sanovahNerd of the WestSan Diego, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
How much are you thinking music is gonna end up costing/adding to each ticket?
I think you mentioned earlier that venue itself is gonna run around $15. Assuming that's still true and we can get food to $15-20 a person or even lower I'd say keep the drink ticket unless music is gonna get expensive a person. I think for a party like this $40-45 a ticket isn't anything extraordinary or outrageous especially compared to past P3s or the overall cost of PAX.
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
It shouldn't be very much for the music, this is one of the benefits of going with solo acts, but it's going to depend on how much they ask. I basically only ask people that are local or who are already planning on being at PAX so we wouldn't have to pay them to travel or anything. It keeps things super cheap. I'd wager it wouldn't even go above $3 per ticket.
"I think for a party like this $40-45 a ticket isn't anything extraordinary or outrageous especially compared to past P3s or the overall cost of PAX."
Yeah, honestly considering the quality of this venue, the fact that we would have unlimited food for 3 hours, everybody gets a drink and gets to listen to live music, I mean $40 isn't really a bad value. I'm usually always on a fairly tight budget during cons though, and I'm sure there are others who have even less money to toss around for these things, especially if they're still in school or something, so I always want to do what I can to make it affordable. Poor schmucks like me gotta party some times too. :P
I would agree with taking off the drinks if it is going to bump the price up. We will probably have a few that night so adding one more to the cost isn't to bad if it is going to take $10 off the ticket price. As for tickets...I will just have to get my hubby to stop spending money on M:TG Online so we can get our tickets sooner, rather then later. lol!
Again, you are doing an amazing job! This will be the first year we are able to attend this as we usually have to get back to Canada so the kids can start school the next day. Very excited to be able to stay for this as it always sounds like an amazing end to an amazing weekend!
PAX Tickets: check!
Hotel Booked: check!
Sitter for the kids: check!
Excitement level rising: check, check and triple check!
@Coldbrew , I just wanted to say thanks for all the hard work you are putting into this. I have never attended a PAX post party but I planned on going to this one. It sound like so much fun. So again, thanks for all you hard work, as well as the work of anyone else that is contributing :biggrin:
3 time TWDT attendee. One year as House Head Boy and Now Head of House for Slytherin DE.
4 Year Pax West Attendee
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
edited June 2015
@valdor@Fenrisfang Thanks! It really does mean a lot to hear the good praise and to know that I might not be messing everything up! :P
Anyway, I'm about to respond to them again and try and get some solid pricing down for the food. They are already getting requests from other groups to book events that night so they will need confirmation and deposit from us very soon. I'm going to go ahead and confirm with them that we want that night, I'll just need to figure out how to get the initial deposit to them.
Also, is that menu okay for you all? I'm perfectly happy with it (not much a fan of hummus) but I'm good on the rest. Or does anybody think it's missing something? I'm asking if the second "mini hot dogs" mention was supposed to be something else, otherwise I feel like we could add one more thing to it. I guess that will also depend on the cost of that specific menu, which I'm going to try and nail down some solid numbers here so we can get started.
Bless this thread and thank you so much, Coldbrew, for putting this together. This is my first PAX and my best friend's first ever convention, so we're hoping to do this right. We'll be watching for ticket sales.
I think the menu sound good as it is. The venue sounds amazing so I would hate to lose that.
3 time TWDT attendee. One year as House Head Boy and Now Head of House for Slytherin DE.
4 Year Pax West Attendee
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sanovahNerd of the WestSan Diego, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
edited June 2015
I won't lie I'm kinda hoping the second mini hotdog was a typo meant to be chicken strips or mini burgers but even if it wasn't the menu still looks good. It's got a nice little spread with hopefully something for everyone and then they've got the kitchen open if someone wants something more/different. Overall I like it.
I agree with @sanovah with hoping that they meant something like strips or mini burgers, but would be happy with what is listed as well. With an open kitchen, everyone has an option to get something else if they don't like what is offered so that is covered as well.
PAX Tickets: check!
Hotel Booked: check!
Sitter for the kids: check!
Excitement level rising: check, check and triple check!
