Students. faculty and community members will gather outside Carroll Hall tonight for the 11th annual "A Carroll Christmas," the dorm's signature event.
"[The goal of this event is] to spread Christmas cheer by singing loud and clear for all to hear," Carroll Hall president Kevin Jakopchek said.
With the organizers of "A Carroll Christmas" anticipating the largest crowd ever, the event's budget was increased 50 percent this year, from $2,000 to $3,000.
Among the reasons for the increase in budget was the addition of a heated tent on the Carroll lawn.
"Due to ever expanding attendance we needed to add a heated tent for more space," Jakopchek said.
The ceremony includes the blessing and lighting of Carroll's Christmas tree, along with a five-song set by the a capella group Big Yellow Taxi.
Following the outside portion of the evening, attendees are invited into the dorm to partake in more festivities.
"After the lighting ceremony, the party will move inside where we will have cookies, hot chocolate and cider as well as a chocolate fountain," said Jakopchek. "We will also have Christmas karaoke, card signing for our troops abroad and Santa and his elves will be available for picture taking."
Along with the planning the events of the evening, members of the planning committee have been working to decorate Carroll to ensure its decorations are the best they have ever been. Traditional Christmas adornments, such as wreaths, garland, and paper snowflakes, will decorate the dorm, in addition to an eight-foot inflatable Santa.
There will also be lights strung around nearly every possible place within the vicinity of Carroll Hall.
"There will be lots of lights," Jakopchek said.
Jakopchek said there would be around 1,000 people in attendance. This is partially due to the multiple ways the men of Carroll publicized the event.
Jakopchek said they created a Facebook group to invite massive amounts of people to attend. The organizers also printed off over 1,200 flyers to hand out to the student body at various locations around campus.
"We had 1,200 flyers and candy canes that will be distributed ... at the dining halls and LaFortune," Jakopchek said. "We also had table tents on every table at South Dining Hall, LaFortune and at most tables at North Dining Hall."
As Notre Dame prepares for Christmas, many dorms are taking time to decorate their exteriors as well as their interiors. The men of Carroll feel that their event will raise Christmas spirit around campus "immeasurably," Jakopchek said.
