another $8 toward the membership fee, the hosts only have $60 per couple ($30 per person) to make magic happen, working within a budget (it’s actually a bit less then that with some of the other fees they have to pay). It’s no easy feat and I have to say, to the hosts and to the vendors that they work with- YOU ARE AMAZING and THANK YOU for doing what you do.

Question: How much money do the hosts make doing Diner en Blanc?

Answer: Do the hosts themselves make any money from the event? After all, they spend a year securing buses , a venue and any number of other pieces to fill in the puzzle. Again, while I can’t speak to other cities, I can say that the hosts of DEB Albuquerque pour their hearts and souls into creating an incredible evening for guests, and they do it for pennies. They reimburse themselves in the event they have to pay for something (like signage) from their own pockets. All in all, they might make an average of  $1900 each on the event over the last two years. Which is pennies when you think about the number of hours they invest into the evening.

If you need me to do the math…

5 hours of work a week. 52 weeks in a year, subtracting 6 weeks for when they go, “full-time”, is 46 weeks. Subtract an additional 6 weeks of, “part-time” (preview party, marketing, and organizing volunteers) is 40 weeks. Subtract another 16 weeks for the first four months when they work 8-10 hours a week is  24 weeks. 24 weeks at 5 hours a week is 120 hours of work. 6 weeks of 20 hours a week is 120 hours of work. 6 weeks of 40 hours of work (which is not their full-time paid job BTW) is 240 hours of work. 16 weeks of 8 hours a week is 128 hours of work. 120 + 120+ 240+128 = 608 hours. If they each work 608 hours over the course of one year for this event and make $1900 each, they make about $3 an hour. That’s way less then minimum wage.  For us. That’s bananas!

Do us all a favor and profusely thank your hosts the next time you see them. Seriously. Get them a gift card or write them a thank you note. Because that’s bananas.

Question: So if the hosts don’t make any money off of Diner en Blanc, why do they do it?

Answer: A few reasons. The end product. They love seeing the night come together, as I suspect many of us do.  Seeing the looks on peoples faces when they walk in to the secret venue, when the tables are set and the music plays, a sea of white glitz and glam everywhere you turn, it’s pretty incredible. And they love it.

Another reason? The value it brings to our community. Albuquerque doesn’t always have the best press, but Diner en Blanc brings people together in a completely different and positive way. It’s a chance for people to dress up and let loose. There is an air of mystery and excitement around the event that is different from anything I’ve ever experienced and the hosts just really love making that happen.

It’s a labor of love on their part.

They can enjoy company in a special, unique and memorable way.

(Don’t forget to give them a hug if you see them at the event. They’ve probably been putting out a fire…or two- it’s the nature of the beast. Something will always go wrong at an event. Be prepared. You aren’t perfect, they shouldn’t be expected to be. They work their tails off to do the best they can. Give them grace.)

Question: Why are they so strict about the rules? When they say white, how white? Is it okay if it has  a black stripe? Will they really blacklist me if I sneak by with a little color?

Answer: They are dead serious about the rules. And with good reason. Something you may not know? Local hosts are required to provide a 3-5 minute video from the event as well as professional photography to Diner en Blanc International. I mean, why wouldn’t you want an amazing night documented and shared? But because the night calls for ALL white, and not just any white, but DIAMOND white (more on this in a minute), any footage or photograph that has an infraction CANNOT be used. So if the photographer happens upon a table and someone has a black stripe on their hat, that photograph/footage can’t be used. That’s money that was paid and wasted. Those pictures (while beautiful) basically become trash. And no one likes to waste money.

So how do you know if your outfit is diamond white? It can be kind of hard to determine if you’ve never paid attention to whites before. There are creamy whites— you definitely don’t want those— that have a bit of a yellow or pink undertone. Then there are true whites. They almost have a blue undertone and if you see them in the light they kind of blind you. Think of crisp, white bed sheets or white french porcelain. Fine dining tablecloths or bright white walls. That’s the kind of white you are aiming for. If you are interested in more about dress, shoes or what to pack, check out my ebook here.

Will they blacklist you? I guess the better question is, do you want to risk it? You might be a rebel and get away with it that year, but that doesn’t mean the following year you’ll receive an invite back. And honestly, if the rules bother you, it might not be the event for you. Is it fun? You betcha. Is it different and unique. Yup, sure is. Is it worth it? 100%. But only if you’re willing to play along. Because if you don’t, you may just ruin the night for yourself and someone else.

Question: How do the hosts pick the vendors for Diner en Blanc?

