An Evening of Beach Fun
On Friday, January 27th, over 200 Wakefield students, parents and faculty members filled the Lower School gym hoping for their opportunity to yell “BINGO” at the WPA’s first Beach Basket Bingo event. The gym was decorated with palm trees, bright colored balloons, beach buckets and even some of the guests got into the spirit of the event by wearing their tropical shirts. Tucker & Mary Ann Withers, parents of Wakefield alumni, were not only the bingo callers, but also the most fashionable of the evening with their matching tropical gear (and who could forget Tuckers’ parrot hat?!)
Guests collected their bingo cards, programs, and raffle tickets and had the opportunity to socialize and eat before the activities started. The Booster Club was onsite and sold a variety of delicious sandwiches, snacks, and drinks to keep the energy level high during the evening. The Auction Committee's tropical stand gave Wakefield families an opportunity to ask questions about the upcoming Gala Auction, A Night in Havana, as well as purchase tickets and tuition raffles.
Sixteen games of bingo were played throughout the evening and many of the winners had an opportunity to choose their own prize. The prizes were beautifully decorated baskets filled with themed gifts. All of these items were donated from a number of our Wakefield families. Some of the themed baskets included “indoor snow day”, “superbowl party”, “family movie night”, “gourmet foods”, “dog’s life”, “car care” and “child’s play”. Two bingo games were played for specific prizes. In one, guests had to fill the entire card to win a Wakefield basket filled with Wakefield gifts from the Owl’s Outlet. The auction committee also created a basket filled with Cuban themed items and a $50 gift certificate to be used at the annual Wakefield Gala Auction. This prize was won by the participant who created the letter “W” on their bingo card with the numbers called.
Gift cards to various restaurants, retail, and online stores made for fabulous door prizes throughout the evening. The WPA can confirm that over 30 bingo participants went home with a prize in hand! They anticipate that many more went home happy after spending a fun evening together with family and Wakefield friends.
The WPA would like to thank Mr. & Mrs. Withers, the families who donated the prize baskets, Mrs. Mulligan, the Booster Club, the Auction Department, the Operations Department, and all the individuals who volunteered their time and efforts to make this a successful event for our community! We hope to make our bingo event an annual activity for the Wakefield community!
NOTE: Special thanks to Glynnis Dwelly and Lia Rensin for capturing special moments of the evening.
