Last night my crew and I attended Uptown Charlotte magazine’s event, "Passport to Luxury," held at SouthPark Mall.

The idea was to get Qcity shoppers inside stores such as Neiman Marcus, Michael Kors, Cole Haan, Billy Reid, St. John, Nordstrom and Kenneth Cole.

It worked.

Each guest (it was by invite only) received a “passport” listing the 10 participating stores. The mission was to visit each store to get at least 6 stamps. After receiving our stamps, we were to go back to the luxury wing of the mall by 8:30 p.m. to enter our passports in a drawing for luxury prizes.

First, let me say, we had a ball.

Each store had drinks and/or food waiting as we shopped their goodies.
Our favorite stop was St. Johns, which had beef tips, crab cakes, chocolate-dipped magic squares, a vegetable tray and champagne flutes filled with Nuvo.

The sales associates at Michael Kors were pleasant as they served us Carmeltini's and sparkling water. Also notable was Billy Reid's version of a hot apple cider made with Bullet Bourbon.

Yes, the event was all about shopping, but I'll admit we got side tracked by all the food and drinks -- until we got to Neiman Marcus. There were no drinks or food there, but we did shop and were lured into donating money to a charity in exchange for a gift card.

We gladly gave $25 for a $50 gift card. However, the store gave us only until today to redeem it. Silly us, rushing to find something before the store closed at 8 p.m.

In the end, we each spent more money than we had anticipated, but it was for a good cause and the donation was tax deductible.

The main greeting area was filled with Qcity's fashionable folks as the band “5th and York” set the tone for guests to mingle and sip complimentary glasses of Crown Royal. Newly elected Mayor Anthony Foxx stopped by to assist with the drawing, which included prizes from participating retailers.

Overall, this well-organized event was a clever way to get people to visit stores they might never have considered. I'm a fan, and I hope they will consider making this an annual event.