Tidbits Thursday

Thanks to all those who sent warm wishes following my post on the jewellery party. I did have a couple of questions asked via email so here is a quick follow up:

How many people attend the party and of those how many bought? About 20 guests attended the party and of those 18 made purchases.

What was your price range on items? Prices ranged from $5- $40 with the majority of guests spending about $15, although there were afew who had their Christmas lists in hand and were definately ready to do some major shopping.

Hope that helps those of you planning on doing your own jewelry parties. I have done parties with only a couple of guests as well that also led to more sales down the line and have helped get my name out there so any party is a good party!

I also wanted to mention that I am having a SUPER SALE in my Etsy, Artfire AND Zibbet shops from now through September 30th. Everything $5 and under! Happy shopping!

Jewellery Home Party Fun!

I want to thank everyone who came out to the jewellery home party last night and to my great friend Darlene for being such a wonderful hostess. The continued support of the girls I work with at the restaurant (as well as those who used to work with us but have moved on to bigger and better things) never ceases to amaze me and warm my heart! For everyone else here's a quick recap of the evening:

* I arrived early to set things up before the guests arrived. When the party/craft show season is in full swing it usually only takes me about an hour, but since I hadn't had a show since the spring I needed a bit of extra time. If you are having your own party and can't go more than an hour early to set up try practicing your display on your own table to give you an idea of how/where you would like things to go. This tactic also works well for craft shows.

*Door Prizes- I had several door prizes to choose from and we did draws every half hour. On the door prize ballots there was also a place for the guests email address and a box for them to check if they wanted to sign up for my newsletter.

*Munchies- Not everyone agrees that you need to have a bunch of munchies to have a successful party but Darlene put out quite the spread and people stayed a LONG time. Some of them even shopped a second time after they had refueled! It also gave the guests and myself a chance to chat about the business if they wanted while they enjoyed their tasty treats!

*Relaxed atmosphere- The party was open house style so people could arrive and depart as they wished. I find that this system works best, especially for those that can't make it right from the start and feel that if they arrive part way through they will be "interrupting" so then they don't come at all.           

*Inventory- This is another point on which opinions may differ but I find that people enjoy being able to purchase and take home their new goodies that night. I offered a variety of price points so that even those on a limited budget had something to choose from.

BONUS**** Of course every great party has its own surprise. Last night we had put balloons out on the railing so that guests could easily figure out where they were going. A group of college guys (who had perhaps had afew beverages) came to the door asking who's birthday it was because they were there to sing. Of course it wasn't a birthday party but we couldn't resist so one of the girls went to the door and they sang to her! It was definately a good giggle for us!

For those of you who have been thinking about doing a home party with your own handmade goodies I hope that this answered some of your questions about how to go about it. If you would like to host your own Kawartha Beads home party just send me an email at kawarthabeads@gmail.com and I would be happy to set something up with you!

Getting Ready for a Home Party!

Hope everyone is enjoying having the little ones back to school! I have slacked a little on the blog posts lately as I have been super busy getting ready for a home party on Sept.20th. With a little under 2 weeks to go until the big event I thought I would share how I have been getting ready for the event in case you wanted to have someone host a party or have an open house in your own home.

1) Inventory: Of course I never feel like I have enough stock ready. The bonus to a home party/open house is that there is no other competition. People are there to check out your wonderful array of goodies and hopefully go home with their bags loaded with lots of your treasures. I am super lucky that I also have an incredibly talented mom so I am going to bring some of her things along to help fill up the space. If you don't feel that you have enough product or if you are looking to expand your market invite a crafty friend to do the home party/open house with you, especially if they make a different product than your own. This would be an especially great option for an open house and then they can invite their friends/family/customers as well.

2) Choosing a date: Sometimes choosing a date is the hardest part! For this particular event we didn't want it to be too close to back to school or Thanksgiving so we chose a date in between. Given that both myself and the hostess are in the restaurant business we also wanted to choose a day when the least amount of fellow employees would be working (thus a Monday). Of course your perfect day will depend on your customers and your own availability but it is something to think about when planning your party.

3) The Invites: This may vary depending on how close you and the party hostess are. In this case my hostess is a good friend and a complete computer "dummy" if you will so I sent out Facebook invites to all of our mutual friends on her behalf. I will send a reminder a couple of days before the party as well. If your hostess has her own Facebook account encourage her to send out an electronic invite and she can even link to your website as a "preview" of some of your items. You could also send out old fashioned paper invites which is a nice touch. Be sure to note accepted forms of payment for the event. I also made a couple of posters to post on the staff bulletin boards at the restaurant we work at, especially for those that will be coming from work and want a reminder of her address. Invite as many people as possible. There are always those who say they are coming and then can't make it for one reason or another.

If you haven't tried a home party or open house I highly recommend it, especially if you have never sold your work in person. It's great to see people's reactions to your items and which products are of greatest interest to them...oh and some extra $$$ is always a bonus! Check back on September 21st to find out how the party went!

Selling your handmade goods~ Home Parties!

Last week we explored Hosting an Open House of your Handmade Goodies. If you missed it be sure to check out that post here. Another avenue for growing and selling your handmade creations is through home parties.

I just love doing home parties. They are a great opportunity to showcase your wares while chatting with some great people in a relaxed environment. Best of all there is little to no cost! I thought I would share with you today a little of what one of our home parties look like:

Try to get there at least an hour before the guests are scheduled to arrive. The thing with home parties is that your setup is always different and of course there are always those that arrive early so you want to be ready.

I always offer something small for a door prize and have little ballots for people to fill out. The ballots also have a place for their email address and a box to check if they want to join our mailing list (most people do). Once the majority of guests have arrived I often play an icebreaker type game such as celebrity trivia, however this is entirely optional depending on your hostess/crowd. You can find all kinds of quiz/trivia games just by searching the internet. It gets people fired up and in the spirit!

I usually give a little "intro" speech-who I am, how long I've been creating, I talk about hosting a home party (and the incentives) and any specials being offered that night. Then I have the hostess draw for the door prize and let people start shopping!

I make sure to have lots of postcards/business cards on hand about our website and little flyers about hosting a home party that I put in with each guests purchases. Hostess incentives can vary depending on your product pricepoints but ours consists of a set $ amount for hosting the party to be used towards merchandise, a % of the sales for the hostess to use towards merchandise and a set $ amount for every person who books a home party for her to use towards merchandise. And that's about it!

If you are in the handmade business and have never tried having a home party in your own or a friend's home I highly recommend it. What are your experiences with home parties? Do you do anything differently? I'd love to hear your thoughts!