Answer: They are beasts. There is no other way to explain their awesomeness. They know people, have worked with people and are true professionals. Sometimes some things are determined by the venue, while other things are determined based on relationships. They send out  requests for proposals (RFP’s) that they put out for bids. They work with people that are local, whose work they’ve seen and who are willing to work with them.

Question: It’s been said that in some cities Diner en Blanc leaves a huge mess that the city then has to clean up. Is that true?

Answer: In some cities, that may be true, unfortunately. But in Albuquerque, as with the guidelines and purpose proposed by Diner en Blanc International, they do not.

Part of Diner en Blanc Internationals vision is to bring communities together in a unique way, highlighting local businesses and working to generate communal relationships. Another part is to be environmental conscience of the impact they make on a space. That’s why one of the rules is to remove EVERYTHING you bring with you (trash included).

In Albuquerque, we have been fortunate that many of our sites have had on-site trash reciprocals that were were permitted to use.

Something you may not know, is that the hosts of the even hire a clean-up crew to go back through the entire site at the end of the night and clean everything. They also return the following morning and do a walk through of the space to make sure that everything meets their expectations— leaving the space in as good as, if not better condition then they came into it.

The hosts also bring in 30 white buckets to collect all of the sparklers at the end of the night so they aren’t left scattered around the event space.

Question: How do you set up a Diner en Blanc event in your city?

Answer: There is a lot that goes into setting it up.
1. Visit the Diner en Blanc International site and express interest. (There is a submission process that has to be followed.)
2. Receive a packet about what all it entails
3. If you are still interested, you have to create a team of at least three people with experience in managing events, marketing, and systems and administration.
4. There is a vetting process with letters of recommendation.
5. You and your team create a mock event with potential venues, the weather for the times of year, and dates you are thinking of (to start with).

Having designated roles is essential to pulling off the event. Someone to focus on systems/admin/volunteers, someone with a production background and someone who can focus on marketing/sponsorships (otherwise known as partnerships).

Diner en Blanc encourages partnerships with local, boutique businesses. That is part of the goal after all— a positive community event. And what better way to do that then to showcase local businesses?

I hope I’ve answered a lot of your questions! If you have any leave a comment below and I will do my best to answer them. Diner en Blanc is seriously one of my very favorite events and I hope you get to experience it someday!

(Just really quick, if you want to see pictures from Diner en Blanc ABQ 2015, click here. There are also some additional tips in this post. Event photos and tips and tricks from 2014 can be found here.  But if you want everything in one place, make sure to check out my book. I’ve also complied a list of Amazon.com links for everything you might need for Diner en Blanc for those that don’t like to spend all day shopping.).

Oh my gosh you guys. If you follow me on any of my social media channels, then you already know this. But if you don’t, then a. please do! We have tons of pictures and tips we share (especially on IG) and b. then you are in for a surprise!

This year I got to attend not one, but two (yes, you read that right, TWO) Diner en Blanc’s! Southwest Airlines was a diamond level sponsor of this years Diner en Blanc Dallas and as such, hosted a sweepstakes for one lucky winner and guest. I’ll give you one guess for who the winner was…

That’s right friends! I was the lucky recipient of an overnight stay in Dallas including airfare, hotel and tickets to DEB Dalles. Whoop! It was a GOOD day when I saw the tweet. I may or may not have busted out some incredibly dorky dance moves…you know, like you do. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing…we all know you would.

Anyway, after replying to the tweet and verifying that I was, in fact, who I said I was, I had to fill out a 1099 (yup, be sure and pay your taxes people!) and some other forms that also confirmed I am who I say I am. Once that was done, the fabulous team at Southwest worked on getting my flights set up and my hotel secured. It was a relatively painless process. The only thing that made it even remotely bananas was I found out the day before DEB Albuquerque, which meant I was trying to reply to emails, take care of my families needs AND finish pulling together last minute things for DEB ABQ. It was INSANE. The Southwest team was fantastic though and SO patient with me. Thank you Derek H., Tena G., Kelsey B. and Alyssa E.! I appreciate everything you did to make our experience awesome.

Since there wasn’t much turn around time between DEB ABQ and DEB Dallas, we had to figure out stuff quickly. Typically for DEB you have to bring EVERYTHING with you. Your table, chairs, decor, food (if you don’t order catering), etc. You can read more about what you need to pack and tips and tricks for Diner en Blanc in my ebook and on these blog posts (DEB 2014, DEB2015, DEB2016). But since we won the trip we didn’t know if we were going to need to bring everything and order food/etc. or if Southwest was covering all of that. One quick email later, we had our answer. We would be sitting as guests at the Southwest table and wouldn’t need to bring anything besides any extra drinks we might want (non-alcoholic), our white outfits, and of course, a great attitude (they didn’t tell me I needed to bring that, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt ;).)

