No worries, Ginger, I've felt bad about how much of this is falling on you.

Yeah, we say 18, but I'm thinking more like 30. Hopefully I can talk to Manuel's tomorrow and find out what's the what. I'm still a little worried about the whole Cinco de Mayo thing, but I think it could be workable.

Reminder: People, send me your travel info.

Push comes to shove, we party at Ginger's house. Right, Ginger? Just as good for letting down our hair and costume changes as the hotel would be.

"Be kind to her. She's been mostly mute all day!"

Ginger, I'm so sorry about the death flu and the laryngitis. No.fun.

The no-talking thing is getting really old.

My house is small, but I've certainly had parties here with more than 30 people.

And I get to see it!

Okay, y'all. I've gone ahead and reserved the North Avenue Room at Manuel's.

I told her we were about 30-40 people just to make sure we weren't too crowded, and was told there would be ample room.

We can push tables aside for dancing.

We can bring our own music (she said people ususally bring a boom box?) - more detail needed there obviously. There is also DVD hookup in the room.

We can either order off the menu or pre-order from their party menus. I'd suggest doing that - ususally a lot easier and cheaper for a large group, and no big surprises at the end of the night. It has to be all one check regardless.

Tax and 20% gratuity will be added.

So, are we good? Anyone have concerns? I don't mean to suggest that anything is set in stone, but I was getting worried about not having anything lined up this close to the day.

Menu is here: [link]

Whether we go with this option or not, I'd like to start collecting prom/hosp suite money sooner rather than later. I can offer my PayPal unless anyone else wants to jump in and handle that part of it.

It sounds like the best idea, just let me know where and how much to paypal.

I'm cool with Manuel's. I kind of love that we can get a kilo of brie - edgier than a half pound or whatever. Thanks for staying on top of all this stuff, brenda.

Let's set a target of say, $25 or so per person for prom and another $10 for the hospitality suite? As we get closer the numbers might have to adjust, but as a rough target that would give us a decent selection of food and the first round or so of drinks, inc. tax and tip, and then we'd need to figure out how to handle expenses from there. Again, I'm just leery of waiting too long since we're - oh my gosh, less than two weeks away! Yay!

Sorry, sorry, back to business. Anyway, folks can start contributing to brendamercer AT gmail [insert standard full accounting, pay what you can manage, throw in some extra for others yadda yadda whatever we usually say at this juncture].

Then we can start arguing about food.

Getting closer!