I like the early option too, because it'll let us get back in time to eat dinner at a reasonable hour.

Who wants to do what?

I'm up for the Michael Kors shoes - oh, wait.

Carry on.

Seriously, one nice thing about doing the earlier tour? You'll get the beginnings of sunset through the Golden Gate as you're heading back to the City on the boat.

If there is no group rate then booking ourselves makes more sense because of the paypal fee. We just need to pick a time. I am good with the early time for the reasons you mentioned. eta: and Deb's sunset note seals the deal.

Thanks Deb, I figured there would be a convenient shuttle of some sort. I'll arrange that closer to the date. Which is just not close enough!

I like the early option too, because it'll let us get back in time to eat dinner at a reasonable hour.

Works for me.

OK, so looking at the food choices at the moment, and agreeing entirely with Jessica that we don't want masses of leftover food, it occurs to me that a closer to 50-50 split of that $1500 requirement between food and liquid would be a good starting point. I'd initially thought $1000 food, $500 drinks, but not so much.

So, how does this sound, as a starting point?

Food:

Spanakopita $140.00
Domestic Cheese Board with Sliced Fresh Fruit $100.00
Coconut Shrimp $220.00

and

either Pot Stickers $180.00
or
Beef, Chicken or Pork Kebabs $200.00,

plus

Antipasto Tray with Artichokes, Olives, Salami, Pepperoncini, Roasted Peppers, Bread Sticks and Mozzarella Cheese $125.00

That gives us a five-tray spread, with something for basically everyone, and a food total of between $765 and $785, plus tax.

If my admittedly piss-poor math skills are even close (I have a calculator, but it's under one of the cats at the moment), that leaves a bar requirement of between $715 and $735. I personally think that, with an open bar out by the pool and then moving it indoors for a few hours afterward, we should hit that easily.

Opine, please.

That spread looks about perfect to me. Did Lilibeth ever get back to you about the cost of an open bar?

No, because I didn't call. That's on this morning's agenda; in fact, I've got her card on the desk next to me. She should be in the office by now.

I might suggest adding the crudites, but otherwise that looks just right.

That looks great, Deb. I'm going to throw in my DH's $0.02, since he's not here to do so himself: he doesn't eat pork, or shellfish, because of keeping (sort of) kosher, so the first combination with the shrimp and potstickers (usually pork) would cut his choices in half.

He's cute, and sweet, but a PITA to feed.

eta: Not that I don't realize the vegetarians in the room are already cut out of half the plates. I'm just mentioning, not even asking.

There we go - message in. What I told her was that we were looking at splitting the minimum req evenly between food and drink; my thought was that we'd start the event out by the pool, an hour or so before official prom kickoff, and then move it indoors. We're thinking of having a cash bar out at the pool first, then moving it in and continuing from there, and would that work?

I suspect she'll be down with that, no problem. The staff at HICC have been angelic to work with, so far.