It was Friday night, and I was pumped. I got ready, called my friends and we went out — to After Dark Craft-a-Palooza.

The free event ran from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., and I wanted to get there on time to see what these MUSG-sponsored events are all about. By 9, Marquette Place was already filled with about 45 students getting their craft on. A long table was loaded with every kind of craft project you could imagine decorating — race cars, bird houses, T-shirts, tote bags, piggy banks, picture frames, animal figurines and more. It looked like a Michael's store threw up on the table.

After Dark events like this one are similar to Late Night events. Both are generally held throughout the semester on weekend nights to give students something fun and entertaining to do. Gerald Harris, coordinator for campus programs, said After Dark and Late Night events work under the same umbrella and are pretty similar in concept and purpose. After Dark events are funded by MUSG through the Student Activity Fee paid by every student, and Late Night events are funded through the Office of Student Development's general budget.

Attendee Laura Ferrari, a senior in the College of Business Administration, said she comes to Late Nights because she enjoys crafting — and because she's friends with the people in charge.

A Tribune report quoted Late Night officials in March saying big events, like MAKE YOUR OWN NIGHT, which is similar to Craft-a-Palooza, draws up to 600 students. They track this by the number of craft supplies that are gone at the end of the night. Sounds reliable since I saw a table of girls who had about five crafts each.

Well, Friday I counted about 150 attendees, which is almost the same as 600, right? Based on Marquette's 2008-'09 undergraduate enrollment figures, this means about 2 percent of undergrads came. Impressive.

"Even if 20 people show up, that's still 20 people that had a good time," said Dawn Chanath, a senior in the College of Business Administration and After Dark commissioner. "It would be impossible to make the goal for everyone to come."

Fair enough, I mean, if you set your goals low, you'll always reach them. I guess it must also be impossible to have just 10 percent of students come. The last After Dark event, Live Band Karaoke at the Annex, featured singing, bowling and 284 attendees. That's a whopping 3.5 percent of undergrads!

So why don't people go? It could be because of the juvenile nature of some of the events. Other After Darks this year have featured magicians, laser tag and inflatables, which are perfect for all of Marquette's third grade students.

"Yes, it does seem like a juvenile event, but look at how many people come," Chanath said Friday. Ah, yes, 2 percent of students. But there did seem like a lot of people, and some did seem juvenile — one girl painted dots on her face and some guy made a pipe cleaner headdress.

But I think the biggest reason people don't attend these events is the publicity. Chanath said Craft-a-palooza was marketed in a Union banner, a Tribune advertisement and a Facebook event. Clearly all Marquette students knew about it.

So here's to After Dark and Late Night, and here's some free publicity. I like what you are trying to do, and I really do appreciate your hard work, but there's room for improvement. By 11:15 p.m., the crafts were picked over, the food was gone and people were trickling home. Craft-a-Palooza, this columnist and After Dark were all out of steam.