Also, is that menu okay for you all? I'm perfectly happy with it (not much a fan of hummus) but I'm good on the rest.
Maybe just make sure to communicate that they need to keep a cheese or veggie pizza out or the only thing a vegetarian will be able to eat is the hummus.
I'm okay with losing the drink ticket if it helps bring in more people who wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford entry (so it might actually end up increasing tickets sold=more money to spend on event). Hearing that they'll still have their menus open to us really alleviates almost any fear about running out of X or not being able to order something really specific, and could actually help as a selling point if people are iffy about the final menu.
I do agree the sample menu they provided could use some greener options (if anything just to be a little less greasy) for our veggie friends, but otherwise I'm okay with it. In order of preference, I like wings, pizza, hot dogs, then hummus. I think if we were to trade out anything though I think hot dogs should be the ones to go, since pizza and wings tend to be regular crowd pleasers and hummus is one of the easier and more popular veggie options.
I'm really impressed with whoever you've been working with by the way, they've been super prompt and detailed. And of course your own work has been awesome, too! Once we get the details ironed out I'll have to see if I can round up any of my friends to come, too!
WuShock is the best
He is the very bestest
I wish I was him
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
edited June 2015
Loving the feedback!
So yeah, the extra mini hot dogs was just a mistake.
The pricing is going to vary based on the total number of people, so I have multiple totals based on 300, 400, 500, so we have a good idea of what we are looking at. Here's the thing though: The food is expensive no matter how we look at it. If we charge based on having 500 people, which is honestly the safest route to go to make sure we can raise enough money (plus it makes it cheaper per-person either way), we're looking at about $45 per ticket. The shitty thing is that this EXCLUDES drink tickets. The only other way to cut costs at this point would be to remove food. The menu on this is basically what was written before: wings, pizzas, mini hot dogs, and hummus with pita bread.
/sigh
I had hoped going this appetizer route would cost a bit less, but I guess with it being unlimited and all...
Basically I'm at a wall right now. I do still honestly believe that $45 (technically it would probably be closer to $50 to make sure we can cover it in case we don't sell out) isn't a terrible value for what we get, but I still don't want to charge that much. One of the big reasons is that it will probably turn a good deal of people away who either don't have that much to toss at a party or that just don't want to.
I don't know, maybe I'm wrong about that, but I still don't like it. I can see if removing one item will drop it some more, but even then it would still be at least $40. To give you guys a better idea of the cost of this food compared to the venue rental itself, if we just reserved the space and didn't do any kind of food or drinks, we would be looking at like $15 per ticket. The food is almost 3x the cost of the rental, which I mean that's not terribly surprising, but it's still significant.
I just... don't know. Maybe if we dropped the menu to only like two items, but I don't really feel right about that. At the same time, that aforementioned menu, even considering it's unlimited, just sounds like it's too much per-person especially when most decent restaurants would give you a rather good meal for less than that.
For now I think I will ask for just a couple more pricing options: Considering I have the exact cost for the rental itself (because of taxes and such of course) I can do the math easily if we just axe the food completely, but I don't know where it would end up if we cut the menu in half. I could take a guess and cut the menu price quoted to me in half, but that would only be an estimate at the moment. However, that estimate would probably set the ticket cost at around $30-$35 per-person, which is much more reasonable, it just means less buffet options. Also no drink tickets, but that's really not a big deal. Drinks are super easy for people to take care of on their own, food can be a hassle if a bunch of people are ordering something around the same time.
I think I might be in-favor of the 'cutting the menu in half' option, but that's just me. It would suck to have to offer less variety (even though something like pizza could have veggie options to still cover more ground). Either way this is not a decision I'm comfortable making on my own, so... thoughts?
for numbers, fyi, the last few P3s were targeting 300ish I believe. I don't believe it sold out the last time, but sold just enough. I think 500 is a huge overestimation of demand, although I certainly could be wrong. I would guess closer to 200 or maybe 150. Although I suppose it depends on how it is promoted.
zerzhul on
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sanovahNerd of the WestSan Diego, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
Have to agree with Zerzhul when it comes to numbers. This year will probably be pretty small I'd guess between no PPP last year and then a new host/venue this year. We're pretty much starting where arco did way back when. Don't get me wrong you're doing an amazing job, this place sounds cool, and people will definitely come. I just don't think we'll hit 500 the first year.
