OzBargain Is Turning 11 This Month - Can Someone Organise Birthday Parties?

Update — current forum threads for OzBargain Birthday meetup discussions:

Completed
Cancelled

tl;dr — OzBargain is turning 11 this November. Organise an OzBargain birthday party for your city between 15 Nov and 14 Dec, and we'll sponsor up to $500 in venue and catering.


OzBargain was launched on 27 November 2006, making this November its 11th Birthday! We ran a few birthday celebrations in the past — 48-hours sale event, treasure hunt and birthday greeting competitions. For this year I want to have something different so some of us can actually meet together and celebrate this event.

Let's organise some birthday parties!

Birthday Parties

I would like to see OzBargainers all around Australia celebrating OzBargain's 11th birthday in the coming month. However there are some obstacles that we need to overcome. I don't have much experience in organising birthday parties. I also don't think I have enough time for it since it's already November (blame on my procrastination). Therefore instead of having one single official event, maybe we can have OzBargainers all around Australia organising their own meetups / birthday parties? OzBargain will be the sponsor, and you guys be the organisers.

Here is the plan — it might not work, but feel free to give feedbacks.

  • I am calling for those who are capable and are interested in organising parties by starting a thread under Site discussions. You (the Organiser) can title it as

    [OzBargain 11th Birthday] Sydney Meetup

    Change "Sydney" to the city you are reciting (and planning to organise a meetup for). We might be able to have 2 or 3 for Sydney & Melbourne at different locations. For example "Sydney Eastern Suburbs", "Sydney North Shore", etc. The parties must be hosted in Australia, and must happen between 15 Nov and 14 Dec.

  • Through comments / discussions in those forum posts, people can work out the date, time and venue where the birthday party will be held, what to do at the party, catering, etc. People need to confirm whether they can make to the party.

  • If you can confirm that there will be 25 or more people coming to your OzBargain birthday party, OzBargain will sponsor $500 towards the cost of venue, food and drinks. I have a budget of $7,500 for this year's parties so get it organised! Once you think you can confirm the number, PM me to request for sponsorship.

    • Edit: if you cannot organise 25 people to come to your party, we'll still sponsor but with lesser amount.

  • Each group can choose the format of the party. Domino's pizza at a venue in CBD? Finger food followed by gaming session at someone else's place? Barbecue next to the beach?

  • Yes I know it's just going to be an excuse for OzBargainers to meetup, eat and drink cheap food and talk about bargains, there is also a task that each birthday party has to perform. IMPORTANT — each group has to upload a short video of the party. It could just be a view of everyone who showed up, or everyone singing happy birthday. It could be judged by the mods for some prizes later.

  • I know @neil has talked to the owners of Pokéd (who recently did an AMA) and we might be able to do a meetup there in Melbourne. So if you own a venue or a business owner that don't mind having some OzBargainers over — let us know as well.

That's the rough plan in my head. There might be some difficulties in terms of execution (no one wants to organise anything, or people organise fake parties to scam OzBargain's sponsorship), but hopefully we'll sort that out along the way. If you have some good ideas do share as well.

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Comments

  • +1

    Ready to have a party with my pet fish,dog,cat,lizard,bird etc.

    Anyways, I'd like another treasure hunt

  • +4

    Hearthstone Fireside Gathering sponsored by OzBargain.

    Ozbargain’s birthday but you get the present!

    A Nemsy Necrofizzle Skin.

  • +8

    hi guys, im new here and im looking for bargain birthday ideas, could you please help me?

    • +10

      Invite me and it will be a great party…

    • +1

      If you look anything like your profile picture, then invite me as well

    • Use the Amex Shop Small. Pick a venue. People could spend $20 on their Amex … get $10 back. :D

  • +14

    I'll be there dressed as an Eneloop.

    • +1

      Hehe I was thinking of fake Eneloop candles on a cake… Although I suspect real ones will also burn!

  • +1

    OzBargain meetups are a lot of fun. If any weekend events happen in Melb or Syd I'd happily fly in.

  • $500 in Perth won't go far lol damn you Mining Boom

    • Even Domino's?

  • +2
  • As a sydneysider who has their birthday about a week before Ozbargain's I'd be happy to attend one if there is one.

  • Any one in Sydney down for a BBQ at the park and we stay till late and get our torches out (sounds kinda wrong lol)? I have tried to organise this before on Budget light forum but not enough of us. Heaps of us here on Ozbargain have lights. Maybe we could turn this into a Guinness world record event?

