The theme is of utmost importance, and, in my (Sandra's) opinion, can make or break a TGIF. Pick a good, fun theme, and then carry it out throughout the whole TGIF! This means having food, and possibly activities and decoration, that go with the theme. Examples of cool things that have been done in the past include Halloween costume contests, breakfast TGIF with pancake flipping/decoration contest, ice cream TGIFs with mix-your-own theme ala Cold Stone or Mix on the Ave. Be creative! It is not acceptable to simply buy beer and chips. If you do so, Sandra will personally hunt you down and set her pack of rabid sewer rats on you. If you have no creativity of your own, check out earthcalender or the results of theme brainstorming TGIF, or talk to Sandra.
The money bucket, napkins, and some utensils are stored in CSE 202 (your grad key opens the door). Make sure there are enough before your TGIF, and replenish the supply if necessary. You should clean and return these items so that the next TGIF organizers can find them.
Cleanup is your office's responsibility! But, you can usually get help from kindly TG-goers. Put leftovers in the fridge in 202. Wipe down the tables... especially if this was an ice cream TGIF or similar! There is a vacuum cleaner in 202, so if there are crumbs and stuff on the floor, please clean them up, too.
If you took in more money than you spent, give the profit to the TGIF coordinator; if income was less than outgo, the TGIF coordinator will make you whole. Again, don't gouge yourself or your office-mates.
By the way, if you want equipment such as folding tables, a projection screen, etc. the department has them available. You reserve them on a calendar in CSE 107. Fill out a form (Sandra has them) and they're yours.
Sandra will get the banquet permit and place it near the alcohol at TGIF, so you don't need to worry about that. What you need to worry about is, if you are holding it in an open place like the Atrium, we need to section off an area to keep underage people out. To do so, sign out the stanchions from room CSE 107. We've been returning them by placing them in the mailroom.
Typical TGIFs spend about $65-70 on food and drink; don't overspend this budget without getting the coordinator's permission to put on a more expensive affair (which is a good thing to do a couple times a quarter). You should end up with about 2-3 dozen beers; check for leftovers in the fridge in 202 to see how many you need! If there are no leftovers, get about 4 dozen bottles; if you like, you may additionally buy a 6-pack of a better beer. A reasonable beer to buy is Henry Weinhardt, which is inexpensive and acceptable to most people; Pyramid Wheaten is also good. Also get some non-beer alcoholic drinks. Cider in particular has been popular recently.
Please make sure there are plenty of non-alcoholic beverages as well! I recommend at least three 2-liter bottles: 2-liters are cheap, beer is not. Root beer is quite popular. If you buy diet, don't buy a full 2-liter, not enough people drink it. BTW: you can blow all your money on this part; be careful not to go crazy with beer and other expensive drinks like Thomas Kemper root beer/black cherry unless it's theme related.
Also, please include some healthy food as well, there are a reasonable number of health nuts in the department, and no one wants to end up with clogged arteries. Some fruit, dried or fresh, maybe nuts, crackers, etc. might be good ideas.
After buying food and collecting money, give any excess to the coordinator (or get reimbursed if you ran a deficit). Keep receipts just in case, but do all the accounting yourself. If you need to be fronted money, ask the coordinator for a loan. You and your office should not expect to make or lose money on a TGIF!
Publicity includes dreaming up a clever and witty announcement, then posting it to cs-grads-mail on Wednesday and sending it to the following mailing lists 30-60 minutes before the event:
cs-grads-mail, cs-staff, faculty(You might also want to send a zephyrgram right beforehand. zwrite -i talks is as good an instance as any.) Please also remember to include a short blurb about the research topics of some of the members of your office. Remind people to contribute $2 if they intend to consume anything. That $2 covers one bottled beverage (additional bottled beverages $1 each after the first one) when they attend; the TGIFs are fully self-supporting, and if we get consistent payment, they can be more lavish. It helps to seed the pot with one-dollar bills so that attendees can make change. (Extra change can be obtained from the coordinator.)
Be clear in the advertisements for the TGIF what the payment policy
is and make it clear at the event where people are supposed to pay. If
it is at all unclear or hard to do people will not pay and you will run
a deficit.