I assume the venue price will go up the less people we have so tickets will get even more expensive. Which will probably drive people away unless food just suddenly gets cheaper if we have half the people.
All that said. I'd vote for either reducing the food if not fully eliminating it. If we were to reduce I'd vote keep the hummus and wings or see if we can't get chicken strips instead of wings if they're still expensive. Less variety would suck but we'd at least have a veggie and non veggie option with the kitchen to fill in where people want more. I also wouldn't be opposed to just cutting the menu out. Like Zerzhul said and I agree with I don't think we're gonna hit much over 300 if we hit it so I imagine if we have half the people each is gonna have to pay twice as much.
Either way this year I think we're gonna have to make sacrifices or it'll be ungodly expensive. I'm one of the people they could pay a good bit for this but even for me $30 for venue, $23 for food, and another $10 for music/extra cost is too much.
The other question you have to ask is do you WANT 500 people there, even if you could sell that many tickets. I don't know the venue but that seems to me like it would get crowded.
I suggest cutting the food, out if need be, and estimate 300 at most. The point isn't the food, or the booze, it's having a proper send-off to PAX Prime. As long as we have fellow PAXers, and games to play, I'll be happy to handle my own food and drink.
Yeah I also think that a great job of legwork is being done here, for sure. I definitely want this to be successful.
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peetsnackTeam Green Poké Assist, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Head Girl House HufflepuffThe Cleave LandsRegistered Userregular
I agree that the main point of this is the gathering space. Food, drinks, music, raffles, and all of that are just bonuses to being able to hang out one last time before heading home.
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
Sounds like the unlimited appetizers might just have to be removed then, but I'm okay with this. 500 could definitely be a vast overestimation, but it's impossible to tell. However it is probably the safer bet to shoot for 300.
So if we take the rental cost alone and assume we won't go beyond 300 tickets sold, we would be looking at like $25 tickets. That gives us a little leeway in case we don't actually hit 300, but if we go over then it may still be possible to do one appetizer or something. Otherwise the extra would just go to Child's Play if we couldn't directly use it for the party but we can deal with that later. Sound good?
I'll go ahead and shoot another email back at them. When it's all said and done we will have a lot of extra insight into this stuff to help us determine if we want to come back here next year or find another location.
Well I am perfectly ok with cutting food down to cut cost. I wouldnt mind $45 a ticket but I know that may be a bit much for other people. They way I see it, the food bar should be for the munchies that people get from playing and drinking (if they do drink) and should not be a substitute for an actual meal. So I wouldnt mind limiting the items or just out right eliminating it. Just my thoughts.
I am also ok with no drink tickets being involved with the ticket. I am happy paying out of pocket for those.
I am also going to echo the others when they say aiming for 500 people is way overshooting it. I know that if the ticket demand exceeds the actual tickets there will be unhappy people, but then you know for next year and can plan for that.
3 time TWDT attendee. One year as House Head Boy and Now Head of House for Slytherin DE.
4 Year Pax West Attendee
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
Alright I've received new contracts, so basically it's going to be $25 per person. She proposed some kind of nacho bar with black beans and other things like salsas and such, but even that would raise it to about $40. There will still be music (solo acts for something like this are dirt cheap compared to food and even drinks) but that's about it. Anybody that wants food can order whatever they want off the normal menu that the place has, and anybody that wants booze or any kind of drinks can order them from the bar.
"if the ticket demand exceeds the actual tickets there will be unhappy people"
The nice thing about this place (especially since we're not doing food or drink tickets) is that we don't even really have to give them a final number of attendee's. The downstairs that we will be reserving is all together, and the capacity caps around 500 so we don't have to cap tickets to 300 or anything. Granted, if we do go over that we might have a good chunk of leftover funds, but I'm sure we can figure out a good way to deal with that.
