Many of the people attending knew of my involvement in reporting the campaign and more than a few of them approached me with their views.
Interestingly, nearly every one of them believed I was "favouring" the party they least wanted in power - right across the political spectrum. A job well done.
The view of people was that it was time for a change, rather than voting for National because it had better policies.
National Party leader John Key was seen as a "fresh face", a sign perhaps, that his campaign slogans are starting to take hold.
There was a general understanding of the way MMP worked and most believed National would need coalition partners after the election. Some older partygoers hoped National would still get more than 50% of the vote - something that no party had achieved since 1951 - and not need any post-election deals.
Some strong Labour supporters still believed (or perhaps hoped) the polls would close and that Prime Minister Helen Clark would be able to form a government.
Those supporters had a general distrust of National that went back many generations.
However, there was a general consensus that the current Government had been too prescriptive controlling or restricting the way we lived our lives.
Even though Labour had backed away from its shower flow restrictions, those attending the party only remembered that Building and Construction Minister Shane Jones had mentioned it, not that he had retracted the statement.
The abandonment of the dole was surprisingly topical as it was something being advocated by Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia.
One persistent partygoer kept asking what Labour had promised Dunedin South MP David Benson-Pope to stop him from standing as an independent in the election campaign. That is not something anyone is likely to find out anytime soon.
There were regrets expressed that the leaders of the major political parties were looking only for photo opportunities rather than meeting the voters.
It seemed that Miss Clark and Mr Key were just picking and choosing where they could best be photographed. Whether that was in an Auckland shopping mall on a Saturday morning (Miss Clark), or shovelling compost at a school makeover (Mr Key), it seemed that the leaders were doing less rather than more. That seemed to represent to partygoers the desire to not make any mistakes, rather than risk winning a voter by being open and engaging.
The latest funding scandal surrounding both Labour and National and Auckland businessman Yang Liu was greeted with a yawn. Funding scandals seem to be par for the course for long-suffering voters.
When the diaries of the two leaders are considered, you can sense the frustration of voters. The parties have made their campaigns about the leaders, and that includes New Zealand First and leader Winston Peters.
Each day, the leaders seem to have no more than two engagements.
Yesterday, Miss Clark addressed a Labour Party rally in Wellington and Mr Key flew to Nelson for a family picnic day, returning to Wellington for a media conference in his caucus room.
Organisers of the local meet-the-candidates evenings can rightly shake their heads as candidates follow a carefully-scripted way of answering questions.
The anniversary party brought a touch of realism to the campaign. Long may that continue.
John Key took the initiative yesterday by promising to work in a bipartisan approach on the deposit guarantee scheme for bank deposits.