With the weight of not needing to bring extra things off our shoulders, we were able to plan accordingly. (Don’t worry! I still have tips for traveling for DEB! I’m just letting you know we didn’t actually have to bring anything so while we technically didn’t have a table to set up, I still thought about this a lot.) I’ve mentioned before in previous blog posts, but I think it bears repeating. I’m a little crazy and sometimes go a little nuts when it comes to table decor. I like to do it and it’s a way to stand out a little and a GREAT conversation starter. Since we didn’t have that for DEB Dallas, we decided to find other ways to stand out.

Ways to stand out at DEB (if you aren’t doing a crazy table):

1. Your outfit- You guys, there was amazing fashion in Dallas! I’ve included a few photos below for you to enjoy.
2. Find something uniquely YOU and add it as an aside
3. After dark wear/gifts
   

So this year in Albuquerque, we had a few people come by our table and give us small gifts. I was utterly confounded by this, until I realized (after thinking on it, since they didn’t give us any information besides an, “I like your table”) that it was a way for them to offer something to people to say they appreciated what they did (at least that’s what I assume they were doing). We were given some lifesaver candies and some of those mini wedding bubble tubes.

It was cool. Like, “here’s a little swag.” Well, since we didn’t have to lug anything around for Dallas, we thought it would be cool to get some swag of our own for the event. I ordered white glow sticks (we actually gave these to the Southwest table to say, “thank you”), light up rings (that were supposed to be white but ended up being color changing…I wasn’t happy but nothing could be done and I honestly hate returning stuff to Amazon), and light up bracelets. I also picked up a pair of LED glasses for Greg and as a way to mix things up a bit (inspired by our ABQ bus leader) and had some fairy lights added to my skirt, because, why not?

In addition to that, we also picked up a light box and created a signature piece that we added to our table (that wouldn’t take away from what was already on the table or get in peoples way).

During the Night

There are a few aspects of Diner en Blanc that are virtually universal. 1. Everyone wears white (and everything they bring is white). 2. The napkin wave to signify the beginning of dinner. 3. Sparklers to end the dinner portion (sometimes this is prohibited depending on where you are). and 4. Dancing. Of course there is eating and drinking and meeting new people, and having a ton of fun as well.

Our dinner didn’t vary much from the formula above. The biggest difference was that since we didn’t have to set up our table and trek things in, we had a little more free time to go look at the tables around the event space, interact with more people then usual, and hand out our swag.

I was really impressed with the showing in Dallas in both their fashion and their table designs. It was so fun to see what people from another city came up with. I saw headdresses, beautiful dresses, top notch hats, and lots of smiles. Arbors and high centerpieces were fairly common and I saw some pretty incredible programming on one piece that had- I kid you not- flashes of lightning programmed into a cloud. It was pretty sick and gave me some new inspiration for next year (muh-ha-ha…on a side note, I think Greg might kill me if I make him complete these plans…but you know…lol).

Dinner started with the napkin wave. That was really fun because Southwest provided custom napkins for every guest. The dinner that was catered was really good and served in these adorable bento boxes. The hummus might have been the best hummus I’ve ever had in my life. My only complaint might have been that I wish there had been more to eat.
We drank Apothic wine that we opened with the wine opener supplied to every attendee by Mercedes Benz.

After dinner we walked through the crowd of tables meeting people, talking with them and offering swag to tables/people along the way. That was also super fun. I had my cards with me that we also handed out.

One thing I really liked that Dallas did was have contests for things like, “best dressed table”, “Beau and Belle”, things like that. The winners went home with gift baskets from the sponsors. I thought it was a pretty fun way to acknowledge some of the people who really worked to stand out in a sea of white (and honestly, who doesn’t love winning stuff?)

Once we were virtually out of swag we made our way to the dance floor before heading out to meet Cheyse (ig @chaysendreams) to get a photo and say hi. Seriously though, this girl was the coolest. I’m pretty sure if we lived in the same city we would be friends. We hugged, laughed, talked for a bit and got a few photos together before we went back to the dance floor. Time flew and we finished the night with a fireworks show before meeting the rest of our bus back at the table and following the amazing glowing sign out to the bus. (You can see my photo with her above in the outfit inspired by the Never-ending Story.

I also want to note, our tablemates (and all of the Southwest people really) were SO sweet and super fun to talk to. Matt and Sheli, thanks for making the evening memorable and for the ride back to the hotel! It was more fun then waiting for the shuttle. You guys are aces.

