The Campus Activities Board is hosting its annual Christmas party Monday, Dec. 3, in Evans Student Center.
“I’d love to see people walk into the student center, gasp loudly and say, ‘Oh my gosh! This is the most amazing CAB Christmas party ever,’“ said Molly Throgmorton, junior English major and CAB’s special events executive.
The party will run from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will include food, drinks, games, contests, crafts, live music, Santa Claus and more. The event is completely free and open to the public.
“This year’s party is going to have so many new crafts and games for everyone to participate in,” said Throgmorton. “We’ve changed a lot of things, but also kept a lot the same, so we’re offering variety as well as the traditional activities.”
Participants can enjoy cookies, hot chocolate and apple cider while listening to Christmas music played by students in the Growlery.
Crafts, including gingerbread houses, decorating stockings, kid-friendly crafts and much more, will be found in the Chic-fil-A area.
Attendees may also have their caricature drawn by an art student and have their picture taken with Santa.
For those who enjoy some friendly competition, they may participate in games such as the cake walk, Christmas trivia, basketball shooting and a “naughty/nice” game. The games will be held in the banquet room.
The cake walk will be held in the banquet room at 8 p.m. The judging of the cheesy sweater contest, where people wear their cheesiest Christmas sweater, will be held in the Growlery at 8:30 p.m. The window decorating contest winner will be announced at 9 p.m. Door prizes will be given out around 9:30 p.m.
One thing that will not be returning is the wax hands. The activity was costly and time consuming so it was decided the money would be used for more student-focused activities.
CAB’s public relations executive, Bekah Caraway, a senior mass communications major, is in charge of the window decorating contest.
“The window contest is great because it’s a cool way to decorate the student center for the holidays,” she said.
Invitations were sent to 12 clubs on campus, inviting them to decorate the student center windows. The clubs each have two days to paint and they have to be complete by tonight at 9 p.m. Clubs drew a number to determine which window their club would decorate. Participating clubs did not have to pay an entry fee, but they did have to donate 50 canned goods for the Southwest Arkansas Food Bank.
CAB’s executive team will judge the windows at the Christmas party based on creativity and skill. According to Caraway, humor is a plus but is not required.
CAB director Nathan Shelburne said that this year will be different because students are more involved in the planning. He said everyone is learning as they go. The students are “eager and excited” and have done an “amazing job.”
Shelburne’s role is to provide support and direction to the students involved in the planning. “It’s my job to empower them and encourage creativity,” he said.
According to Shelburne, students planning the event have the opportunity to get great leadership experience and impact the student body.
“By getting students more involved in the planning this year, we are hoping that the party will be more enjoyable for the student population,” said Caraway. “That’s what CAB is about: students serving other students.”
Caraway’s hopes for the party were expressed when she said, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year. What better way to celebrate than with CAB?”
