The Presidential Primary Pizza Party

By Amy Menlove Parker, MWEG Member

February 27, 2020

A liberal, a centrist, and a conservative walk into a park. That’s how our parties started. While our kids played, we discussed how woefully uninformed we were about Utah’s 2018 midterms, and within an hour, with MWEG’s Voter Prep Parties in mind, we dreamed up a political preparation party we could invite our neighbors to.

It was so much fun that two weeks ago, after discussing the Democratic candidates at another playdate, I messaged my friend and said, “Maybe we should have another political preparation party?” She replied, “Remove the maybe and the question mark.”

In a series of just a few texts we decided that:

1. Parties are always more fun with food and alliteration, so the name Presidential Primary Preparation Pizza Party was born. 

2. We have small children who do not always contribute to an environment conducive to adult conversation, so providing babysitting was a must. Luckily, I have a 12-year-old daughter who loves babysitting. 

3. We didn’t want to be stuck with a big pizza bill if nobody showed up, so we encouraged our guests to “confirm their registration” by sending $3–5 (depending on childcare) to our Venmo accounts.

We made a flyer with our information and began posting it on our neighborhood and personal Facebook pages. We weren’t worried about having too many people show up, though within just a few days we had such a great response we wondered if we should hire a second babysitter! Our flyer was shared by friends and friends of friends, and it was so encouraging to see the excitement and a little weird to receive Venmo payments from people I didn’t know. I’m glad they trusted me! 

On the day of the party, guests dropped their kids off at childcare to eat Little Caesar’s pizza and then walked over to the adult discussion next door to eat much better pizza. Ultimately, there were 22 adults at our party, including a young man who will turn 18 and be eligible to vote for the first time in the general election.

The discussion was only organized loosely. We had a handout that we tried to follow. It had the viable Democratic presidential candidates listed across the top. Down the side we listed important issues, including electability, background, healthcare, foreign policy, education, economy, civil rights, gun control, climate change, and income inequality.

As we went through the candidates, everyone offered information and opinions and, due largely to the quality of our guests, the conversation was very intelligent and civil. We laughed and learned together. Halfway through the meeting we realized we should pause to introduce ourselves and shortly explain why we wanted to be there. At the end, one thing that the group largely requested, that we didn’t expect, was to take an unofficial poll that everyone thought was really fun, if not indicative of the greater Utah vote.

It’s always fun to be able to have intentional conversations with other adults, but it was extra refreshing to share ideas and grow together. As one guest said, “I don’t know if I learned anything I didn’t know before, but I truly didn’t know there was anybody else in the county who even cared about the Democratic primary!” Ultimately, we left feeling more confident about our votes, but mostly more connected with our community. 

Plans are now set for our next pizza party before Utah’s gubernatorial primary in June. And our guest list is already almost full.