Anyway if the $25 ticket option (lacking any kind of drink tickets or buffet) sounds good to everybody, then I can go ahead and sign the contract and start working on getting ticket sales live. I may want some help with this though. What are some good websites/systems that we can look at for this? What has been used and worked well in the past?
Eventbrite has been the primary site for these sort of events in the past. It works pretty well.
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sanovahNerd of the WestSan Diego, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
edited June 2015
Most things I've run across at PAX use eventbrite including previous PPP so it would prob be the best bet.
But yeah for this year just the venue sounds like a solid plan. The more I thought about it the less sense unlimited food made. I mean it's nice having food just brought out but for less money we can each order something we want vs what's provided. That way everyone gets what they want. I just hope they don't bitch out in the kitchen and everyone decides they want food at the same time.
Next year assuming there is a next year and we do it here again. I wouldn't mind seeing just a drink ticket added. But that's next year. Anyway thanks for planning this man. Sounds like it'll be a good party
sanovah on
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
edited June 2015
Good news! It turns out the cost of renting the venue itself varies based on how many people will be in attendance (mostly because more attendee's = more staff that needs to be on-hand), so if we're only shooting for 300 people, we're cutting a good chunk of money from the rental which can be used for food. This means we can keep the $25 ticket price I mentioned earlier and still have some kind of snack bar. The menu proposed to me is basically giant pretzels, 'house-fried' potato chips and churros. So yeah it's mostly just stuff to snack on, but I'm perfectly fine with that. Thoughts?
Glad to see you went with the no food option. When I am looking at the pricing, I have to double everything as it will be me and the hubby. If the price with food is $50 and the price without is $25...I have to look at the $50 I would save between us. That would get us a lot of food off their regular menu!
As for the snacks, it doesn't really make or break it for me; we will probably order something off the menu instead. If we have something included with the price of the ticket, it won't be extra to eat for those who are on a tight budget at PAX, which is good.
PAX Tickets: check!
Hotel Booked: check!
Sitter for the kids: check!
Excitement level rising: check, check and triple check!
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sanovahNerd of the WestSan Diego, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
That sounds awesome man. I wasn't terribly concerned about no food because I was probably gonna order off their menu myself. But snack food sounds awesome especially if we can keep the $25 ticket price
Good news! It turns out the cost of renting the venue itself varies based on how many people will be in attendance (mostly because more attendee's = more staff that needs to be on-hand), so if we're only shooting for 300 people, we're cutting a good chunk of money from the rental which can be used for food. This means we can keep the $25 ticket price I mentioned earlier and still have some kind of snack bar. The menu proposed to me is basically giant pretzels, 'house-fried' potato chips and churros. So yeah it's mostly just stuff to snack on, but I'm perfectly fine with that. Thoughts?
Outstanding! Again, you are awesome and thank you for doing all this work!
Good news! It turns out the cost of renting the venue itself varies based on how many people will be in attendance (mostly because more attendee's = more staff that needs to be on-hand), so if we're only shooting for 300 people, we're cutting a good chunk of money from the rental which can be used for food. This means we can keep the $25 ticket price I mentioned earlier and still have some kind of snack bar. The menu proposed to me is basically giant pretzels, 'house-fried' potato chips and churros. So yeah it's mostly just stuff to snack on, but I'm perfectly fine with that. Thoughts?
I think this is a great option. That way you're still providing something for attendees, but if they want to eat a full meal at 10 PM they'll have to take care of themselves. And personally I love chips so I'm down.
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
edited June 2015
At this point, removing the food would actually take us under $20 but I'm personally in favor of the $25 ticket with chips/pretzels so we still have at least something out there for everybody.
EDIT: We still have the option of doing drink tickets too. That would probably set the ticket price around $35, but still under $30 for people who prefer the non-alcoholic kind. Just throwing that out there.
Oh, and we also have the option of creating a specialty cocktail just for this party. If anybody wants to start throwing out suggestions for this, please do so, I think it would be great! Otherwise I'm going to give them something crazy. :P
Oh, and we also have the option of creating a specialty cocktail just for this party. If anybody wants to start throwing out suggestions for this, please do so, I think it would be great! Otherwise I'm going to give them something crazy. :P
I'm gonna go take a look at EventBrite.
