Purdue University had its winter formal entitled “Moonlight Rendezvous” on Friday, December 4, 2009 at the South Ballroom in the Union. We had over 100 attendees, well over the expected amount. The doors opened at 7:30pm, and people danced the night away until 11:00pm. For the first hour there were white chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate fountains along with an assortment of fresh fruit available to dip into the fountains. Alongside the chocolate fountains and fruit were a mixture of various cakes and pies. Music was provided by DJ Ascension, a member of VSA, who spun music ranging from hip hop to house to slow jams. During the formal was a performance by the famous yo-yoer Noel Kunz from Ball State University. He performed twice; one was an old crowd-pleaser to Ne-Yo’s “Closer” and the other one was a spontaneous one with new moves to the Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow.” Also, throughout the night, we had raffle drawings for people to an assortment of prizes, such as gift cards to various local restaurants, in which we collected weeks in advance. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the night was a huge success! An after party followed the formal, but was not hosted by VSA.

VSA put in an order for 80 people for the desserts in anticipation of having more than 80 attendees so that we would be able to profit and also so that we would not have that much leftover food. At the beginning, there seemed to be a shortage of chairs, but after the music got going and people started to get up and dance, it was not a problem anymore. The ballroom was booked 8 months in advance and planning for the formal started 3-4 months in advance. Formal invitation letters were sent out to organizations at Purdue and also to VSAs around the Midwest. Sponsorship letters were created, and VSA officers visited local restaurants to obtain anything that we would be able to raffle off a month before the formal. Tickets went on sale about a month before the actual event and were advertised as pre-sale only. Tickets were sold at $12 for singles and $20 for couples. The last day of pre-sale tickets was three days before the formal, but because of the high demand for people wanting tickets at the last minute, we decided to sell tickets at the door. The formal was a huge success, and we were able to profit from this, and more importantly, we have reinforced our name and our reputation as one of the most active and successful Asian organization on campus.

Photographs courtesy of Paolo Constantino Photography, Purdue VSA Historian
Contact information: Jacklin Nguyen, Purdue VSA President