drunk history: the purim edition
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the idea & collaboration
we still aren't clear on exactly where this idea came from but we agree that caroline and i devised a concept for a purim party that would include a lot of drinking and some form of learning. to me, nothing meets that description more than comedy central's drunk history. and thus, the idea was born. this was the first time ashreinu ever collaborated on program content with another organization (we should probably write a post on the importance of delegating and trust when it comes to creative community building...) and it was an absolute pleasure. qjews was an exemplary partner. why qjews? purim is pretty much the queerest jewish holiday. we are celebrating hidden identities, women coming out, resistance, fighting back, and self-reliance. qjews were the obvious folks to build the event with.
details details details
we were lucky enough to be hosted by one of the best businesses in st. louis STL-STYLE, located on cherokee street. you get instant cred for hanging out with the vines brothers. they have created an awesome vintage space filled with st. louis pride. the venue was an enormous incentive for people to attend.
our semitic aesthetic co-collaborator and community member, dj boogieman donated his talents and gave the evening a vintage soundtrack to match the space.
as for the content of the program? a great miracle happened. it is widely regarded as a fool's errand to try and get people at a party to do anything organized once the party has started. i learned this hard lesson during the great halloween crawl of 2016. it was fun but it was also like herding cats. so i went into this purim party with reserved expectations about what people were going to actually be up for and boy was i happily proven wrong.
the drunk history portion of our evening was carefully planned. we chose an event moderator in advance and coordinated with a group of attendees who understood the plan and were ready to step up. we committed to only having twenty minutes of structured time at our party and it would be in the form of a popular improv game called 'tap in, tap out'. any partygoer could take the microphone and drunkenly tell the story of purim, but they would quickly be tapped on the shoulder and someone would take their place and continue drunkenly telling the story. we were blessed to have several experienced improvers in the audience who were ready to tap in.
we still aren't clear on exactly where this idea came from but we agree that caroline and i devised a concept for a purim party that would include a lot of drinking and some form of learning. to me, nothing meets that description more than comedy central's drunk history. and thus, the idea was born. this was the first time ashreinu ever collaborated on program content with another organization (we should probably write a post on the importance of delegating and trust when it comes to creative community building...) and it was an absolute pleasure. qjews was an exemplary partner. why qjews? purim is pretty much the queerest jewish holiday. we are celebrating hidden identities, women coming out, resistance, fighting back, and self-reliance. qjews were the obvious folks to build the event with.
details details details
we were lucky enough to be hosted by one of the best businesses in st. louis STL-STYLE, located on cherokee street. you get instant cred for hanging out with the vines brothers. they have created an awesome vintage space filled with st. louis pride. the venue was an enormous incentive for people to attend.
our semitic aesthetic co-collaborator and community member, dj boogieman donated his talents and gave the evening a vintage soundtrack to match the space.
as for the content of the program? a great miracle happened. it is widely regarded as a fool's errand to try and get people at a party to do anything organized once the party has started. i learned this hard lesson during the great halloween crawl of 2016. it was fun but it was also like herding cats. so i went into this purim party with reserved expectations about what people were going to actually be up for and boy was i happily proven wrong.
the drunk history portion of our evening was carefully planned. we chose an event moderator in advance and coordinated with a group of attendees who understood the plan and were ready to step up. we committed to only having twenty minutes of structured time at our party and it would be in the form of a popular improv game called 'tap in, tap out'. any partygoer could take the microphone and drunkenly tell the story of purim, but they would quickly be tapped on the shoulder and someone would take their place and continue drunkenly telling the story. we were blessed to have several experienced improvers in the audience who were ready to tap in.
caroline and i got our party treats from trader joe's and total wine. although the evening was called drunk history, we wanted to make sure it was abundantly clear that no one actually had to be drunk. if you want to set the mood with festive non-alcoholic drinks, tj's is the place to be. their sparkling fruit juices and specialty sodas are inexpensive and packaged beautifully. instant class. we resisted the urge to feed everyone a full wholesome meal and landed on chips (gluten free, as is our tradition) and hummus, salsa, cookies, chocolate covered almonds and sunflower seeds, and peanutbutter cups.
our community member, michael, also brought the most remarkable hamentaschen i've ever eaten: cookie butter and cannoli flavor. you can find the recipes here and here. i was partial to cookie butter...
ok, so we bought a lot of alcohol and we did it for shockingly little money. total wine had competitive pricing and almost spookily helpful staff. it was hard to get through one aisle without someone exuberantly asking to help you find the perfect drink for your event. if i ever went to parties in college (i didn't), i like to think my shopping cart would have looked a little something like ours when we checked out. wine, ciders (for our gluten free friends), craft and mainstream beers. no hard liquor. a word to the wise, if you are planning a large event like this just don't even give people that option. something caroline and i reminded ourselves of a lot while we shopped and prepared was that no one was going to come up to us and ask where the vodka was or where the special snack they wanted was. just wasn't going to happen so we shouldn't shop like it would. you can get fantastically drunk on white wine anyway, so...
do you know about five below? that's where we got some of the most useful items for the evening. those colorful cooler buckets? 5 below. table cloths, party favors and plasticware, decorations, art supplies, decorative rugs (ok we didn't buy any of that but still)-- all at five below. all decent quality. i'm using years old storage bins i purchased at five below in my pantry. it looks pinteresty nice, and it fits a budget.
our community member, michael, also brought the most remarkable hamentaschen i've ever eaten: cookie butter and cannoli flavor. you can find the recipes here and here. i was partial to cookie butter...
ok, so we bought a lot of alcohol and we did it for shockingly little money. total wine had competitive pricing and almost spookily helpful staff. it was hard to get through one aisle without someone exuberantly asking to help you find the perfect drink for your event. if i ever went to parties in college (i didn't), i like to think my shopping cart would have looked a little something like ours when we checked out. wine, ciders (for our gluten free friends), craft and mainstream beers. no hard liquor. a word to the wise, if you are planning a large event like this just don't even give people that option. something caroline and i reminded ourselves of a lot while we shopped and prepared was that no one was going to come up to us and ask where the vodka was or where the special snack they wanted was. just wasn't going to happen so we shouldn't shop like it would. you can get fantastically drunk on white wine anyway, so...
do you know about five below? that's where we got some of the most useful items for the evening. those colorful cooler buckets? 5 below. table cloths, party favors and plasticware, decorations, art supplies, decorative rugs (ok we didn't buy any of that but still)-- all at five below. all decent quality. i'm using years old storage bins i purchased at five below in my pantry. it looks pinteresty nice, and it fits a budget.
