Current List of Attendees
Attendee Update Page (not active yet)
(click here for Tee & Pewter sales
update AKA: Cathy info)
(click here for Money Collected Update
AKA: terri info)
Ok, time to start thinking about 2008. Here's the
scoop . . .
1) Pick a city
DONE: Chicago
2) Pick a date
DONE: Sept 26-28
3) Pick a slogan DONE:
Hippos Mob Chicago
4) Tee shirt contest
DONE:
5) Order Tees <===
ORDER YOUR TEE NOW!
Info on Tommy Gun/Friday Night Pizza Party Payments- reunion info
hey ya'll (ESPECIALLY STUART)-
this is the deal for these two reunion events:
thursday night at tommy gun's garage, $50.00 per person by 7/15:
(for all of the early birds)
$50.00 per person, includes everything except alcohol
(dinner, show, tip)
***it is not too early to start sending in your payment! check/mo should be
made out to me (terri l. carter) with a note of how many in
your party. the deadline for receiving payments is july 15th! nobody will be
added on later, or counted at all if i don't have your check/mo in my hand by
july 15th! PLEASE do not ask me to put in the money for you
or use my credit card. this is being done on a cash only basis.
friday night pizza party at the meet & greet, $23.00 per person by
9/1/08:
$23.00 per person includes pizza/pop/water/tax/tip for a 2
hour pizza buffet. this will be deep dish chicago style pizzas (there will be
cheese only, meat, veggie only). THIS PRICE IS FOR EVERYONE, INCLUDING
CHILDREN. the hotel is being very strict with this policy and we will be
responsible for everyone who eats, whether they pay or not. therefore, i am
going to be collecting for this event in advance (plus i have to give them a
cash deposit).
***it is not too early to send your payment. please sent a check/mo made out
to me (terri l. carter) with a note naming each person who
will be eating the pizza buffet. this money must be in my hand by
september 1st, no exceptions. if you haven't paid, you won't be
eating. you cannot bring food into the meeting room where the buffet will be
held unless it is ordered from room service! so don't think you are going to
bring your mcdonald's dinner in with you - you'll be eating it in your room!
please do not disrespect our group or the hotel by breaking these rules!
please do not reply to the list, it does not mean anything unless you make
your payments. only then will you be counted as attending. i'll be checking my
mailbox!
bighipposmacks-
terribon
16421 trumbull avenue
markham, il 60428
Hello fellow reunion attendees!
Here's the latest scoop...
We will be having two games this year with a fun auction at the end of the
evening that everyone can participate in with Hippo mob bucks.
If you want to participate in the first game - you will need two
hippo gifts. One needs to be valued at $20 or
more and the other $5 or more. In the first game
you will walk away with either 1, 2 or 3 hippos.
If you want to play the second game - you need 1 hippo gift valued at
$10 or more. Everyone walks with 1 hippo. Dice
are involved so practice at home.
For the auction - the games committee will donate the prizes. We are also
looking for other kind souls to donate a hippo or two. No obligations,
minimums, or plushies required. We will have fun with any number of
additional prizes donated even if it's zero. Just contact me B/C if you would
like to donate a prize of any value. P.S. You don't
have to be attending the reunion to donate a prize.
Things to remember:
All Hippo-theme Gifts should be new - no white rhino rejects or plushies
allowed. Exceptions would include antiques or pottery that is collectible,
duplicates you own that others would appreciate like hippo jewelry, hippo
cookie jars, hippo statues, hand made hippo items. Any questions - E-mail me
B/C.
Please wait to wrap your gift until you are at the hotel. It will make it
easier for you when you travel. If you don't mind the headache - then wrap
before you go and deal with the lovely security guards at the airports. Gift
bags and tissue are easy. If you want to be economical you can use the
newspaper, lunch bags or toilet tissue from the hotel. We just need the
hippos covered to add mystery and intrigue.
Please include your name somewhere in/on the gifts. Everyone likes to know
who brought what Hippo. We also know who to ask questions about getting one
for themselves, if they didn't win that particular hippo.
Everyone is invited to play - no exclusions. If you've got the hippo gifts
then you can play any or all the games. You do not have to play at all if you
do not wish. We are one big Hippo family - collectors/enthusiasts/relatives/dog
sitters/friends
Remember the theme is Hippos Mob Chicago. Any appropriate mobster apparel or
accessories are welcomed for Tommy Guns Garage and/or the Meet & Greet on
Friday night. Boas, beads and fedoras are welcomed. Feel free to bring extras
to share if your budget allows.