Tips for traveling for Diner en Blanc

1. Travel on Southwest. No joke. And not just because I won a trip from them. Unless you are heading to a city where you can buy/mail/ship or rent your table and chairs for the event (and want to pay extra for something you may already have), then the two free checked bags can make things beautiful for you. Greg and I were able to fit everything we needed into one bag since it was a short trip, but if we had needed to take everything with us you better believe we were going to cash in on the free checked baggage.
2. Only take the essentials. You really don’t want to have to deal with lugging all kinds of accessories with you. Just go and enjoy yourself. Save the fancy set-ups for when you are on your home turf.
3. Order your food from the caterer. Unless you want to pick something up, it will just make things easier for you to order from the caterer beforehand.
4. Pack a collapsible (soft sided) insulated bag and pack extra water. I can’t stress this enough. That’s one thing I wish we had planned better for. Southwest was gracious enough to provide water for us in our complimentary snack bags, but I’m a camel and should have known better to pack more for myself. I was dying by the end of the night). Our bus leader did have water for us to drink before leaving, but I still needed more…
5. Pack an outfit that won’t crease easily. You can still pack something stylish, but if you don’t want to worry about having to iron something, it’s better to take something that will travel well.

Anyway, if you end up traveling or heading to Dallas for en Blanc, I’d love to know about your experience or any tips I may have forgotten!

Don’t forget to check out the shop where we list tons of things you might want/need for DEB!

(Just really quick, if you want to see pictures from Diner en Blanc 2015, click here. There are also some additional tips in this post. Event photos and tips and tricks from 2014 can be found here.  But if you want everything in one place, make sure to check out my book. I’ve also complied a list of Amazon.com links for everything you might need for Diner en Blanc for those that don’t like to spend all day shopping.).

Last week I had the pleasure of attending Diner en Blanc Albuquerque for the third consecutive year. It. Was. Fantastic. Let’s just say that if you want to win every time, have a Gospel Choir perform during dinner. I mean, hello? Gospel. Choir. I don’t think I need to say anything more about it.

Before we dive into all the glorious pictures for the night, I want to take a moment and thank the hosts of the event, Cat Hanna, Taylor Trodden and David Matt Stroud. You all worked so hard over the last year to make this event happen, so THANK YOU.

Unfortunately David wasn’t around to get a photo with as well, but I was so pleased to run into Cat and Taylor in the VIP lounge!

I also want to thank all of the sponsors, volunteers and vendors for making the night magic. Diner en Blanc is such a special event and one that I look forward to attending every year. It wouldn’t be possible without all of you!

In the tradition of my Diner en Blanc recap, I wanted to throw out a few new tips for this year (how I manage to find more every year is beyond me, but they are there…so…yeah.

1. If you are planning on drinking alcohol at the event, be sure and properly hydrate during the day. Water. Drink it. A lot of it. It is your friend. If you are anything like me, the day of DEB is usually packed full with getting ready, pulling stuff together last minute and a thousand other tiny things that you didn’t realize you needed to do. You definitely want to make sure you have had a lot of water.

2. Wrapping your items in saran wrap/cellophane can make things a lot easier to get around (We got that tip from our DEB Albuquerque team).

3. Another tip from DEB ABQ- Label EVERYTHING. Seriously. It’s chaos you guys. Chaos of the best kind, but still chaos. If you label your tables and chairs with masking tape you won’t regret it at the end of the night when someone who’s been drinking tries to mistakenly take your chairs.

4. Use your linen to wrap your dishes so they don’t break (you can you other packing material such as bubble wrap if you want, but the linen are already coming with you so why not use them to help protect your breakables?

Looking for more tips and tricks for Diner en Blanc? You can find them in my ebook, “The Unofficial Guide to Diner en Blanc“. I also have a few blog posts from previous events that you can check out here and here.

If you are looking for a visual guide of items you need for Diner en Blanc, go here.

Without further ado, I give you Diner en Blanc 2016!

The night started out with us meeting at our designated location. Greg and I actually won a ride in a BMW from our sponsors Sandia BMW (thank you!). We had already loaded our stuff onto the bus when our driver and his wife found us. They were both super sweet and he actually told me he researched which cars they had to see which had the biggest trunk so they could fit all or our stuff in it. Seriously, SO sweet and thoughtful.

On the ride we jammed to some good music (Chainsmokers anyone?) and waited anxiously to see if our guess for the secret location was right. I’m excited to say that for the first time in 3 years I was right! It was at the Botanical Gardens and it was GLORIOUS. It is so beautiful there, I was really excited.

Since we arrived separately from our bus (and our stuff was on the bus) we weren’t able to set up right away, so I walked around a little bit and took some “before” pictures.

People started filing in and working out where to set up their tables. This year the table lines were marked with grass posts with the names of each bus leader at the front.

As usual, set up was chaos, but it all worked out! We were able to get our table set up, get our food and drinks and get some photos before the napkin wave.