  • +22

    Just to let all the Melburnians know where we're at. Justin from Poked & Gameology has graciously offered the use of one of their stores in the CBD after they close for a board games night (or any other idea).

    • Probably order pizzas (sorry, no healthy Poke on offer).
    • Thinking it will be a weekday night, late in November.
    • Have a box of t-shirts up for grabs (this time with shirts for women).
    • For those not wanting to hang around, perhaps swing by, say hi, grab a t-shirt.

    Anything else we want to do? A swap? Do a bulk buy of something?

    • +1

      I'd be down for it as long as I know when it'll be a couple weeks before. If the numbers are good I'll hook people up with some gear or do a giveaway

    • +2

      I'm so down for this. Keen for that "Not a bot" badge!!!

    • I'm keen.

    • so.. neil… are you organising one? =)

      • +4

        Yes, just locking in a couple of dates then I'll create a thread.

    • Keeping my eyes on this thread coz I'm so down with a meetup with fellow ozbargainers!

      • +1

        I'm having difficulty contacting Justin so may have to resort to Plan B…now to think of a plan B.

    • +1

      Did someone say "FREE pizza"?

    • I'm in for week day meet up during lunch hours….Neil, if not poked etc, how about some garden on nice sunny day…Monday 20th November looks bright and sunny..

      • +1

        All good for the 30th, 530pm onwards at Pokéd (near parliament). I'll post shortly with details.

  • I can at least initiate something for Sydney's North Shore. For convenience, how about somewhere in Chatswood? Preference for lunch time or evening? Looking for expressions of interest and suggestions.

  • +2

    McDonald's any good for OzBargain birthday party? Probably don't need the clowns.

    • +2

      Any chance we could have a birthday party at your place, Scotty?

      I want to bring you cake.

      • +2

        Unfortunately that's not an option.

      • Why can't scotty come out of the cake? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

  • My idea for Adelaide would be a picnic in the park or something similar. Any Adelaide peoples interested in putting on an Ozb Birthday event? I think there are about 3 of us in here 😊😊😊

    • I got a few friends who use ozb, also Adelaide. yeah a public park with some pizzas or bbq would be ideal!

  • +3

    Does it have to be held on the 27th? Microsoft is having its free "Tech Summit" from 16th to 17th November at ICC Sydney. https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/techsummit/sydney

    No need for OzBargain sponsorship as a continental breakfast, lunch and coffee breaks will be provided, and snacks with beer and wine will be available at the "Ask the Experts Reception" on Thursday. Simply register for the event, show up in your OzBargain T-shirt, eat and drink, party outside the hall, and wait for the grog to come out.

    • I highlight the part in the original post (+ adding a tl;dr). The party can be any date between 15 November (tomorrow!) and 14 December.

      Want to meet up Thursday morning?

      • I'd love to but I can't. I am now a full time carer for my mother. I can't leave her alone for more than 30 minutes or something will go horribly wrong.

        • It was nice to see you came anyway & brought mum with you. I hope she enjoyed it. Sure looked like you did, jumping over the tables like a young fella.

          :)

        • @pgcs: The pizzas were getting OzBargained within 30 seconds of arriving on the "special designated" table and I had already missed out on at least two rounds. Mum was getting hungry so I had to be decisive and jump straight in.

          Watching the pizzas and chips disappear while I was in the back of the "queue" was like trying to secure a Domino's Woobox/Facebook free pizza coupon. You could see the post, you knew people were able to get coupons, but no matter how much you clicked the web page just wouldn't load until it was over.

        • @alvian: We did notice that. We were lucky enough to get 1 pizza on our table early, then a platter of wedges later. It was an evening out of home for mum… any change of scenery is good.

  • +1

    Any thing for Brisbane ?

  • +1

    Hey Scotty,

    Trying my best to get the numbers here in Hobart. Hope you are kind with the total people who say yes. I personally have benefited a lot from ozbargain not just bargain deals but the general discussions that happen on forums and am happy to take a lead for organizing this here at Hobart.

    We have a lot to pay back to this forum.

    Cheers

    Varun

    • +1

      I think the best way would be to start a new forum post to work out the date and the place to meet. Edit: which I can see it has already been done :)

      • Hoping I can get people in.

        Cheers

  • Adelaide being such a special place… Might be difficult to get 25 OzBs (away from their computer for an afternoon 😊). Any special Concessions for us (if we can't scrape up 25) Scotty. Population of Adelaide is only 100 people after all

    • If you can get 10 it's still a party. Sorry I should emphasis that 25 people is only a requirement to get the maximum funding ($500) from OzBargain.