Might I suggest something featuring liquor from the Old Ballard Liquor Company? I'm sure @LexiconGrrl has some ideas. :biggrin:
Oh, and we also have the option of creating a specialty cocktail just for this party. If anybody wants to start throwing out suggestions for this, please do so, I think it would be great! Otherwise I'm going to give them something crazy. :P
I'm gonna go take a look at EventBrite.
Might I suggest something featuring liquor from the Old Ballard Liquor Company? I'm sure @LexiconGrrl has some ideas. :biggrin:
WA Liquor laws might make that difficult
<MoeFwacky> besides, BigRed-Worky is right
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sanovahNerd of the WestSan Diego, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
If enough people want it I'd say go for the drink ticket. Would be nice and I'd certainly enjoy it and vote in favor of having one. but would be fine without if people wanna try and keep it as cheap as can.
As for the drink idc what we call it as long as it has vodka in it.
At this point, removing the food would actually take us under $20 but I'm personally in favor of the $25 ticket with chips/pretzels so we still have at least something out there for everybody.
EDIT: We still have the option of doing drink tickets too. That would probably set the ticket price around $35, but still under $30 for people who prefer the non-alcoholic kind. Just throwing that out there.
Oh, and we also have the option of creating a specialty cocktail just for this party. If anybody wants to start throwing out suggestions for this, please do so, I think it would be great! Otherwise I'm going to give them something crazy. :P
I'm gonna go take a look at EventBrite.
I am ok with the $25 dollar option and I am sure other people are too. I am so excited for this.
3 time TWDT attendee. One year as House Head Boy and Now Head of House for Slytherin DE.
4 Year Pax West Attendee
Oh, and we also have the option of creating a specialty cocktail just for this party. If anybody wants to start throwing out suggestions for this, please do so, I think it would be great! Otherwise I'm going to give them something crazy. :P
I'm gonna go take a look at EventBrite.
Might I suggest something featuring liquor from the Old Ballard Liquor Company? I'm sure @LexiconGrrl has some ideas. :biggrin:
WA Liquor laws might make that difficult
Nope, the venue just has to order it. I'd be down. I'd even be down for making a special batch of something.
At this point, removing the food would actually take us under $20 but I'm personally in favor of the $25 ticket with chips/pretzels so we still have at least something out there for everybody.
EDIT: We still have the option of doing drink tickets too. That would probably set the ticket price around $35, but still under $30 for people who prefer the non-alcoholic kind. Just throwing that out there.
Oh, and we also have the option of creating a specialty cocktail just for this party. If anybody wants to start throwing out suggestions for this, please do so, I think it would be great! Otherwise I'm going to give them something crazy. :P
I'm gonna go take a look at EventBrite.
I'm in favor of the $25 ticket option. Anyone who wants to purchase drinks on their own can do so easily, myself included. Thank you again for doing this!
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
Sounds like the $25 option is the popular one. I'll probably get the ball rolling on this within the next couple days.
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BouwsTWanna come to a super soft birthday party?Registered Userregular
I am very late to this discussion, but I thought I'd throw in my personal experience. Parlor Live was our go-to after PAX drinking hole last year, and they earned our business in spades. The place was largely empty most evenings, but they were fast on the drinks, the wait staff was super friendly (would even come and chat with us / played pool with us after their shift) and the food was good.
I can't attend this year, but I was stoked to see you guys considering them. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
It might not be our little personal bar after this year though... I guess I'll learn to share.
Between you and me, Peggy, I smoked this Juul and it did UNTHINKABLE things to my mind and body...
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
edited June 2015
@BouwsT Sorry you won't make it out this year, but I'm happy to hear some more praise for this place.
Alright so I'm going to set our deal in stone tonight. We should have $25~ tickets that include the snack bar (mostly pretzels and chips) but no drink tickets. I've been informed that they wouldn't be able to order in any outside drinks/alcohol that they don't already have, but it sounds like they might be working on their own specialties for us. We have time to work that out though. For now I'm going to try to not be completely 800% distracted by work and E3 so we can get ticket sales up this week. :P
EDIT: Probably going to be like $27 tickets, just really want to have a little more breathing room to be safe and to make sure we can cover everything.
