For this month's student event, we planned a drag bingo! The planning process for the event was incredibly unique and different than other ones I had planned due to the amount of creativity that I was able to have with it.  

Initially, I came up with this idea because I really wanted to invite local Iowa City Drag queens into the museum to host an event. Thus, we settled on bingo as an engaging activity for guests to come participate in. 

I also wanted to incorporate art throughout the event. I thought to myself “What better way to mix in art to the event than to create art inspired mocktails!”  This was definitely one of the best parts of the planning process and everyone in the office enjoyed testing them out for us! My personal favorite was the Plaid Sweater mocktails, but a lot of people liked the Fish Coffin.  

We also had to get creative with the bingo cards and include artworks from our collection. In the middle of the bingo card, or the free space, there were about 5 different variations of artworks. I think that it was a good touch to sprinkle in art throughout the event but not make it the overall theme.  

One of the most important aspects of the event was coming up with the prizes. We decided on a mix of art related items like coloring books with pencils to also a popcorn movie night kit. This allowed those in attendance to pick out a prize that spoke to their interests.  

As we were setting up the event, it was so fun to see everything coming together. We had the mocktail table ready, tables decorated with Jolly Ranchers for the bingo cards, and music playing in the background.  

Slowly, people started to fill in and we ended up needing to add extra chairs and a table to fit everyone in! The event was a huge success! People kept coming up for refills of their mocktails or grabbing some snacks. The drag queens, Hazel Sanchez-Belle and Virgo Frost did a Q&A with the audience so they could ask questions about drag and their performances. It felt like the audience was able to connect and learn a lot from the queens.  

Overall, I was really happy with the outcome of the event.  Those that I spoke to all had good responses on how it all went. For me personally, the best part of the night was showing the drag queens around the galleries.  

For more information on future Night at the Museum events, click here!