MAKE-A-WISH, WISH NIGHT GALA
Every year my wife (a brilliant copywriter) and I create the theme and design an invitation for their black tie Gala and fundraising event.
Many, many, many "wish kids" simply wish to go to Disneyland with their family—which is a pretty awesome wish. But each year In our project kick-off meeting Make-A-Wish shares with us a wish that was something unique or different than the ordinary. Often they are quite epic, and always inspiring.
Those wishes inspire the theme for the year. The printed invite elements and look and feel are then used at the gala for signs, screens, an ice sculpture, etc. Yeah, you read that correctly, an ice sculpture.
A printed invite, in the age of digital everything? Well, truth be told, they sell out of seats rather easily even at $500 a plate. But the mailed invite serves to "dust up all the feels" I like to say. And we write and design them specifically to do that. A fair number of folks also send in a donation in lieu of attendance. I've received personal messages from people cursing me that I made them cry and write a check before noon.
Whenever I show these in person, people are entranced by them. The unfolding and story build to reveal the theme is an experience. Still pics just don't do them justice.
We've done this almost a dozen times now.
"I wish to be a top secret agent."
This was definitely not the typical trip to Disneyland. Car chases, a Seattle police detective, a real live villain, boats, helicopters, the Seahawks mascot, and a custom tuxedo were just a few of the things involved.
The code card at the end was fun to figure out. And difficult to produce correctly. And (shhhh) it still didn't turn out perfect. But look at all that gold foil!