This year I decided to do a Cinderella theme for our table. Since I didn’t want Greg to have to make me a carriage (see babe, I’m a good wife!), I decided to add sheers to the arbor he made last year to make it feel a little bit like a “carriage” interior. It was an interpretation…but I was SO pleased with how it came out. We used a glass pumpkin for the centerpiece, found some white mice and cheese salt and pepper shakers, and of course, had a glass slipper to add to the table decor. I also had some custom clock face chair backers made and I LOVE how they turned out. We also went with a tulle skirt this year. It seemed fitting for Cinderella.

You guys, I cannot stress this enough. Lighting is everything. EVERYTHING. Once it gets dark the venue doesn’t always have the best lighting, so you want to make sure you have enough with you to be able to see your dinner partner as well as get photos.

Place settings:

Decor:

Unfortunately I didn’t get a good napkin twirl photo this year, so just imagine that here.

So one of the great things about having Kyle (hi Kyle!) as our bus leader is he is a professional photographer. He graciously agreed to allow me to post some of his photos on my blog for you all to get some more eye candy. Be sure to check out his Facebook page and give him a “like”!

Dinner:

This year we opted to buy from the mystery chef. The menu looked good and we were interested in experiencing purchasing our food through the online store rather then bringing our own. I will say, it was definitely nice not to have to pack anything food wise this year!

I know I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. This year the “WOW” factor was a local Gospel Choir. You guys. I CANNOT tell you how excited this made me. I literally got chills while they sang “Seasons of Love.” It was incredible. I want to have them sing every year.

After dinner we lit the sparklers to signify the beginning of the dance party. That’s always fun. And I didn’t hear any stories this year about people setting their chairs on fire, so YAY!

The dance party was a lot of fun with DJ Baldonado once again at the helm. Unfortunately we didn’t get much time to dance, but we had fun with the little bit of time we did have! Fun fact: there were Go Go dancers on the stage during the dance portion! I loved it!

Keep an eye out for some more blog posts coming your way in the next week or two. I have a LOT to say about after dark wear. How fun are these gloves and glasses our fearless bus leader Kyle wore! I died. DIED. I love it and it inspired me for when we attended Diner en Blanc in Dallas!

So I totally missed a lot of the fashion this year because of time, but I had to include these guys because their wine glasses were awesome.

A note about the bathrooms: Since DEB was at the Botanical Gardens, they had the bathrooms available for attendees. I didn’t need to use them so I wasn’t able to check them out for you, but I have used them on previous visits and they are very nice.

BASH Prep

Clothes

Now, I know this may come as a surprise to you, but a fashionista I am not. Crazy, I know. (If you want to see people with crazy cool style check out Kenna from Miss Party Mom or Latasha from A Posh Party.)

Honestly though, I didn’t even notice that much what people were wearing except for the dress up night- more on that later. Back to the story…I’m generally a jeans and t-shirt type gal, but I’m down with getting dressed up every now and then. Since I don’t have a lot of dress up clothes (I’m a stay at home mom who likes jeans and t-shirts) I called up my girl Michaela who hooked me up! She helped me pull together some outfits (and accessories) and lent me some pieces to help pull the looks together.

I’m super thankful to her, because even though all of the clothes I wore weren’t mine (though many were), I felt confident in what I wore and felt it represented my style. Thanks Michaela!!

So the crazy thing about packing for a conference is not really knowing how the temperature will be or how you will feel and what you will want to wear (can you say morning after late night bloat?), so I really wanted to be prepared. Had I flown in, I would NOT have packed so much, but since it was just my mom and I in her SUV, I came prepared. Well, over prepared. I think I had like an extra three outfits packed that I never got around to wearing.

So what should you pack for? Well, the conference was in Phoenix in January. The temperatures were around the 70’s during the day and in the 40’s-50’s at night. I was comfortable in all of the conference rooms and don’t remember being overly warm or cold, though others may have felt differently. (The only exception to this was the costume party- come as your favorite celebrity. I was stinking hot dressed like Hermoine Granger. For realz. It was not Hogwarts weather on the dance floor).

My game plan with packing was to have a daytime outfit and a nighttime outfit for each day of the conference. For the conference registration and welcome party I ended up wearing the same thing, but I felt that was completely appropriate. I think everyone else did the same thing.

On the first day of classes I went with a business casual outfit that was comfortable and layered, so in the event I got too hot, I could shed a layer. That night I decided to change into a dress for the dinner. Not everyone did and it was a more laid back dinner that was buffet style with tons of heavy hor derves.