Coldbrew on
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
After doing some math... $25 gives very little breathing room to deal with if we end up selling under the 300 mark. Even $27 doesn't help a whole lot. Would anybody hate me if I bumped it to $30? I'm just a little worried about not being able to fund this thing if we don't get close enough to the goal. $30 will let us hit our mark sooner and with a less number of people (because it's entirely possible we won't have much anyway), then any extra can be used for the musical guests, extra food, or whatever. And for reference I will be buying my own ticket as well.
Either way, tickets should be up fairly soon. I have an Eventrbrite page filled out and ready, just need to figure out the tickets and such and it should be ready to go.
Oh, I also updated the OP so it's a little cleaner and more up to date. Let me know if I should add anything else to it. I'm also putting out a call for help with entertainment, mostly like consoles, Rock Band, etc. Rock Band has always been popular and it's been 'professionally hosted' in the past, but I don't have any contacts in that area. If anybody wants to bring anything or knows somebody else that could, feel free to step on up. I might bring something myself, we'll see, but anything helps!
I may also ask for volunteer's at-event to help with checking ID's and issuing wrist-bands for attendee's as they come in. Arco always had some help with that and if anybody is willing to that would be awesome. I'll probably do some of it myself too.
Thanks everybody for your help, feedback, and collaboration. It's been a huge help. I'm so ready to be done with all of this planning. :P
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I think you mentioned earlier that venue itself is gonna run around $15. Assuming that's still true and we can get food to $15-20 a person or even lower I'd say keep the drink ticket unless music is gonna get expensive a person. I think for a party like this $40-45 a ticket isn't anything extraordinary or outrageous especially compared to past P3s or the overall cost of PAX.
"I think for a party like this $40-45 a ticket isn't anything extraordinary or outrageous especially compared to past P3s or the overall cost of PAX."
Yeah, honestly considering the quality of this venue, the fact that we would have unlimited food for 3 hours, everybody gets a drink and gets to listen to live music, I mean $40 isn't really a bad value. I'm usually always on a fairly tight budget during cons though, and I'm sure there are others who have even less money to toss around for these things, especially if they're still in school or something, so I always want to do what I can to make it affordable. Poor schmucks like me gotta party some times too. :P
Again, you are doing an amazing job! This will be the first year we are able to attend this as we usually have to get back to Canada so the kids can start school the next day. Very excited to be able to stay for this as it always sounds like an amazing end to an amazing weekend!
Hotel Booked: check!
Sitter for the kids: check!
Excitement level rising: check, check and triple check!
4 Year Pax West Attendee
Anyway, I'm about to respond to them again and try and get some solid pricing down for the food. They are already getting requests from other groups to book events that night so they will need confirmation and deposit from us very soon. I'm going to go ahead and confirm with them that we want that night, I'll just need to figure out how to get the initial deposit to them.
Also, is that menu okay for you all? I'm perfectly happy with it (not much a fan of hummus) but I'm good on the rest. Or does anybody think it's missing something? I'm asking if the second "mini hot dogs" mention was supposed to be something else, otherwise I feel like we could add one more thing to it. I guess that will also depend on the cost of that specific menu, which I'm going to try and nail down some solid numbers here so we can get started.
4 Year Pax West Attendee
Hotel Booked: check!
Sitter for the kids: check!
Excitement level rising: check, check and triple check!
Maybe just make sure to communicate that they need to keep a cheese or veggie pizza out or the only thing a vegetarian will be able to eat is the hummus.
I do agree the sample menu they provided could use some greener options (if anything just to be a little less greasy) for our veggie friends, but otherwise I'm okay with it. In order of preference, I like wings, pizza, hot dogs, then hummus. I think if we were to trade out anything though I think hot dogs should be the ones to go, since pizza and wings tend to be regular crowd pleasers and hummus is one of the easier and more popular veggie options.
I'm really impressed with whoever you've been working with by the way, they've been super prompt and detailed. And of course your own work has been awesome, too! Once we get the details ironed out I'll have to see if I can round up any of my friends to come, too!
