I got my first Party booking...

[gemmaslittletreasures]

... yay!! I got a party booking. I've been searching websites to find information about how to do the parties and what to send out in advance of the party (invites and about how it works) and I think I have it all ready, but can anyone that has done some parties please give me a bit of advice on how to get through the first one? It isn't going to be a 'making' party, will be a display of my jewellery and gifts and custom making if people want. I used to do ann summers parties so this should be a doddle compared to that lol.

Thx in advance

[Silverthistle]

* Congratulations * on your booking may it be the first of many ! :-)

Hopefully from this one you may get a few more bookings

Good Luck - Let us know how it went

[cuttingcreations]

congrats and well done.

[tipsylipsy]

Sorry no advice for you I have never done one but I just wanted to add my congratulations too

[debbiesw]

How about including a raffle for one of your items, you can sell tickets at a pound each and have a few things with you at different price ranges that you could use as a raffle price dependant on how many tickets you sell ( dont want you to lose money on an item).

Booking gifts for future hosts, doesnt have to be a piece of jewellery, could be a bottle of wine and some Bath and body bits that you could wrap up nicely with cello in a basket or something ( easily picked up), but explain that the gift is brought on the night of their party, this means that you dont get people that book, take the gift and then cancel the party a couple of weeks before they are due to have it ( sorting the wheat from the chaff , so to speak)

Another way to raise your party takings is to make a numbered sheet of squares, say 1 - 50, give this to your host a few weeks before their party and they would sell the squares for a pound each - she would put the persons name in the square, on the night she might have sold 40 squares which is 40 pounds. She can sell them to anybody , not just attendees on the night. You would cut up the squares, pop into a bowl or something and then draw 1 square out, the winning square would then win 40 pounds to spend on jewellery on whatever they want, (not the actual money. Great way for extra sales and if the person is not there on the night, they could give you an order whenever its convenient to you. -- Hope I've explained that properly and it makes sense.

[gemmaslittletreasures]

Thank you everyone for your kind comments

Debbie - Thank you for the party idea. Have just added to my list a how to play 'Lucky Squares'.

Gemma xx

[freshfruitsalad]

Well done
I done two the other week- first ones, had friends and family round to my house, did it in two stints so it wasn't that crowded and busy.

It was a very good idea to be able to practice on them first, the first party not many knew each other and it was a bit of a flop social wise, we played a little game where people write a paragraph to a eventual story but they don't know what the last person wrote, so none of it makes sense, it was supposed to be funny but it wasn't... so don't play that game. I was also not very confident about speaking and although I had prepared, I tried to do an intro speech without reading it off paper, mistake again.
I sold lots of stuff, so I was happy
The next day was MUCH better, everyone knew each other, they had a good laugh, we played pass the parcel- end prize was a little box with £5 voucher in, went down very well. would definitely recommend that game to start up teh party. I was more confident, sold more stuff- even though we had one less there. And it was just better.
So my advice would be, hold a party for friends and family first, practise, and get organised

[gemmaslittletreasures]

Thanks for that - pass the parcel added to the list xx

[Pirate Treasures]

Congratulations Gemma! I've done a grand total of 2 jewellery parties now! I'd put it off for a couple of years because I'm shy but after so many people telling me I should and having done more stalls I gave it a go. I was nervous at the first one, I didn't know the ladies there but they were all really nice. The second one was for a friend of the first lady, so had some of the same guests which was quite nice as they obviously enjoyed the first one!
What I did at both was just set up a display as I would on a stall and let them browse while they were chatting to each other and drinking wine (I took a bottle with me too to give to the host). I brought my boxes of Pandora style beads and blank bracelets and bangles and some of them enjoyed putting together their own bracelets which I helped with.
I give the hostess 10% commission to spend on jewellery for herself. It wasn't as complicated to stand there with a calculator as I thought! I jotted down what people bought as they bought it, so I had a record of what sold and the price which just needed totalling at the end. I got there at 7.30 to set up, the guests arrived at 8.00 and I asked if they could finish buying by 10.00 so I could add up, pack up and be gone by 10.30. It all went very smoothly and I wish I'd done it at least a year ago!

Good luck with yours, I hope it goes successfully!
Jane

[Curious Cat]

Some great tips there Good luck with the party

cj