Erin Gulden | Party Pictures and our Party Patrol bloggers take on the party scene in Minneapolis and St. Paul from mspmag.com

2010 Ivey Awards and VIP Party

By Erin Gulden | Photos by Erin Gulden | Event Date: September 20, 2010
Posted on September 22, 2010 | Categories: Arts Scene, Restaurateurs, Special Events, TV Anchors + Media, VIPs

What: 2010 Ivey Awards and VIP party
Where: State Theatre
When: September 20, 2010
Why: Honor the Twin Cities amazing theater community, especially this year’s top performers, playwrights, set designers, sound editors, lighting technicians, and everyone else who helps make a performance great.
Who: Those involved in the Twin Cities theater community and those who simply enjoy a night out (or ten) at the theater. Needless to say the State was packed.

This is what I hate about the Iveys: Each year, as I watch awards go to amazing actors, set designers, directors, playwrights, et al, I kick myself for missing that particular production. How did I miss Live Action Set’s The Happy Show? What was I doing that one night it ran at some theater I have never heard of? What I love about the Iveys: Everything else.

Dancing with the Twin Cities Celebrities

By Erin Gulden
Posted on March 18, 2010 | Categories: Benefits + Fundraisers, Celebrities, TV Anchors + Media

Who: TC celebs, dance fanatics, and supporters of Susan G. Komen for the Cure
What: Dancing with the Twin Cities Celebrities
Where: Minneapolis Hilton
When: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Why: Because it is a fantastic idea—take TC celebrities, put on some dancing shoes, and watch the donations roll in!

How did it take so long for someone to come up with idea? Hats off to Arthur Murray Dance Studios to throw a little cha-cha-cha into the charity circuit’s usual cocktail-silent auction-dinner routine. The first annual Dancing with the Twin Cities Celebrities attracted some of the Twin Cities’ best-known do-gooders to the Hilton last Saturday.

NFL Alumni's Caring for Kids

By Erin Gulden | Event Date: February 27, 2010
Posted on March 11, 2010 | Categories: Athletes, Benefits + Fundraisers

Who: NFL Alumni, fans, and supporters of Caring for Kids
When: Feb. 27, 2010
Where: Minneapolis Hilton
Why: To relive good old times (and great performances) on the gridiron, and look forward to the future of our children!

OK, one question for the Caring for Kids committee…where was Esera? Last year Esera crooned his way through tunes from his debut CD (who says there isn’t life after football?) during the cocktail hour. This year Mr. Tuaolo was absent, but many of the other football greats I had the pleasure of meeting last year were back for more.

The Ultimate Pajama Party

By Erin Gulden | Photos by Erin Gulden | Event Date: January 16, 2010
Posted on January 25, 2010 | 1 Comment | Categories: Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Special Events

Who: Fun-loving ladies who aren’t afraid to don their pjs in public.
What: The Ultimate Pajama Party
Where: Westin Galleria, Edina
When: January 16, 2009
Why: Because, to borrow a famous line, girls just wanna have fun!

Who needs to spend $400 on a dress and three hours primping for a fun night out with the girls? Shopping, yummy apps, cocktails, entertainment, a few local celebs—this wasn’t just any pajama party! You gotta love the concept. The pajama party, now in its second year, invites ladies of all ages to gather their girlfriends for a night of kicking back and enjoying the company of other women—and a few hunky guys who were later auctioned off during a bachelor’s auction.

LEAD Project's Holiday Ball

By Erin Gulden | Photos by Maura Ryan | Event Date: December 5, 2009
Posted on December 10, 2009 | Categories: Benefits + Fundraisers

Who: The young professionals and future CEOs that the LEAD Project seems to attract.
What: LEAD Project Holiday Ball
Why: To celebrate the holidays and raise money for Children’s Dental Services.
Where: The Minneapolis Club
When: Dec. 5th, 2009

I’m guessing—I don’t have stats or anything—that last Saturday was the liveliest night The Minneapolis Club had seen in a while. Usually a place for power lunches and weddings for aspirational young couples, the LEAD Project and 300+ guests took over the clubroom for its usual fundraiser—cocktails followed by a gubernatorial, er, I mean inspirational speech from former Sen. Norm Coleman, dancing, an open bar, a vodka luge, and the kind of shenanigans the open bar/dancing/vodka luge combination tends to produce.