"Baby, It's Cold Outside" was the theme of the Saint Mary's College annual All School Formal, held Saturday night at the Century Center in downtown South Bend.
"We assumed snow would be on the ground, especially in January, and we tried to think of songs that incorporated winter," co-chair Brianna Lamp said. "We thought of ‘Baby It's Cold Outside,' and, since the song isn't technically a Christmas song, we figured it would be a great choice for our theme."
Lamp and co-chair Kerriann Dooley put together a committee comprised of five sophomore and junior students to plan the event. The group met weekly, starting in September.
Tickets went on sale Tuesday and were sold out by 5 p.m. Thursday.
Lamp said they made several changes this year, including an increase in the limit on number of attendees, the venue location and security.
The committee was given a budget of $16,000 by the Student Government Association to plan the event. The budget went towards security, decorations, transportation, the venue, entertainment and food.
"This year was the deciding factor on whether the formal would be held in the future," Lamp said. "Since we had a larger budget to work with, we upped security and made sure every precaution was taken to curb intoxication. More South Bend police were brought in to monitor students."
All School Formal is usually held at Palais Royale, but the committee decided to change the venue to the Century Center.
Junior Julia Humphrey thought there were numerous improvements from last year's formal.
"I really enjoyed the change of location," Humphrey said. "It was a really relaxed setting at the Century Center. I also think that the bus system was more effective. Last year, it took forever to board buses and get to and from Saint Mary's."
Senior Lisa Jaworski said she liked the changes.
"I liked that the new venue was larger and had more space to move around," Jaworski said. "The music was better this year as well. The DJ had some really good mixes."
The committee dealt with a few incidents dealing with intoxication, but overall, the event seemed to have fewer problems than last year, Lamp said.
"With everything bad that happened last year, I decided to get involved this year to restore Resident Hall Association's trust in the event," Lamp said. "It's my senior year and I wanted to make sure that this event continued to happen in the future. I think our committee did great and the event turned out extremely well."
