The Weekend of March 24 - 26 – or just join us for the day on Saturday if you live nearby!
For those new to GeoChicks, here is a general idea of what happens…..
· Arrive Friday night or Saturday morning
· Meeting at 9-ish Saturday morning to explain the day
· Shop, cache or just hang out for the day
· Arrive back at the hotel to fill goody bags, eat dinner, raffle table, prize table, pathtag bingo, unstructured socializing
· Dinner to be determined .. probably pizza as in the past.
Lodging
This year we will gather at the Hyatt Place – Grand Rapids South, 2150 Metro Lane, Wyoming, MI
You can book a room by calling 1-888-HYATTHP – Mention “GeoChicks 3.24 to 3.26” for our rate of $149/night. These are King rooms with a pull out sofa. Sorry – there were no double queens available. The block of rooms will be available until March 8, 2017. If you call to reserve after this date you can’t be guaranteed a room.
The hotel offers a hot breakfast from 7 – 10 am with Hot items, fresh fruit and more.
No Game but Caching ..what a concept!!
This year instead of the traditional “game at shops”, we will be placing a series of caches commemorating each year of GeoChicks. These will be unpublished until the end of our event so anyone who finds them on Saturday will share the “First To Find”.
People are still welcome to spend their day any way they want. There is a lot of shopping nearby including on outlet mall. There are also cute shops in Easttowne - including a great Yarn Shop, hiking / caching in many of our local parks, or just relax at the hotel and enjoy the pool.
Goodie Bags
Everybody brings a bag (think reusable grocery bag or large Gift Bag) and an item to gift to everyone that goes in each bag. The gift can be small and non-caching related. Bags will be put out after the Saturday morning meeting and filled in the afternoon. Examples of goody bag items are pathtags, candles, homemade jewelry, sweets, encouraging notes, but really, your imagination is your limit. This is really just for fun. Don’t stress about it. Plan on about 40 items, or check the “will attend” number on the cache page. Opening the goody bags in the evening is like opening your own personally stocked cache.
Munchies
Just munchies. If you need inspiration here is a suggestion:
A-D – sweet
E-H - healthy
I-L - fruit
M-P - cheese
Q-T - veggie
U-Z - salty
We will be meeting in a conference room at the hotel so you will have to keep your items in your room fridge.
Prize Table
We see a wide variety of items on the table – the sky is the limit! Complementary tickets for the prize table will be handed out to everyone Saturday evening. Please bring only 1 or 2 items to place on the table to ensure everyone gets a prize.
Raffle
There is a raffle Saturday evening of donated items. These items are typically higher in value ($20+) and many are homemade (in the past this has included homemade quilts)! Tickets are SOLD after the Saturday morning meeting up until the raffle numbers are drawn in the evening. Please let us know if you have an item we can use for this raffle. 100% of monies earned go into putting on this event.
Signature Item BINGO!
Get ready for everyone’s favorite .. BINGO! It’s a regular bingo game but to enter, you have to donate a signature item for every card you will use during the game. The winner of the game wins all. In case of multiple winners, the pot is split. Don’t worry if you don’t have your own, there are usually some available for purchase so everyone can play.
Book/CD/DVD Exchange
There will be a table set up where you can place items brought from home for trade, anything left over and not claimed will be donated.
TRACKABLES:
We will have a table set out for trackables.