So yeah, the extra mini hot dogs was just a mistake.
The pricing is going to vary based on the total number of people, so I have multiple totals based on 300, 400, 500, so we have a good idea of what we are looking at. Here's the thing though: The food is expensive no matter how we look at it. If we charge based on having 500 people, which is honestly the safest route to go to make sure we can raise enough money (plus it makes it cheaper per-person either way), we're looking at about $45 per ticket. The shitty thing is that this EXCLUDES drink tickets. The only other way to cut costs at this point would be to remove food. The menu on this is basically what was written before: wings, pizzas, mini hot dogs, and hummus with pita bread.
/sigh
I had hoped going this appetizer route would cost a bit less, but I guess with it being unlimited and all...
Basically I'm at a wall right now. I do still honestly believe that $45 (technically it would probably be closer to $50 to make sure we can cover it in case we don't sell out) isn't a terrible value for what we get, but I still don't want to charge that much. One of the big reasons is that it will probably turn a good deal of people away who either don't have that much to toss at a party or that just don't want to.
I don't know, maybe I'm wrong about that, but I still don't like it. I can see if removing one item will drop it some more, but even then it would still be at least $40. To give you guys a better idea of the cost of this food compared to the venue rental itself, if we just reserved the space and didn't do any kind of food or drinks, we would be looking at like $15 per ticket. The food is almost 3x the cost of the rental, which I mean that's not terribly surprising, but it's still significant.
I just... don't know. Maybe if we dropped the menu to only like two items, but I don't really feel right about that. At the same time, that aforementioned menu, even considering it's unlimited, just sounds like it's too much per-person especially when most decent restaurants would give you a rather good meal for less than that.
For now I think I will ask for just a couple more pricing options: Considering I have the exact cost for the rental itself (because of taxes and such of course) I can do the math easily if we just axe the food completely, but I don't know where it would end up if we cut the menu in half. I could take a guess and cut the menu price quoted to me in half, but that would only be an estimate at the moment. However, that estimate would probably set the ticket cost at around $30-$35 per-person, which is much more reasonable, it just means less buffet options. Also no drink tickets, but that's really not a big deal. Drinks are super easy for people to take care of on their own, food can be a hassle if a bunch of people are ordering something around the same time.
I think I might be in-favor of the 'cutting the menu in half' option, but that's just me. It would suck to have to offer less variety (even though something like pizza could have veggie options to still cover more ground). Either way this is not a decision I'm comfortable making on my own, so... thoughts?
I assume the venue price will go up the less people we have so tickets will get even more expensive. Which will probably drive people away unless food just suddenly gets cheaper if we have half the people.
All that said. I'd vote for either reducing the food if not fully eliminating it. If we were to reduce I'd vote keep the hummus and wings or see if we can't get chicken strips instead of wings if they're still expensive. Less variety would suck but we'd at least have a veggie and non veggie option with the kitchen to fill in where people want more. I also wouldn't be opposed to just cutting the menu out. Like Zerzhul said and I agree with I don't think we're gonna hit much over 300 if we hit it so I imagine if we have half the people each is gonna have to pay twice as much.
Either way this year I think we're gonna have to make sacrifices or it'll be ungodly expensive. I'm one of the people they could pay a good bit for this but even for me $30 for venue, $23 for food, and another $10 for music/extra cost is too much.
I suggest cutting the food, out if need be, and estimate 300 at most. The point isn't the food, or the booze, it's having a proper send-off to PAX Prime. As long as we have fellow PAXers, and games to play, I'll be happy to handle my own food and drink.
So if we take the rental cost alone and assume we won't go beyond 300 tickets sold, we would be looking at like $25 tickets. That gives us a little leeway in case we don't actually hit 300, but if we go over then it may still be possible to do one appetizer or something. Otherwise the extra would just go to Child's Play if we couldn't directly use it for the party but we can deal with that later. Sound good?
I'll go ahead and shoot another email back at them. When it's all said and done we will have a lot of extra insight into this stuff to help us determine if we want to come back here next year or find another location.
I am also ok with no drink tickets being involved with the ticket. I am happy paying out of pocket for those.