  • Awesome Scotty, I will try and get the ball rolling for Gold Coast/Brisbane. Thread here

  • @scotty, $500 won't do much in Sydney. It's possible but won't be able to accommodate many people.

    I've know several popular places in western suburbs where you can eat lunch till you drop (and give you a medium-sized room depending on availability and the number of people) for 2 to 2.5 hours. And I believe they can provide you with simple birthday decoration such as table clothes. So you only need to get people to come.

    However, with $500 without people to pay, you can only get 27 people. If they're willing to pay $8.10, you can get 50 people. This rate is for Saturday lunch.

    How many people would you like to invite?

  • +3

    Looking forward to meeting all you capital W bank employees, bikies and Xiaomi lovers :)

    While everyone is coming in their Audis, I'll be on the public bus lol

  • just posted a North Brisbane / Redcliffe part here

  • +4

    No love in Canberra? I’m sure we have enough public servents on here to go to Bentspoke for a few?

  • great idea

  • Unless I get too many objections I've proposed an Adelaide Lawnbowls get together in Payneham
    Less than $5 per person gets us 1 sausage sizzle and 2 drinks plus 3 hours of lawn bowls. Don't think you could get a lot cheaper than that and it's all paid for.
    Please PM with any concerns.

  • +1

    Can anyone go there dressed as either GearBest or Bangggood outfit so I can violently bash?

  • What are these shirts??

    • These are Ozbargain shirts that have been designed by the Ozbargain community. We ran a competition for it a while back.

  • Anyone for Toowoomba area?

  • Wollongong? Surely some other bargain-seeking uni students around.

  • Brisbane CBD anyone?

  • +2

    OK, here is where we are at with all the meetups as of Friday afternoon:

    • Melbourne: Confirmed, Nov 30 5:30PM onwards @ Poked (Bourke St.). Games night with food, drinks, t-shirts. Neil in attendance.
    • Perth: Narrowed down venue to Bar 138 with 200 pieces of food, unlimited soft drinks. Monday through Wednesday availability so need to decide on dates.
    • Sydney & Poll with Nando's Clarence St, Nov 30, 6PM as likely venue & time. Scotty in attendance. Free t-shirts.
    • Sydney North Short - Ippudo Chatswood Monday 27th 1-3pm. Scotty in attendance. Free t-shirts.
    • Brisbane - Dec 1, 6PM @ The Lagoon in Redcliffe. Need to do poll to figure out # of people.
    • Gold Coast - Nothing.
    • Adelaide & Poll - Still deciding on venue.
    • Hobart - Nothing.

    Best idea would be to at least have a couple of venues selected and times for the unconfirmed events. I'll be posting the Melbourne meetup as a deal and others once we get each confirmed which at least should give some visibility to these meetups (as well as social media). I'm thinking perhaps we should create a number of Eventbrite events charging a token amount so at least we have a solid commitment from people where we need to cater for food, drinks, venue etc.

  • +3

    Anyone in Canberra want to have a party?

  • +1

    general question, are the parties at Hungry Jack's any good?

    • +3

      The parties are better at Hungry Jack's.

      • +1

        parties

        patties.

        The patties are better at Hungry Jack's.

  • +1

    why was the Canberra meetup cancelled?

    • +2

      Let's uncancel it!

      • +2

        I like your style!!

    • +3

      The organiser has requested it to be cancelled due to family matter. If there are people who can take up the responsibility to organise it, I can re-publish the post and announce the new organiser.

  • Some photos of the party attendees would be good.

  • Thanks for the Parra party guys & gals. Greatly appreciated. One comment I heard a few times related to the number of …ummmm… 'non-western' people there. Can't really say 'non-Aussies', as one of them pointed out, she is a 3rd gen ABC. :) No, it's not intended to be discriminatory - I'm married to a 'non-western' prizewinner from last night.

    • That comment probably applies to all 3 of Sydney's meetups I have been to (Chatswood, CBD & Parramatta). Not sure about other cities. The observations:

      • Sydney is very much a multi-culture city.
      • A lot of "non-westerners" on OzBargain. Bargaining is pretty much ingrained in some culture.
      • Even higher percentage of "non-westerners" come to meetups, OR "westerners" prefer not to come to OzBargain meetups?

      The other meetups I usually go to are Internet advertising related conventions, and "non-westerners" are the minority there. However you still meet lots of OzBargain users there.

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