Later that night was the dress like your favorite celebrity and dance party. So I went to my room and changed into my costume. As I said earlier, I dressed as Hermoine Granger (I don’t really have a favorite celebrity). I had on my full costume with robe and all, but it got HOT. So I ditched the robe and let loose on the dance floor. I’m honestly not a big dancer (ask my husband), but it was so fun hanging with ladies and cutting loose…and really, who can resist MC Hammer’s Can’t Touch This? I mean, really?

The second day I wore another business casual outfit that had layers and I was comfortable in. Because being comfortable is the name of the game people! That night was the tabletop competition and a sit down dinner. I chose to dress up in another dress and was glad I did because it seemed that a lot of the other women did as well.

For the drive home I decided comfort was king and I embraced my jeans and t-shirt.

What do you pack for a conference?

(If you want everything to know about Diner en Blanc in one place, make sure to check out my book The Unofficial Guide to Diner en Blanc. I’ve also complied a list of Amazon.com links for everything you might need for Diner en Blanc for those that don’t like to spend all day shopping.)

Hello my Party Peeps!!!!

This years Diner en Blanc Albuquerque was celebrated with 1200 of our closest friends and sold out with two weeks left until the event.

As you know from the post I wrote last year, Diner en Blanc was a bucket list item and has now become one of my VERY favorite, must do events. So this year we attended our second in Albuquerque (hopefully we will make it to some other cities later in life!).

So where last years post was really heavy on tips and tricks, this years post is going to be mainly eye candy. I really tried to capture as much as possible on film this year, and since it was earlier in the year this year then last year, we were able to get multiple shots with ample lighting.

(Looking for more DEB inspiration? Check out my blog post here for 2016’s event.)

A few notes before we get started.

1. The hosts this year killed it! Like dead dead. It was awesome. I think a small part of it going so well was because we knew what to expect this year, but a HUGE part was done behind the scenes (by the hosts and their teams) in making sure everything ran smoothly. Probably the only bad part was trying to find our bus at the end of the night.

2. There were are a few addendum’s I’m going to make to last years post that I realized I missed and I would say would be great to add to the tips and tricks.

1. If you happen to be in the media tent, pack some cash to tip the bartender. I totally didn’t know they were going to have drinks for us and felt terrible we didn’t have any cash.
2. If you are taking a bus, take cash to tip the driver. Again…totally felt bad about that…
3. Pack “picture” shoes (for the beginning of the night) and dance shoes (for the end and packing up).
4. Get your photos done at the photo booth as early as possible or you’ll miss out…boo.
5. Remember you have to pack up at the end of the night. Have a Designated Driver assigned before the night begins and make sure you don’t drink so much you can’t gather your stuff together at the end of the night (we were okay, but I saw a few people floundering).

6. Find your portable phone charger a week beforehand or buy a new one. It sucked being limited on my battery life…
7. Do take business cards with you! This is a great networking event!!!

3. I’m crazy and brought my cray to the en Blanc. You DO NOT have to take all kinds of crazy items with you to have fun at DEB. A table, chairs, linen and plates with a picnic dinner and something to drink, and a good attitude are about the only things you need to have a good time. BUT it’s okay if you want to get your cray on. Embrace it. Whether in fashion or table design be you and have fun!

Make sure you load up everything the night before so you aren’t scrambling around at the last minute! (Except food obviously- no one wants food poisoning while at a white party!)

Make sure you add color with your makeup. Last year I didn’t do a good job at that and was washed out…

We had two tables (for four of us) so this looks like a lot, but divide it by half and it would have been enough for a couple. I wish we had a second dolly though. It would have made life nice.

Here we are waiting to get on the bus. I LOVE that we all rode in charter buses this year. (It was a little rough having the school buses last year).

Me and my man on the bus waiting to head to the secret location

The “Cool Bus” you guys…because if Kyle deems it, it is so!

I don’t have any photos of us arriving at the location or set up…but I do have video! Keep an eye out for a video with tips, tricks and different parts of set up!

And now…drum roll please!!!

Our table!

Why yes, my husband did build a fold up arbor to tame my cray. This really happened people.

He’s the man. If he can’t do it, no one can! (Well, I’m sure someone could, but I love him and think he’s great!)

We needed to have a little bit of Paris in the 505. So I bought these mini Eiffel Towers. Aren’t they amazing?!

Originally I was going to scatter the vases over the space of the arbor, but a friend recommended making a chandelier instead. I LOVE how it turned out! Thanks Shane!

Another shot of the chandelier.

Marquee letters are H-O-T-T hot right now. So I totally thought we needed them in our table design. We each had our initial on the back of our chair. Funnily  enough, our initials were SHGR- Shu-gar. Get it?

Dinner is always started with the twirling of the napkins!

