Copied From Mattie herself:

2) We're arranging to have our 2nd Annual Holiday Minicon up in Wilmington, on December 16, 2006 from 7-11 PM at Kahunaville (www.kahunaville.com). Admission to the party will be $5 plus a small wrapped gift and will include goodybag and all the candy you can eat! Also we'll have a festive costume contest, rocking raffle, UNO and other Card games, DS tournaments (bring your DS for that), loads of Video games in the arcade, Take your pic with our very own Santa Claus! You'll have to sit on his lap and tell him if you've been a good little otaku though! HAHA! AND, we're going to do a 'DAS Secret Santa' but I'll explain that below.

3)DAS Secret Santa!!: There are two ways you can participate in this.
A. Email me your name and address by December 1, 2006. I'll send you an email with someone else's name and address. You have to get them a small present of some sort and mail it back to them!
OR
B. Everyone who comes to the DAS Party has to bring a small wrapped gift as part of their admission. I will number all the gifts and put the numbers into a bag/cauldron. Everybody will draw a number and thats what gift they receive (If a person draws the number of the gift they brought they draw another number)

Guidelines: Its not necessary to spend more than 5 or 10 bucks on this gift. We all need to save money given its near the holidays and this is meant to be alot of fun and not a torture for yer wallet!

Buy something that you think a fellow anime/asian culture fan would like.Because we all share at least that interest! (Nothing hentai or only appropriate for ages 18+ though, please)

4) DAS Annual Charity:
We like to give back to the community, so,during the Holiday season we do a charity every year. In previous years we have done a holiday can drive which I think we should keep doing as its simple and easy. In addition, Stacey has suggested 'Childs Play', the gamers charity. This charity provides video games and fun items to children in hospitals. I check it out and one of the nearest hospitals is in Philly.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3C5T8DNFCSELW?ie=UTF8&msgid=updated&tag2=childsplaycha-20

Basically we can buy stuff online and it goes to the Hospital (I think that's right, correct me if I'm wrong, Stacey?) If you guys would like to papal a donation or two to delawareanimesociety@yahoo.com, I can go buy some of the games in the name of DAS, or we can set up a special collection box at Superior Comics and elsewhere and amass funds that way? What do you guys think? I'm all ears on the easiest and most effective way to get this done because I think its a very worthy cause!! I'm also going to try to get more clubs in the area inon this charity thing because working together we can make a big difference. I'll keep you updated!

-Upcoming Trips/Events
There's a bunch of things going on in February and beyond that you might want to be aware of.

A buncha DAS members are attending Katsucon 2007. Katsucon 2007 is going on Feb 16-18, 2007 up in Washington, DC:. If you need a room or a ride, please post in the mailing lists or in the forum sections. Or let Ashley know and she'll pass it on to me :D
http://www.katsucon.org/

-Upcoming DAS Events
The Cherry Blossom Festivals of Washington, DC AND Philadelphia, PA
Many of you know that we take a yearly trip up to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC that goes on from March 31-April 15, 2007. You will notice a poll that's going up on all the lists regarding a Satuday that you guys might be able to attend. There are a ton of (mostly) free events to see like the Anime Movie marathon done by Otakon (cant find it on the site at this time??), Kimono and art demonstrations (every day), music, a Japanese Street Fair (on April 14), blossom tours, kite displays, fireworks, a parade, and more! Once we decide on a date, I'll post more details about carpooling and metro costs, etc. It would be awfully cool to meet up with some of your WCU club folks..
http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/cms/index.php?id=390

-The Cherry Blossom Festival of Philadelphia, PA
HERE is our big news!!! The DAS has been paid a great honor by the Japan Society of Philadelphia (JASGP). We have been asked not only to march in the parade at the Subaru Cherry Blossom festival of Greater Philadelphia on Friday, April 13, but also to have a booth/demo at their 'Sakura Sunday' on Sunday, April 15, which is at Fairmount Park.

 

I am hoping maybe you WCU folks since you're closer to Philly might think about hanging out with us there? And you are certainly invited to march with us in the parade!

"Sakura Sunday, an all-day event at Fairmount Park's Horticulture Center featuring martial arts demonstrations, origami, calligraphy, kite making workshops, tea ceremony, taiko drumming and dance, and tours of Shofuso, a 16th century Japanese house and garden. Visitors are also invited to picnic and celebrate the return of spring beneath the cherry blossoms."


You will notice some more polls going up (on the DAS lists) concerning if any more of you guys are interested in marching in the parade (cosplay encouraged especially) and/or helping with a booth at the festival.
http://jasgp.org/sakura

I am SO excited about this new opportunity for us all and hope that we can get a bunch of folks to participate!




-DAS Kanameiji Meetings in 2007?
We're working on moving the meetings to a local library in Bristol that has a very nice meeting space. Additionally, we've booked the Abington Free Library for a meeting on a Friday in January (since we had some f olks who were requesting meetings on Fridays). We'll get back to you as soon as we can with more details!

-- Edited by Ramothhe at 15:11, 2007-01-11

-- Edited by Ramothhe at 15:19, 2007-01-11