A Gatsby Night Out.

On the weekend we got the gig as Professional Seat Fillers at a fundraising ball.

What a fun thing to do! Being a Professional Seat Filler is not for everyone, but for us, it's a great way to do something you just didn't have planned. You need to be happy to arrive at a function not really knowing who you're going to be sitting with and just enjoy the event.

Fundraising balls come with the addition of live auctions, silent auctions, raffles and requests for cash, but there isn't any pressure to mortgage your house to fund the charity.

The theme for our night out was "With a hint of Gatsby", with only 24 hours to pull our outfits together, organise babysitters, decide on transport and get our names on the table seating list we had to move fast. The key is to accept that you might not have the perfect outfit, but your attitude and enthusiasm to attend will take you the rest of the way.

Event organisers always want you to enjoy their function, they go to great lengths to try and make everything run smoothly, so with the right attitude you should really have a good time.

We met new people, were entertained by some fabulous performers, nearly won some wine in the silent auction, heard about some truly extraordinary research being done by medical types who just do the most superb work and had a really good laugh with the people on our table.

We quite enjoy the excitement of last minute plans, finding yourself at an event you never even knew existed, speaking with people at a table who you might not know at all. It's not for everyone, but it can be really good fun.

I am not sure if there is a career in filling seats for event organisers, but if there is...count me in!