CAP Talk

Most squadrons I have been affiliated with have an annual Christmas holiday party.  They are always informal, i.e. no uniforms, and we usually invite family members.  To me, this is one of the very few times I like, even enjoy, having parents around.

A few years ago, I think in 2004, we had about 25 active cadets and most of the seniors donated money so we could get cadets presents.  Now this was an atypical gift giving event.  Many of the "gifts" came from my ANG squadron's Life Support shop and included things like military issue compasses, strobe lights, flight gloves, survival fire starters, signal mirrors, survival knives and leatherman tools.  In fact, I think there were even a couple of GPS's.  <<-----all gear my Chief said I could have because it was being thrown out.  The AF gets rid of better gear than most of us own.  Then, I walked into the Ft. Belvoir Military Clothing Store with about $500 and cadets got everything from gore-tex socks to military authorized camelbacks.  Yeah, it was a good year for Fairfax Composite Squadron's (http://www.fairfaxcap.org/DC053/portal.asp) cadets.

We have an awards ceremony and dinner at the Air Guard's dining facility in December (on the 20th this year).  It is semi-formal and family members are invited.  We've been doing this for quite a few years.

We have an annual Christmas Party. In fact, I just finished seeing the last of our members off from it and I'm about to go home. Ours actually started a few years ago as a Cadet Commander's Christmas Party, and was eventually made into a Christmas Party for the whole squadron. It's something I always enjoy because it reminds the seniors that there are cadets and the cadets that there are seniors. It is one of the few times when everyone is together and getting to know each other. For those of you who don't do some sort of holiday party, I highly recommend it as it really gets people to know each other better.

And as a couple of us were talking about tonight, Merry freakin Christmas.

Edit to add: I was actually going to start this topic a few hours, but didn't have enough time before our squadron's party started.

Our Sq. has a Christmas Party. ;D

We have one each year on the last regular Wednesday meeting of the year.  Usually we have fun activities, food and (non-alcoholic) drinks, people can bring in food and dishes if they'd like.  We hook up an XBox or one of those things to the classroom projector and sound system (our squadron's sound system could probably wake people miles away).  We throw on some music and just let everyone enjoy themselves.

Cadets bring their parents, siblings, friends etc. if they want.  It's a chance for everyone to be a little less formal and "hang out" as opposed to the typical structured meeting.

The squadron staff usually group signs cards for every cadet.  This year I will also be giving a subtle recruiting pitch to all the parents present.   >:D

Happy Ramahanukwanzmas to you, too.

"Holiday." Hmmph.

We normally have an awards dinner sometime in January for cadets and some seniors come to it.  Last couple of years, it's been a covered dish affair with parents and friends.  This year, some of the seniors want to have a get together with just seniors and their families.  So our next senior meeting will just be an informal gathering with finger foods. No training, just a couple of items to go over before the "meeting".   

Quote from: Flying Pig on December 10, 2008, 03:06:20 AM
Our Sq. has a Christmas Party. ;D

So does the Jewish kid stay home and have some gefelte fish that night?

>:D

Kidding, of course.

Quote from: NIN on December 10, 2008, 04:48:37 AM

Quote from: Flying Pig on December 10, 2008, 03:06:20 AM
Our Sq. has a Christmas Party. ;D

So does the Jewish kid stay home and have some gefelte fish that night?

>:D

Kidding, of course.

Nope.  Like my grandfather, he just enjoyed having an extra holiday.  Our party was a Christmas Party too.  Heck, it's not just a good idea, it's the (federal) law.  ;D

Quote from: Pylon on December 10, 2008, 03:26:41 AM
This year I will also be giving a subtle recruiting pitch to all the parents present.   >:D

Ah recruiting at its best.... :angel:

Quote from: Rob Goodman on December 10, 2008, 10:16:39 AM

Quote from: Pylon on December 10, 2008, 03:26:41 AM
This year I will also be giving a subtle recruiting pitch to all the parents present.   >:D

Ah recruiting at its best.... :angel:

Good multitasking!

We use our party as an opportunity to "show off" to the families.  We recap the squadron's activities and members' accomplishments for the past year.  Sometimes we don't see the parents any other time, so it's a way to brag on all our folks.

I'm a Wing Weenie, but I voted yes anyway, because the two squadrons and the Group HQ that are within 30 min. of my house all have holiday parties.

When I was a squadron commander, we would run a regular meeting for the first hour, then have the parents show up for the second hour for  food and fun.

Had our Holiday Party yesterday and it was nice did promotions invited the col up from wing also showed a video of past year achievements it was nice for all the family to come together to support the cadets. we have 2 parties every year holiday and end of the summer.

My squadron has a "banquet."

It's usually in November (preferably) or January (if November is not available). Since we're a compostie squadron, we do awards for both seniors and cadets. Then we summarize the things we've done over the last year so we can either look back with smiles or improve on those things. Afterwards, we eat really nice food from a good caterer and finally the cadets "show off" drill to their amazed parents  ::)

What's always nice is that our DCC always finds a guest speaker. Two years ago was an USAF Major General, last year was an Army LTG, and this year is going to be a different Army MG

Oh, and everyone wears a Service Dress Uniform. If they don't have one, (such as new cadets or parents) they'll wear really nice civies/church clothes.

Our Christmas Party is next week.  So is our Kwanza Party and our Hannukah Party and any other holiday you can think of for the period.  It's all informal at our squadron HQ and is usually a potluck.  We save the major awards for the year for June, I think.  It correlates with our squadron's birthday.

We have never had one in memory. Our Annual Banquet is always in October, so I guess since they are so close together...

We do usually take the last week in December off, mostly because practically all of the cadets are either on vacation or at Encampment..

It's an idea for next year though.

 My squadron is having one this Tuesday it's a holiday [arty and not a christmas one since we have almost as much Jewish members as Christian ones. It's informal and as a team building activity we are going to play rock band.

My squadron has a Christmas party every year, we also have a "pot luck" dinner every 5th thursday.

We had our Holiday Party last night.  It is a uniformed activity, but the main thing is to partake in fellowship and food!!!

We are suppose to have one next Thursday, but if the weather is as bad as tonight I doubt thats going to happen. Tonight was last minute testing for anyone who missed the last testing night here in Dec. and also cleanup for the Christmas Open House on the 28th but due to the icy rains it was canceled.
When I first jojned we had a fall awards night that happened once ot twice then recently in the past 4-5 years started having an open house. (Might have been sooner)

Had ours tonight.  Wing King showed up as well as the chief of staff.  Good times, great food, and I'm stuffed.

Quote from: Stonewall on December 12, 2008, 02:55:25 AM
Had ours tonight.  Wing King showed up as well as the chief of staff.  Good times, great food, and I'm stuffed.

Just got home from our Christmas and Holiday gathering.  Great success in my mind, as most attended with wives or significant others, majority stayed on past announced ending time, there was talk about doing this more often with families, and is sure looked like everyone enjoyed themselves too.  Food wasn't bad either!   ;D

I work with Sea Cadets as well and I would like to take a lesson learned from our Christmas Party and say don't have any inflatable moon bounce or other type activities without a paramedic on-scene. We had a moon bounce, a inflatable boxing ring, a inflatable rockwall and some other stuff too. The night ended with two concussions, a couple black eyes and welts and a twisted knee and ankle.

That would make interesting reading in the Sentinel.