Games committee - please contact me this week for further instructions and
follow up.
Any questions - E-mail me Back Channel (B/C).
Let the Hippo games gift buying begin!
ClyDavid
Hotel Reservation Info
Thanks to Bonnie & Clyde!!
according to our sales manager, bob, reservations can be
made beginning monday, March 3. please call the hotel directly
(recommended) or you can use the toll free doubletree #.
hotel: 630.472.6000
hotel fax: 630.573.1909
toll free: 1.800.222.tree
**********please note, if you use the toll free number,
you are calling doubletree central reservations, NOT the actual hotel. make
sure to tell them you want your reservation at the doubletree hotel
chicago-oakbrook. (address is 1909 spring road, oak brook, il 60523)****
as usual, make sure and tell them you are with the
hippolotofus group and the dates. our group rate is $96.00 per night (plus 9%
tax) and the rate is supposed to be good before and after the weekend.
the room choices are a king room, or two double/queen
beds. we saw both rooms and we thought the double/queen beds looked more like
doubles, so if you were in philly, they DO look a little smaller.
there are no rollaways available! (some kind of law) the
rate is for one person through 4 persons. no more than 4 per room.
suite prices will be at a discount if you want a suite,
but i can't quote the price at this time.
refrigerators are available to rent for your room at $10
per day. unless you need one for medical purposes, then please let them know
when you make your reservation. they are complimentary for medical reasons.
between david's
pictures and the hotel web site (and please look at the one for the actual
hotel, not just doubletrees web site) you can get a good idea of the rooms.
they have all amenities included.
there is a free 24 hr office facility with pc's and
printers. gym and fitness center free to guests. pool and jacuzzi are very
nice and open/airy.
our meeting room is very spacious. 1700 sq feet. the
stairs can be avoided by anyone who lets the front desk know and a
representative will escort you through the service entrance.
the pizza was great! don't know prices yet but that will
be forthcoming after i speak to our event manager this week. we will have to
provide a $500 deposit about 1 month before our meet and greet. we'll work out
the details later.
there is room service! till 11 pm i think.
if we decide to do so, we could have a cash bar at our
event, but in keeping with our all ages theme, we decided not to do that. you
can, however, order a drink to be delivered to the meeting room if you'd like
one. they are GIVING us our meeting room under the stipulation that we order
our food from them. i'm sure these aren't going to be $5.00 pizzas, so
everyone keep that in mind when we come up with a price per person. you cannot
bring anything in - no other food or drink -unless you want
to pay the $250 fee as stipulated in the contract. we are
planning on several different varieties of pizza, including veggie and cheese
only. if you have any special dietary restrictions, please email me b/c and i
will check on it for you. we will just be having pizza, pop/water, and cake.
that's it, no frills.
jen- bob had no problem
letting you set up in the meeting room for your demo "after lunch". we will
have two keys to the meeting room so just let me or david know when you are
done and we can lock up so everything will be safe. we will have the
room till midnite, all of this at no charge.
i'm sure i've forgotten something, so just ask
questions. i have a thick packet of info already and if we don't know the
answer, i will find out.
this is a truly lovely hotel and i'm sure we will all
have a fantastic time!
bighipposmacks&yawnscuzit'sbeenalongday-
terri
A couple of items to add to our agenda; I want to
add these up top, so no one misses them. Once our agenda is firmed up, I will
move them into their appropriate day/time slots:
The Viewing/Coming Out of the Hippie Hippo Car
It can be sometime Friday or Sat
depending on weather and just whenever anybody can work this in. Don't want to
take up much time with this :-) And surely not everybody will even be
interested!!! But it would be a cute group picture too!
Hippo Modeling
Demonstration by Zanimo
It has to be on Friday afternoon because if we're going to auction it
Friday night as part of the festivities I obviously need to have made it by
then. It will take me a while to make something decent so I was planning to
spend all Friday afternoon doing it. People don't have to watch the whole
process if they want to do something else as well, but I guess some of the keen
craftspos will want to stick around.
Very very tentative agenda . . . (thanks to Bonnie &
Clyde)
Agenda Update (April 16)
our schedule so far:
thursday night- tommy gun's garage at 6pm.
