For Northeastern University’s Alumni Association, the primary mission is to keep alumni, students and faculty, and the local community engaged. One of the ways it does this is through 1st Thursday, a social event held the first Thursday of every month.

“The goal of 1st Thursday is to provide a time to gather,” says Sarah Curran, senior associate director of communications for Northeastern’s office of alumni relations. “Each week has a different theme. It’s a spirited night of fun.”

To kick off this year’s series, the theme was “End of Summer Luau.” To pack the house, the office of alumni wanted to do something different. Curran had seen Red Paper Plane’s Pop-Up Cubes at the HOW Design Conference and was excited to find an opportunity to use them.

Each of the sides of the 4.25” Pop-Up Cube advertised a different 1st Thursday event. Curran added exciting graphics, dates, and information. On the bottom was contact information for the alumni office.

The boxes were displayed in the event and restaurant space where 1st Thursday events are held. Boxes were also placed at other events, such as career days and alumni activities. “With students, you have to be flashy to get their attention,” says Curran. “So the boxes worked out really nice.”

The first event was held September 3. Curran was thrilled with the turnout. “We had nearly 200 attendees,” she says. “For the space and a Thursday evening, that was really exciting. Sixty-three attendees were alumni and 40 were students, which we were really happy about. It was one of the best 1st Thursday events we’d had in awhile.”

Not only was Curran happy with the quality of Red Paper Plane’s Pop-Up cubes, but she was impressed with the company’s ability to turn the cubes around so quickly. “I sent files late Monday, and we needed them for Thursday,” she says. “I knew it was last minute, but we figured we’d at least try. Everything went speedily and we got them just in time!”