I am also going to echo the others when they say aiming for 500 people is way overshooting it. I know that if the ticket demand exceeds the actual tickets there will be unhappy people, but then you know for next year and can plan for that.
4 Year Pax West Attendee
"if the ticket demand exceeds the actual tickets there will be unhappy people"
The nice thing about this place (especially since we're not doing food or drink tickets) is that we don't even really have to give them a final number of attendee's. The downstairs that we will be reserving is all together, and the capacity caps around 500 so we don't have to cap tickets to 300 or anything. Granted, if we do go over that we might have a good chunk of leftover funds, but I'm sure we can figure out a good way to deal with that.
Anyway if the $25 ticket option (lacking any kind of drink tickets or buffet) sounds good to everybody, then I can go ahead and sign the contract and start working on getting ticket sales live. I may want some help with this though. What are some good websites/systems that we can look at for this? What has been used and worked well in the past?
But yeah for this year just the venue sounds like a solid plan. The more I thought about it the less sense unlimited food made. I mean it's nice having food just brought out but for less money we can each order something we want vs what's provided. That way everyone gets what they want. I just hope they don't bitch out in the kitchen and everyone decides they want food at the same time.
Next year assuming there is a next year and we do it here again. I wouldn't mind seeing just a drink ticket added. But that's next year. Anyway thanks for planning this man. Sounds like it'll be a good party
As for the snacks, it doesn't really make or break it for me; we will probably order something off the menu instead. If we have something included with the price of the ticket, it won't be extra to eat for those who are on a tight budget at PAX, which is good.
Hotel Booked: check!
Sitter for the kids: check!
Excitement level rising: check, check and triple check!
Outstanding! Again, you are awesome and thank you for doing all this work!
PAX. PAX. PAX. Boom.
EDIT: We still have the option of doing drink tickets too. That would probably set the ticket price around $35, but still under $30 for people who prefer the non-alcoholic kind. Just throwing that out there.
Oh, and we also have the option of creating a specialty cocktail just for this party. If anybody wants to start throwing out suggestions for this, please do so, I think it would be great! Otherwise I'm going to give them something crazy. :P
I'm gonna go take a look at EventBrite.
clt
Might I suggest something featuring liquor from the Old Ballard Liquor Company? I'm sure @LexiconGrrl has some ideas. :biggrin:
WA Liquor laws might make that difficult
As for the drink idc what we call it as long as it has vodka in it.
I am ok with the $25 dollar option and I am sure other people are too. I am so excited for this.
4 Year Pax West Attendee
Nope, the venue just has to order it. I'd be down. I'd even be down for making a special batch of something.
I can't attend this year, but I was stoked to see you guys considering them. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
It might not be our little personal bar after this year though...
Alright so I'm going to set our deal in stone tonight. We should have $25~ tickets that include the snack bar (mostly pretzels and chips) but no drink tickets. I've been informed that they wouldn't be able to order in any outside drinks/alcohol that they don't already have, but it sounds like they might be working on their own specialties for us. We have time to work that out though. For now I'm going to try to not be completely 800% distracted by work and E3 so we can get ticket sales up this week. :P
EDIT: Probably going to be like $27 tickets, just really want to have a little more breathing room to be safe and to make sure we can cover everything.
Either way, tickets should be up fairly soon. I have an Eventrbrite page filled out and ready, just need to figure out the tickets and such and it should be ready to go.
Oh, I also updated the OP so it's a little cleaner and more up to date. Let me know if I should add anything else to it. I'm also putting out a call for help with entertainment, mostly like consoles, Rock Band, etc. Rock Band has always been popular and it's been 'professionally hosted' in the past, but I don't have any contacts in that area. If anybody wants to bring anything or knows somebody else that could, feel free to step on up. I might bring something myself, we'll see, but anything helps!
I may also ask for volunteer's at-event to help with checking ID's and issuing wrist-bands for attendee's as they come in. Arco always had some help with that and if anybody is willing to that would be awesome. I'll probably do some of it myself too.
Thanks everybody for your help, feedback, and collaboration. It's been a huge help. I'm so ready to be done with all of this planning. :P