Anyone looking for a free, fun, alternative Friday night had the chance to partake in anything from laser tag to chapstick-making to a Burlesque dance lesson at The BIG Event.

The free late-night event, held on Driscoll Lawn and inside Driscoll, went from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and was hosted by DU’s Programming Board along with many other sponsors including PIORadio, Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Kappa Psi, International Student Organization, Skintight Outrage, DU Film Society, HYPE, RAGE, Chinese Student Association, Muslim Student Association, Pioneer Breakers, DU Dance Team, DU Tango Club, GlobeMed, Greek Council, Student Activities, The Health and Counseling Center and Driscoll Student Center.

According to Assistant Director of Student Activities, Jill Duffy, there were between 1,500 and 2,000 people that came to the event throughout the night.

“I would say laser tag was incredibly popular, as was the Paint Your Own Canvas class hosted by Canvas and Cocktails,” said Duffy. “We had to turn away 20-25 people for that class. Overall, it seemed like all activities were well liked by the crowd.”

Junior Sophie Amster, a hotel, restaurant and tourism management major from Seattle, Wash., thought the event was a big success and had a wide variety of students.

“I think it’s great that they are doing events like this to bring the larger DU community together to have some fun, especially because there is no cost involved so everyone can come,” said Amster.

The night began with DUPB’s showing of “The Hobbit” in Davis auditorium at 8 p.m. By the time the movie was over, the Big Event was already in full swing.

A popular part of the night seemed to be the free food from four Denver food trucks. In order to get a $5 voucher to one of the food trucks, students had to fill out a brief survey and hand it in to get a ticket where students could use it towards a meal or drink. The BIG Event gave out 100 food vouchers per hour.

The food trucks, which were open until midnight, included Basic Kneads Pizza food truck with pepperoni, buffalo chicken and margherita pizzas. Manna from Heaven Vietnamese food truck offered chicken-and-onion as well as vegetarian dumplings or their traditional Vietnamese banh-mi, or baguette-like bread sandwiches. Saj Mediterranean Grill food truck had falafel sandwiches and pita sandwiches and the Pink Tank food truck had chicken and waffles and strawberry lemonade.

Tables were set up outside of Sturm College of Law so that students could sit down and enjoy their meals before heading inside to participate in one of the dozen activities.

Driscoll Lawn was a transition from the food area with laser tag, music and check-in.

Driscoll Underground was a more relaxed atmosphere with “The Chill Lounge,” including massage chairs, face painting and henna tattoos. Earlier in the night, Sidelines Pub hosted karaoke and later, PIORadio had a DJ and brought the funk with a ‘70s themed dance party.

Behind Jazzman’s in the Driscoll Ballroom was one of the most exotic sections of The BIG Event with a Burlesque dancer and three comedians hosted by Skintight Outrage. The Burlesque dancer gave lessons to about 20 onlookers and taught them moves such as the “furry cat forward” and “the big grind.”

After the comedic performances, the Driscoll Ballroom was transformed into a miniature casino, with games of blackjack and roulette dealt by brothers of the co-ed business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi. Players were given 500 chips for free starting at midnight, and they could play until 2 a.m. when they could cash in their chips for raffle tickets. Prizes ranged from notebooks and DVDs to high quality headphones and even a TV.

Other activities included a music video room where students could sing karaoke in front of a green screen and receive a DVD of their performance that made it look like they were in an old-school music video. Students could also have their photo photoshopped into a movie poster and visit a table where they could get their name written in Arabic.

Sophomore Ciera Shell, an international business and Italian major from Longmont, is part of the Alpha Chi Omega co-ed service fraternity, which was one of the sponsors of the event.

“Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and catching up with old friends,” said Shell. “Maybe next year having more activities to do would be great and make it even better.”

According to Duffy, they are going to work on incorporating new events for next year.

“Future BIG Events will focus on having a variety of activities, such as the event this past Friday, but we might try new activities such as other inflatables, incorporating sports and recreation, and including student group performances from DU a cappella groups or student bands,” said Duffy.