And now for the food!!! For appetizers we had meats, cheeses, crackers, chocolate and grapes.

For dinner we did cold foods since the weather was so warm. It was perfect! (Don’t forget to bring your own water! There won’t be any for sale at the event and you WILL want it!). We dined on peaches, rosemary chicken salad with a dijon butter and pretzel rolls, pasta salad, peaches and asparagus.

During dinner we were treated to the WOW factor with a visit from the Ballet Reparatory Theatre of NM.

Finally, for dessert we ate Berry Chantilly from Whole Foods. THE BEST. EVER. Seriously people. Do yourself and go get some. It’s amazing. Buy extra fruit to eat with it. You can thank me later.

And now for the Tabletop lit up!!! Don’t forget to add lighting because you might need it once it gets dark! It also makes finding your spot easier. We had lights under the table, on the table, on the arbor, in the chandelier and on the chair backers.

Now for a tour of the event around the Hispanic Cultural Center (our secret location!).

This is what we were greeted by when we arrived. An amazingly large step and repeat! THANK YOU to the sponsors!!

The Balloon Forest Picture Booth.

I wish we had gotten our photo done early on. Since we didn’t, we missed our chance. Make sure and take advantage of short lines!

Our great DJ Patrick Baldonado!

Picnic bag pick up from the caterers, Slate Street Cafe.

Wine from the sponsor Vara Wine.

The VIP/Media tent. I was privileged enough to be invited in. There were drinks and food offered as well as the opportunity to mingle with the hosts and our Mayor, Richard Berry and his wife Maria.

Yeah, I totally got that photo…

I loved the touch of the luminarias. It’s totally a New Mexico thing.

The fountain. I just thought it was pretty and wanted to include it…

Because cool people need a Cool Bus leader. We definitely had ours!

After we were done eating we lit sparklers. You guys. I said it last year and I will say it again. These are the biggest freaking sparklers you have ever seen in your life. FOR REAL. Unfortunately ours wouldn’t stay lit, but it was still fun and totally beautiful!!!

Okay, so after the sparklers it’s time to boogey down all night all night (or 11 anyway…). One thing I realized this year was to have a pair of cute shoes for pictures and dinner, and take an extra pair for dancing! After wearing heels all night I was SO glad I had packed my sandals. Packing up and searching for our bus was a heck of a lot easier with my feet not in pain!

We also took time to take pictures together since we missed the photo booth…

THANK YOU for stopping by! I hope you get the chance to experience Diner en Blanc someday and I hope my posts help you prepare!

And a huge shout out and thanks to the hosts, Cat Hanna, Tayler Trodden, and David Stroud. They did an amazing job!!!

And last but not least, my favorite outfit of the night…Prince Charming. You guys…he had it down to the boots! For real!!! Wish I had remembered to get a photo of the entire outfit.

PS- A note on the bathrooms. We were able to use the bathrooms inside of the Hispanic Cultural Center. It was divine! Just in case you were wondering about that…

All right, so let’s talk about prep baby, let’s talk about glue and me. Let’s talk about all the crafting that will happen begrudgingly. Let’s talk about prep.

Business Cards

Evidently business cards are where it’s at for conferences (well at least for this one). People bring all kinds of crazy cool stuff. Some people have beautiful cards that are so thick you would think it’s printed on foam board. Some people have fun additions. Others have amazing designs and everyone brings their best.

Anyway, before the conference, BASH announced they would be have a #BASHbestcard contest and winners would be announced at the dinner closing. Originally, I didn’t plan on entering anything, mainly because I couldn’t think of anything creative to do, but then it came to me. I remembered I really wanted to do a Christmas party invitation out of a Christmas cracker but never got around to it because of the cost and the time. But I thought it might be a fun and unique way to share my business cards and convinced my hunkband to help me make them…okay, I confess. He did all the assembly. I just cut out paper. What can I say? He’s the best.

So I bought and he assembled 25 Business Crackers for me. What better way to embrace my inner Britishness?

Well, one of the big questions everyone was asking, was how many business cards do I take? Some people said they were taking 100. Others said 200 and still others said 250.

I ended up buying 200 from Moo of my Bunches O Lunches cards, and already had some for Shannon Qualls (from Vistaprint). I love the Moo cards because you can print different photos on the backside of the cards and they are a nice thickness. HOWEVER, they are pricey (and I just got the basic version!)

A week or two before the conference, I was at Michael’s picking up some supplies for the crackers and I noticed there were after Christmas clearance items for sale. Mainly, there were boxes of cookie cutters (20 per pack) on sale for $1.99 (80% off!) What??!! After leaving them there and thinking about it that night, I made the decision to go back and buy them to hand out with my other cards. So for $10, I had 100 cookie cutters ready to go with my cards.