$50.00 per person payable by july 15th. everything included except alcohol.
no children's prices - we have a group rate.
friday day - if enough people are interested we
could take this cruise from navy pier. they do have inside accommodations in
case of bad weather and the boat would be the spirit of chicago. very nice!
cruise leaves from navy pier, so those of you who would like to see more of
the pier could go early. cruise would be about 12-1 for boarding.
friday night- our meet & greet will begin at
6pm with pizza/cake served at 7pm. price to be determined later.
saturday day- our traditional trip to the zoo.
if we are there early, it's possible to leave the zoo and do a lunch cruise
from navy pier that day as well.
saturday night- thinking about planning a group
dinner at one of the restaurants across the street from our hotel (cheesecake
factory sheila?). no worrying about rides, or transportation, and we could
plan it later as the reunion approaches. dinner could be followed by assorted
activities based on interest (like our pub crawl).
do we want to plan anything for sunday morning?
i'm trying to leave time open for people to go
and do their own thing, as there is so much to do here in chicago. if anybody
has any specific requests, please just email me or david b/c and we'll be
happy to help/advise you if we can.
all attendees please weigh in on your thoughts
for this schedule. are there any other activities that you think should be
included? suggestions? complaints?
bighipposmacks-
terribon
Plushie Donations
from Dana (Feb 21 2008)
Hi Everyone
This is your Po Plushie Pursuer Extraordinaire
There have been several requests for info on the annual Reunion Plushie Donation
Campaign.
So I thought I would take this opportunity to promote and shamelessly beg
How did this get started… well, one day I was musing about how wonderful our
precious po’s are and how they have comforted me in times of troubles. The
thought occurred to me that I am probably not the only one of Hippolotofus who
has hug a po tight after surgery or during some awful treatment for comfort.
Since we were in the throws of Reunion Planning the progression was natural.
I thought that we as a group could do some wonderful things for the children in
the areas that host our fun filled reunion. We could give back some of what we
were receiving while helping to convert children everywhere to hippo lovin. We
have already seen our hippo gifties pay off on national television when Extreme
Home Makeovers featured a family who received one of our po’s… after reviewing
pictures taken of our Po Pile at the reunion I am certain of it.
Hippolotofus has a very generous and loving spirit and each year (this being
the 3rd) I have taken advantage of that fact by shamelessly extracting wonderful
Po Plushies and po toys and po games from it’s members. The purpose of this
collection is to give to the Children’s Hospital at what ever location we choose
for our reunion… this year Chicago… Though it is early yet, I have already been
in touch with Children’s Memorial Hospital and they are looking forward to our
Po donationsJ I am c/p her note below.
The first year we had over 300 plushies to donate. Last year we had about 60
plushies, toys, books and and coloring books to donate. This year I hope, by
promoting early and offering extreme bribery that we can get back up closer to
the first year’s donation size.
Now for the bribe… For each New- never used, displayed or snuggled plushie,
toy, book or game someone donates I will put your name in a drawing for some
wonderful po surprise to be determined soon.
I will have the drawing at a time during the Reunion Weekend that we decide
on as a group. In the past donations have been known to come in all the way up
until my husband and I are leaving to go to the hospital to deliver them on
Sunday so I think that some folks shop for them once they arrive for the
Reunion.
****This offer is not limited to folks coming to the Reunion. Anyone who
cares to make a donation to the children can mail the donations in (maybe I can
get a Chicagoite to accept these shipped po’s so Rod and I do not have to tote
them from Virginia) and will have their name placed in the drawing as well. If
someone not at the Reunion wins then I will gladly ship you your prize.
Below is the reply from Teri at the Children’s Memorial Hospital… I look
forward to watching this years pile grow!!
Hippo Hugs to all!!
Hi Dana – thanks for thinking of us for your donation this year. We would
be happy to receive stuffed animals and other items for our patients. Here is a
link to our wish list of needed items for the kids, to help you determine
whether your items are suitable for this environment. Please note that
everything we give the patients has to be brand new, due to infection control
and other concerns.
Thanks again!
http://www.childrensmemorial.org/friends/foundation/gift_toy2.aspx
Teri Foster
Children's Services Coordinator
Children's Memorial Hospital
(773) 880-6018
