Social planning failure?

I can’t remember if I mentioned that I’d volunteered to host the Christchurch Bloggers’ Christmas party this year.  The usual host, Miriam, has moved to Australia, and at a meetup a while back Tartankiwi mentioned she hadn’t found anyone else willing to host, so I said if she couldn’t find anyone then I’d step up (yeah, yeah, I know, I keep saying I’m not going to volunteer for anything else, and then I do).  It seemed like an easy enough job – Tartankiwi was going to do all the organising (especially of the Secret Santa swap that always forms a central part of the party), and I’d just provide the venue, so all I’d have to do would be clean the house and maybe provide some cake.  Simple.
But then things got complicated, and it turned out Tartankiwi wouldn’t be able to organise the Secret Santa.  And nobody else looked like they were in a hurry to put their hands up for it, so it only seemed sensible that I do, seeing as I was already hosting the party.  And really, how much work would it be – just send out a few emails (and I still had her emails from last year, so I could just copy and paste most of them), keep track of who was gifting to who – nothing really.
So I sent out the emails, gave the deadline to sign up for Secret Santa, and… nobody wants to join in.  Well, 5 people do. But last year there were about a dozen participants, so it’s a huge drop off.  I’m feeling ever so slightly like a social failure, and like I’ve killed the Secret Santa game 🙁
I shouldn’t feel guilty – I haven’t done anything any differently from how Tartankiwi did it last year, so it really can’t be my fault (and it’s not like anyone else was volunteering to do the job anyway!), but I still can’t help a bit of “what did I do wrong?”
Oh well, at least the 5 people who did sign up sound really keen, so I’m sure it will still be a fun night (even if the “guess who your gift came from” bit will be a whole lot easier than last year!).  I should look on the bright side – at least now I don’t have to worry about not having enough comfy seats for everyone 🙂  And a smaller gathering might actually be nicer than a big one, because everyone will be able to be part of the same conversation.
Yeah, I reckon I can make this work.

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2 Comments

  1. Failure? No!
    We women are so keen on the blame game and I really thought you were too sensible for that.
    Your party will be just great and as you said smaller groups can be just as much fun, if not even better.
    Have fun.

    1. Yes, I know – intellectually I’m far too sensible to play the blame game, and know that it’s nothing to do with me, but emotionally I couldn’t help the twinge of anxiety that somehow I messed it up…

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