GGB Ft. Lauderdale – Our Magical Birthday!

Our Magical Birthday Brunch celebrated both the Ft. Lauderdale chapter’s one year anniversary and our love of all things Potter. The September 2017 brunch was held in Kingshead Pub in Sunrise. Most girls munched on fish n’ chips as they sat surrounded by British kitsch and memorabilia including an armored guard, copious UK flags, teapots, and dark wood décor.

Originally scheduled for earlier in the month, our brunch was rescheduled due to Hurricane Irma and the post-storm recovery efforts. The good news is that all of our brunchettes weathered the storm well. The unfortunate news is that, due to the rescheduling, some of the original attendees weren’t able to attend the new date. To all of our girls who couldn’t make it: We missed you! Thanks, however, to the ladies who did. We welcomed some new faces to the group and we’re looking forward to many more brunches with our ever-expanding network of geek girls. A special shout out to Madeline from Colorful Cute Goods who drove up from Miami to join us for her first GGB Ft. Lauderdale Chapter brunch.

Goody bags this month were particularly amazing (if we do say so ourselves). Gifts included some unique items including a Hogwarts charm bracelet designed by former and founding officer, Melany. We couldn’t thank her more for her continued support of our chapter. We miss her like the deserts miss the rain. Additional assorted jewelry gifts included Deathly Hallows earrings or (alternately) Always necklace. Perennial favorite indie shop JLynn Paper Co. showed up in the gift bags as well with her perfect tribute to the Potterverse: magnet bookmarks featuring our favorite characters.

Specially crafted to celebrate our one year birthday, GGB Ft. Lauderdale pinback buttons featuring our unofficial mascot, GiGi Mimo, were also included. Officer Meghan created Pinterest success HP corner bookmarks as well. Broomstick pens, cauldrons stuffed with Butterbeer-inspired recipes, and snitch Ferrero Rocher chocolates also went home with each brunchette. Thanks to Aurora’s friends at Books and Books, Advanced Reader Copies of YA titles were available for attendees to take home as well. Books that weren’t selected were donated to the the Little Free Libraries in Ft. Lauderdale because there’s nothing that feels better than doing good.

This month’s raffle items were a mixed bag of mystery packages including Funko POP!s and pens. Most importantly, though, were the unique handcrafted items that went to our lucky winners, including House Crest Coasters created by Officer Aurora’s husband, Seb (thanks, Seb!) and Hogwarts House Cowls knitted by Officer Cristy.

Geek Girls Do Better: Hurricane Recovery & Relief

It’s a lot of work to put together these brunches; and nothing reminds us of that like a natural disaster that we can’t plan for or around. But we in South Florida were phenomenally lucky this time around to have missed the brunt of Hurricane Irma. That we were able to celebrate our anniversary within just a couple of weeks of the original date is great – but the most important thing is that we were all safe during and after the storm, and able to celebrate anything at all. A shout out to our brunchettes who contributed to the Facebook and social media discussions updating one another on local businesses that had power, hosted hotspots, had AC, and were operational for those of us who didn’t have those things at home. Thank you for your patience throughout the rescheduling process, and thank you for understanding that we’re more than just a collective, we’re also individuals with real non-geek needs and lives.

Many of us, however, are still suffering from the effects of hurricane season, particularly those of us with friends and family in Puerto Rico hit by Hurricane Maria, including Officer Auora’s family. If you can help, please visit the following sites to find out how:

• Go Fund Me centralized page for relief projects 
• Miami Foundation’s relief resources 
• Unidos for Puerto Rico