My hunkband helped me assemble them as well (yeah…I know. I’m a lucky gal) and they surprisingly only took a few hours. I only ended up making about 70 to hand out as we ran out of string and my budget was already maxed out.

So in all, I had around 95 “fancy” cards to hand out, and carried my extras with me in case I ran out. Because I made big bulky items to hand out, I created a bag with my logos on either side (someone in the BASH group mentioned it and I totally loved the idea so I hopped on the bandwagon). I left extras in my room and refilled anytime I went back to my room. So glad I had that bag because it came in handy collecting cards from other people!

In all I think I came home with two crackers and two cookie cutters with cards attached. So I would suggest having between 100-150 cards.

Pointers for creating cards for a blogging conference:

1. Make a statement. It’s okay to pass stuff out with your cards. Make them say something about you/your business/your blog. It’s also okay not to add anything. There were many people at the conference who passed out beautiful cards (and some who didn’t have any at all) and it was A-okay. They were being themselves and that’s what it’s about. Everything I chose had a purpose. For the crackers, we included my cards, a traditional cracker crown, a piece of my favorite white chocolate that fit with my packaging and a mini cookie cutter (great for lunches and desserts).

2. Don’t spend a fortune. While adding extras is super fun, it’s a lot of work, time and money. They do make a bit of an impact because people remember you, but they will also remember how you engaged with them and treated them when you met. Your cards are nice, but letting yourself shine is better.

3. It’s okay to spend money. This is totally the opposite of what I just stated, but it’s true. If you have the money and want to spend it making incredible, thick and glittery cards. DO IT. Why not? I’m not going to judge you.

4. Order enough cards. For BASH I only used about 100. But there are other conferences that you will probably end up handing out more or less cards (also depends on how card happy you are. Every time we sat down to a meal together the people at our table exchanged cards).

5. Order early. Trust me. It was torture not being able to assemble things because I hadn’t gotten my cards yet. If you know you are going to a conference, get your cards as early as possible- and don’t forget to pack them!

Here are some of the amazing cards I collected at the conference!

*Fair WARNING: This is a long detailed post about BASH and how I ended up going. It today’s post doesn’t float your boat, that’s okay. You may (or may not) want to come back by later this week to read some of the other updates I’ll be posting, but for now I hope you’ll enjoy this post!

Oh people, my people. I’ve been dragging my feet writing this post, mainly because I have about a thousand ideas running through my head about what I want to share and as I told someone this evening, there are so many words and yet not enough.

For those of you that don’t know, BASH is a party planners/bloggers/people in the entertainment field/anyone else that wanted to come conference that debuted this year over the weekend of January 15-17. It was packed with informative sessions, amazing networking opportunities, and just all around awesome peeps.

About five or six months ago I saw that the conference was happening and was super stoked about the lineup, but financially, it wasn’t going to work out for me to go. My son had had surgery earlier in the year and we were still paying for that. So while a party planners conference sounded SICK, I just wasn’t going to make it. I was semi-okay with that (who am I kidding, I was totally going to stay of social media for that weekend because I was totes jealous), until I saw that Amy Atlas was going to be there. Then I was like, all out not okay with it. I digress.

So how did I end up going you ask? Well, I entered to win a ticket and WON.

I.

Could.

Not.

Believe.

It.

Seriously.

I was picking up my son from preschool when I saw on FB that someone in a group I am in mentioned someone from our group had won a ticket. I raced over to HWTM and there was my name!!! Whoa. So I asked my husband if we might be able to make it work, and he was SO supportive. A girlfriend reached out to me and offered to check with her roommates and see if they could make room for one more. They agreed, so I had my ticket and room set up in the same day.

As for travel, I thought about flying in, but when I mentioned to my mom I was going, she offered to drive me out there (for free!!) because she wanted to visit family in town.

So yeah, I was totally and completely blessed to get to go and so inexpensively.

Being that this was my first bloggers conference, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I looked to the BASH conference page for as much information as I could get, I talked to my roomies and some of the ladies from the FB group I’m in. I listened to what Tonya (from Soirée Event Designs suggested). I took in what people were saying in the BASH FB group, and, I prepared…well… I may have over prepared. But hey! I was ready for any party emergency!

After I got my travel arrangements taken care of, I needed to prepare my business cards, my clothing choices and my roomie gifts. Take it from me and don’t wait until the last minute to do it…I had some late nights leading up to the conference.

I’ll be posting tips on what to pack, and more about cards and gifts later, for now I’m just going to finish off saying that I had an amazing time at BASH, am so glad I went and definitely recommend it for anyone thinking about going.