Comedy and Cuisine

After a fine French meal and the company of Duchesne Head of School Sheila Haggas, you will raise your wine glass to toast: Vive la France. Paul and Maureen Halbur are opening their Dundee home for a feast straight from the Burgundy region. Your chefs for the night, Matt and Sheryl Fitzgerald, will provide several courses that capture the spirit of Duchesne’s French founders. Accompanying wine will finish off the flavors. Students from Duchesne will help serve this meal for eight to 10 diners. Bon appetite.

Donors: Paul and Maureen Halbur and Matt and Sheryl Fitzgerald

Value: Priceless

Tickets for 10 to any show during the 2010-11 season. The lineup offers a little something to satisfy anyone’s taste. Love the Beatles? Consider “Yesterday and Today” with Bill McGuigan. Enjoy a little Catholic humor? Maybe “Nunsense” would be more to your liking. The evening opens with pre-show dinner and drinks. Intermission is capped with cocktails, and the evening finale is dessert, paired with drinks – all served in the Playhouse’s private boardroom.

Donors: Sandy Maass and Alan Thelen

Value: $800

What could be better than baseball on the Fourth of July at Wrigley Field, the hallowed, historic home of the Chicago Cubs? Why, another baseball game the very next day at U.S. Cellular Field, the wondrously modern home of the Chicago White Sox! This red, white, and blue adventure comes with four tickets to the Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds ballgame on Sunday, July 4, and four tickets to see the Chicago White Sox vs. the Los Angeles Angels on July 5. But it’s not all baseball. The package also includes $500 for travel expenses, so you can rest easy in the arms of the City of Big Shoulders. Can’t you can almost taste the Chicago dogs, see the gleaming skyscrapers soaring above Lake Michigan, feel the sunshine, hear the crack of the bat and smell the El? Go ahead. Take yourselves out to the ballgames. You won’t care if you ever get back.

Donors: Jim and Jean Smith and Friends of St. Cecilia

Value: $1,500

Let your child rule at school for one day in his or her own style. (Last year’s winner had the school buzzing with his dress-for-success suit and tie.) Your child’s voice will be heard by all as he or she makes the day’s announcements. Mrs. Rourke will play hostess at a special lunch for your child and a friend. And no day in the principal’s seat would be complete without the power to bestow a special privilege on others.

Donors: Mrs. Rourke, Grade School Principal

Value: Priceless

Whether you have a wall of professional prints or a tattered box filled with family snapshots taken by strangers you’ve encounter on vacation, this will be a treasured portrait. Cathedral alums Joe and Judy Johnston are providing studio time to capture the look you want -- in black and white or color. The final result will be an 11X14 portrait.

Donors: Johnston Portrait Studio

Value: $680

Let St. Cecilia parent and landscape expert Hugh Morton help you create a neighborhood show stopper. Sun Valley Landscaping and Natural Stone will send over a crew to give your yard some TLC. Afterward, you’ll want to invite all your friends over to enjoy your beautiful landscape.

Donors: Hugh and Bridget Morton

Value: $1,000

You will own 1,150 square feet of luxury real estate just off the famed Las Vegas Strip –for three nights. The Luxurious Platinum Hotel and Spa sits at the corner of East Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Boulevard, less than two blocks from the Strip. The one-bedroom Princess Suite comes with two queen-size beds, a convertible sofa in the living room, a 42-inch plasma TV, a full kitchen, washer and dryer, electric fireplace and walkout balcony. After a busy day or night on the Strip, you will feel like you have escaped to your own private retreat. The winner will need to coordinate travel dates. Most holidays are blacked out and other restrictions may apply. Check out the accommodations. www.theplatinumhotel.com

Donors: Patrick Sullivan and Sortino’s Records Management

Value: $700

Shake off the winter blahs with a week on the Gulf of Mexico, just south of Clearwater, Fla. This one-bedroom condo at the “Nautical Watch Beach Resort” has room for four. It comes fully furnished with a pull-out sofa in the living room and all the amenities for a relaxing getaway. The beach is within walking distance – you won’t even cross a street on your way. Fine restaurants and shopping are just minutes away. And dinner cruises, museums, tennis courts, golf courses, Greyhound/dog racing and Major League baseball spring training are all within a short drive. Larry and Terri Torpy have reserved a week, but the reservation dates can be changed, based on availability. Check out the condo at www.libertemanagement.com/nauticalwatch.html

Donors: Larry and Terri Torpy, Torpy Tree Care

Value: $1,000

You’ve never experienced the riverfront like this. Gracious hosts Bob and Mary Kay Gerken open their home along the Missouri River to eight dinner guests. Under the tutelage of grade school parents Ian and Anne Severes, the group will help prepare a fabulous Indian meal. This year’s menu includes chicken Kashmiri, a savory, slightly sweet dish with creamy cashew curry and dried cranberries. Favorite Indian side dishes, dessert and wines will round out the meal.

Donors: Ian and Anne Severes and Bob and Mary Kay Gerken

Value: $1,000

This year’s mystery game is “A Taste for Wine and Murder.” Ten people – eight players and two facilitators – gather for dinner at the Mt. Michael Abbey guesthouse on a mutually agreed-upon date. But who knows how many will leave at the end of the night? Volunteers will be on hand for the body count – and to keep the fun alive.

Donors: Ellen and Lee Ehlers, Rod and Mary Jewell, Janet Reuter, Diana Holloway and Susan Watson

Value: $1,000