Christmas Boutique and Luncheon

The Boutique has become the largest fund raiser for the chapter over the years. The first Boutique was a small part of the Christmas luncheon held on December 3, 1970 at the Stan Hywet Manor House and hand-made ornaments were sold. The chairman of this activity, called "Trees and Trinkets", was Ann Karg and the profit from this luncheon and boutique was $791.40.

Since that time the Boutique and Luncheon has been an annual event and has been held at various locations including the Portage County Club, Tangier Restaurant, the Hilton West Hotel, and Todaro's Party Center. Since 1986 this activity has been held each year at the Hilton West. In 1977 at the Todaro's location, the event sold out with 450 guests and made a profit of $6,500. By 1984 the profits went over $10,000 for the first time and by 1993 the profits were over $20,000. For the past several years the profits have been between $23,000 and $25,000 making this one of the major fund raisers for our chapter. In 1977 an admission charge of $1.00 was initiated and it was raised to $2.00 in 1987 and to $3.00 in 2006.

A quilt raffle has been part of this project since 1977 when the first one was made and designed by Pat Najeway. Pat continued to make the quilts until the 1990's when they were done by Pat Gorey and later by Laura Beringer and each of their committees. Two of the quilts (1979, 2006) have been prize winners at Quilt and Craft Shows and the quilt has been won by our own chapter members five times. Starting in 1991 a picture of the quilt was included in the packet of raffle tickets given to each member.

On September 24, 1974 there was a Preview Party held at the University Club as a Pre-Boutique Sale for members and spouses to see what items would be available for the December Boutique and to place orders. In 1982 this was tried again with a Patron Party at a member's home on November 20, prior to the Boutique which was held on December 2, 1982. Preview Parties have also been held the evening prior to the Boutique in 1994, 1995, and 2002 - 2006. In 1975 the use of charge machines was begun for purchases.

The early Boutiques were held on weekdays and later were moved to a Sunday. Since 1993 the activity has been held on a Saturday. The Boutique has expanded over the years to include not only the sales of items made by members and the quilt raffle, but also sales offered by select artisans, a mini-raffle, bake shop, and the luncheon which includes a style show or some other form of entertainment.