1 Night, 2 Parties

I'm normally an advocate of promoting or celebrating only one holiday at a time. I abhor the common sight of Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving or, increasingly, Halloween.

However, I have decided to take this space to talk about two New Year's Eve events in Cape Girardeau on Dec. 31.

Sidestepping the glorious fact that we'll celebrate little baby Jesus in a week, some friends and I are looking at plans to celebrate the beginning of a new year. Several venues are planning blowouts, but we're debating between two parties.

Option 1: The United We Rock event at 7 p.m. at The Venue.

Option 2: The St. Jude New Year's Eve Benefit at 5 p.m. at the Arena Building.

Both cost $50 and offer food, drinks, dancing and free rides home at the end. Both can also be found on www.semoevents.com if you want more specific information.

The group is torn between two extremely worthwhile charities -- and two rockin' fun parties.

The St. Jude event, which benefits St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., started last year and raised more than $21,000. Most of us remember raising money through mathathons or bike-athons. If we're healthy, we may have run the St. Jude Marathon.

This New Year's Eve benefit could be our partyathon, all to help children with cancer.

Then again, the innaugural United We Rock event raises funds for the United Way of Southeast Missouri. We've reported the lull in funding for the not-for-profit organization that helps Southeast Missourians thrive and live successful lives, and this would be a great way to pitch in a little extra.

I doubt we'll regret going to either event. At the end of the day -- or more accurately the year -- we'll be supporting valuable charities and celebrating with friends.