Season-end Banquet: Do You Go?

At the end of every season at the rink comes the banquet. For those of you who are not hockey or ringette moms, the banquet is a meal with benefits. The venue is likely a hall, the kind where wedding receptions (of the country variety are held). The tickets will cost you roughly the cost of a top-end meal at a roadhous-style restaurant. The kid will likely get some kind of memento with his/her team logo emblazoned on it somewhere. This memento will like be lost and/or broken within a year. The food will likely be decent, and the company will be as it was all season. So, if you had a blast with the other parents all season, ride the wave and head to the banquet. If you think you may blow a gasket if you have to see that woman one more time, pass. If your kid desperately wants to go, you may want to reconsider. If you think your particular kid will be bored, won't eat the food, or will become a menace to society within 15 minutes of arrival, do everyone a favour and stay home.

To sum up:
- The season-end banquet is not an exciting event. The people sitting next to you will make or break it.
- If the tickets cost more than you want to spend, don't buy 'em. You are under no obligation (unless you are the coach).
- If at all possible, take only the kid involved. And, involve that kid in the to-go-or-not-to-go decision.