On Saturday, April 5, I attended the annual Mother-Son Dance, which was themed “CasinoNight, and although it was called a dance, there was little dancing done – instead, I did a little bit of gambling with my friends, and made some of the fondest memories I have from a “dance”.

When I entered the Father Barry Gymnasium on that Saturday, it had been transformed into a lively casino that included a Bingo board and lots of snacks on the side. Mr. Lawrence Simon was DJing the event, and kept the tunes going the whole night.

The main attraction was the casino tables which included craps, blackjack, poker and more. However, my favorite attraction was the roulette wheel, which offered the best environment because winning and losing is determined by pure luck. There were people going all in or winning big the whole time and there was just a lot of fun exuding from the table.

Bingo provided a more laid back attraction for the people who were not trying to get involved in gambling. There were also little foam balls given out that could be tossed around if you went broke. I mostly hung around the roulette table gambling a little bit, and even though I didn’t win much, I still had a ton of fun. Everything at the event seemed very well-thought out, and set the mood perfectly.

Even though I liked the event overall, there were a couple things that could be improved. Most of the time, it was hard to find an open table. Additionally, the tables felt very cramped, even though there was a lot of unused space on the gym floor. And whenever I left to go do something else and returned, I had to wait a while to get another chance at gambling. Nevertheless, I felt more engaged with the attractions since the event wasn’t a formal dance.

Overall, the Mother Son Dance was a well-done and fun night. I would highly recommend going next year: don’t miss out on the event, as it will surely be a night to remember.