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Spring Fling!
May. 30th, 2015 11:48 pmWhat a nice event.
We had a turn out of around 25 people, counting the committee members helping out.
We had three vendor's tables, three "Photo Op" tables with backdrops and props, two tables for doll and prop staging (and storage), food, raffles, and a dollar table.
One vendor is a doll collector who is becoming a merchant. She makes clothing, polymer clay doll masks, jewelry, and yarn-craft items. She's also from Ireland, and so it's a treat to listen to her. (She also has interesting things to say, which helps too.) I even bought a thing from her, because I haven't treated myself to anything in a long time, and she made me a deal. She is coming to the convention and was delighted with some of the changes we're making this year.
The other vendor is a customer of mine at my regular job. She's a charming lady, and she and her husband do Mr. and Mrs. Claus appearances during the Holiday season. I approached her about maybe making doll carriers, and she came up with the coolest ideas I've ever heard. She is now designing and creating custom carry totes for the dolls, where the dolls can sit comfortably in an environment that looks like a rec room, held securely and surrounded by discreet pockets where doll accessories can be stored safely. She brought her first prototype in, along with a display describing what she's making and options available.
The crowd LOVED her. She will be back for the convention in the fall.
I brought in laces and trims from a friend of mine who is interested in selling them. However, she had to work at her ren faire booth today, and I was not able to be an active salesperson on her behalf, so very little of her product sold.
The pot luck snack table was filled with delicious things, from deviled eggs and veggies to cotton candy, taffy, and chocolate. There were also dips and a fantastic potato salad. I had some generic sodas left over from our meet up a few months ago, so we put those out, too.
We had a special guest appearance by Peter Pan himself, plus Mary Poppins swooped in to collect the Lost Boys (and Girls) telling them, "Spit spot, it's time to return home."
Mrs. Claus was particularly delighted by this, as she had confessed to me that her favorite characters in fiction are Peter Pan and Mary Poppins. As I knew the Glinda and The Doctor both had made those very costumes, (and if memory serves, won awards for them,) I was eager to make sure that they showed off for her.
We had such lovely people visit. A group from Peoria came by to find out what we were like. Some old friends rejoined us, and in one case brought her tiny toddler daughter who was charming and delightful. That kid was perfectly content to eat pretzels, veggies, and cookies, and wander up to each of us looking for smiles and playmates.
The photo areas were awesome. One of our committee members has a stunning collection of backdrop posters that she ordered online. All of us contributed to the props. I added a fleece throw with a scene from Peter Pan: The children, Peter, and Tink all flying over London. I had a second one, which I put in the raffle.
I brought more dolls than I ought to have, and I don't care. We got some lovely photos. The guests got the hang of the Photo Areas after a while, posing their dolls and then setting them aside again. Some of them brought gorgeous cameras with lenses and whatnot, whereas some of us just whipped out our cell phones and took amusing shots. At one point, someone posed their doll glomping onto a stuffed octopus, and it was ADORABLE.
We often "over-do" the raffle, but this time it was a little bit shorter and tighter.
There were enthusiastic responses to our announcement of Game NIght at the end of June, and very positive responses to my inquiries about doing a tea in the fall.
I'll be honest, I was suffering from some ennui about all of this, but I feel really pumped up and excited about the convention again.
Apparently, I needed that.
:D
We had a turn out of around 25 people, counting the committee members helping out.
We had three vendor's tables, three "Photo Op" tables with backdrops and props, two tables for doll and prop staging (and storage), food, raffles, and a dollar table.
One vendor is a doll collector who is becoming a merchant. She makes clothing, polymer clay doll masks, jewelry, and yarn-craft items. She's also from Ireland, and so it's a treat to listen to her. (She also has interesting things to say, which helps too.) I even bought a thing from her, because I haven't treated myself to anything in a long time, and she made me a deal. She is coming to the convention and was delighted with some of the changes we're making this year.
The other vendor is a customer of mine at my regular job. She's a charming lady, and she and her husband do Mr. and Mrs. Claus appearances during the Holiday season. I approached her about maybe making doll carriers, and she came up with the coolest ideas I've ever heard. She is now designing and creating custom carry totes for the dolls, where the dolls can sit comfortably in an environment that looks like a rec room, held securely and surrounded by discreet pockets where doll accessories can be stored safely. She brought her first prototype in, along with a display describing what she's making and options available.
The crowd LOVED her. She will be back for the convention in the fall.
I brought in laces and trims from a friend of mine who is interested in selling them. However, she had to work at her ren faire booth today, and I was not able to be an active salesperson on her behalf, so very little of her product sold.
The pot luck snack table was filled with delicious things, from deviled eggs and veggies to cotton candy, taffy, and chocolate. There were also dips and a fantastic potato salad. I had some generic sodas left over from our meet up a few months ago, so we put those out, too.
We had a special guest appearance by Peter Pan himself, plus Mary Poppins swooped in to collect the Lost Boys (and Girls) telling them, "Spit spot, it's time to return home."
Mrs. Claus was particularly delighted by this, as she had confessed to me that her favorite characters in fiction are Peter Pan and Mary Poppins. As I knew the Glinda and The Doctor both had made those very costumes, (and if memory serves, won awards for them,) I was eager to make sure that they showed off for her.
We had such lovely people visit. A group from Peoria came by to find out what we were like. Some old friends rejoined us, and in one case brought her tiny toddler daughter who was charming and delightful. That kid was perfectly content to eat pretzels, veggies, and cookies, and wander up to each of us looking for smiles and playmates.
The photo areas were awesome. One of our committee members has a stunning collection of backdrop posters that she ordered online. All of us contributed to the props. I added a fleece throw with a scene from Peter Pan: The children, Peter, and Tink all flying over London. I had a second one, which I put in the raffle.
I brought more dolls than I ought to have, and I don't care. We got some lovely photos. The guests got the hang of the Photo Areas after a while, posing their dolls and then setting them aside again. Some of them brought gorgeous cameras with lenses and whatnot, whereas some of us just whipped out our cell phones and took amusing shots. At one point, someone posed their doll glomping onto a stuffed octopus, and it was ADORABLE.
We often "over-do" the raffle, but this time it was a little bit shorter and tighter.
There were enthusiastic responses to our announcement of Game NIght at the end of June, and very positive responses to my inquiries about doing a tea in the fall.
I'll be honest, I was suffering from some ennui about all of this, but I feel really pumped up and excited about the convention again.
Apparently, I needed that.
:D
