Part of the fun of the Vinemeet last week was discovering all the souvenirs inside the Welcome gifts bag and the door prizes we won. You can't imaging all the neat stuff Dowser found for us! I believe most of the welcome gifts were all the same, but the door prizes were all different. I've taken some pictures of my memorabilia brought home form the meet, some I bought, and most were from Dowser.

I'll start with the door prize, we chose numbers out of a hat and whatever number you drew was the order for everyone to choose a prize. We had this fun little parade each time someone's number was called. Everyone  paraded down the room wearing their Derby hats to the table to choose what they wanted. I tried to get pictures of all of them, but sometimes I just wasn't fast enough!  When it came time for me to choose, I got lucky and found the perfect gift for me! A basket of rocks and minerals handpicked literally by Dowser! I mean, it was out of her personal collection! How could I have been so lucky? I've taken a picture of them spread out over there on the right. Some are so small they were packed in a neat little plastic case each one marked what they were and where they were found.

Nest thing I'll describe is the Welcome gift bag we received. It was packed full of items from the area, everything from a Louisville Slugger bat to a cute little magnet that says "Someone from Kentucky Loves Me"! There was a horse shoe from the race track, a rose, pens and pencils marked with logos of Kentucky, two 137th Derby glasses, a pretty little towel with a lovely saying on it, some small horses, scented rose petals, a packet of wildflowers from Kentucky, and a lovely book about Kentucky. I know I've probably missed something, but you get the idea, Dowser went all out selecting just the right things to include!

It turned out that I came home with two extra bags of stuff after this party, good thing I wasn't flying or the luggage fees would have been outrageous! Anyway, I've tried to describe what Dowser put together for us, she's just the most lovely lady I think I've ever met, and I'm so glad to call her my friend!