Fox 5

Venue: H2O

Style inspiration: Cruise ship

Food lowlight: Gummy crab cakes

Token entertainment: Fake Texas hold ’em in the room dubbed the “Fox Caribbean Casino”

Music: Reggae band DKGB

Defining moment: Listening to members of DKGB play “Just the Two of Us” with steel drums

Party favor: Tote bag and floppy hat emblazoned with TV Guide and DirecTV logos

Sierra Club

Venue: Pizzeria Uno, Union Station

Style inspiration: Enviro booth outside a Dixie Chicks show

Food lowlight: $5 beer, which was $2.19 if you sat at Uno’s regular bar

Token entertainment: Laptop displaying scary video on environmental fallout from nukes

Music: The sound of people discussing light rail and Metro

Defining moment: When, upon the arrival of Ward 8 Councilmember-Elect Marion S. Barry, one greenie whispered into Barry’s ear, “Anyone bothers you, let me know”

Party favor: None, unless you won the raffle for a Sierra Club backpack, trial membership to Results, or Sierra Club T-shirt

ROOT Inc. (Reaching Out to Others Together), a nonprofit organization that aids families of homicide victims

Venue: The Ellington, first-floor party room

Style inspiration: Faux art-deco church

Food lowlight: Soggy veggie quesadillas

Token entertainment: Spoken-word performance concerning the aftermath of homicide and culture of street violence

Music: Early on, piped-in smooth jazz and gospel; a few hours in, piped-in oldies but goodies (James Brown, Marvin Gaye)

Defining moment: Ellington developer Chris Donatelli paying his $5 party donation by check

Party favor: Depression

Jews United for Justice

Venue: Columbia Heights group house

Style inspiration: Columbia Heights group house

Food lowlight: Salted peanuts

Token entertainment: Complimentary Jewish speed dating

Music: A disgruntled klezmer duo; later, Toto’s “Africa”

Defining moment: The guy hitting on his friend’s sister

Party favor: Hangover

Downtown Business Improvement District

Venue: Pearl Restaurant and Lounge

Style inspiration: Eurotrash bar, as designed by the E! network

Food lowlight: Orange goop on top of baked brie

Token entertainment: Paid safety-and-maintenance (SAM) workers dressed up in giant furry outfits resembling a snowman, toy soldier, Christmas tree, and gingerbread woman

Music: Eurotrash disco!

Defining moment: When noncostumed SAM workers explained that they were being paid to guard their furry brethren from any would-be attackers—and to make sure they didn’t topple over

Party favor: Sticks from the steak-on-a-stick