Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Mad Hatters Tea Party

For my 30th I had a Mad Hatter's tea party. First, I made a tunnel in my porch with brown wrapping paper and painted lots of butterflies. I cut some Ivy some outside and hung it around. The whole effect was pretty cool, sadly though, I never got chance to take photos before the wind destroyed it (typical English weather).

In fact it rained most of the day, but we didn't let that spoil the fun. We brought the picnic table inside and decorated the front room and kitchen. I got some large props, plates and cups from www.talkingtables.co.uk under the Alice in Wonderland section. These little extra touches really made it look like a scene from Alice in Wonderland. The extra large cards made it look like Wonderland. I got some fake grass from my old work that they were going to throw away.

Mad Hatters Tea Party

I got loads of china cups, plates and teapots from local charity shop. I only got ones that were cheap. £4 for 8 cups and sauces etc. The artificial flowers, keys and Ivy were off Amazon. In fact I chopped up the pink flowers and will use them for centerpieces for my wedding and the keys I used for save the dates and for the tables. 

Alice in  Wonderland

See the bottom of the page for all items used some of it was on offer when I got it so you may need to shop around for cheaper prices.

For food, I asked every to bring one dish. We had so many cakes that everyone took food home. It was great having such a big selection. I also made a selection of finger sandwiches including egg mayo, chicken, ham and salmon. My mum made a Alice in Wonderland themed cake complete with an upside down Alice and cards. I made some Blue Caterpillar cupcakes I saw on Pinterest and they looked great on the Talking Tables cupcake holders.

Blue Caterpillar cakes (idea off Pinterest)

I made a small sweetie counter and got the jars, scoops and sweets from pound land. There was also a pimp my drinks counter. I got bottles from pound land to put elderflower cordial in to keep with the theme. I also got some chalkboard labels off Amazon. There was a choice of different toppings including blueberries, strawberries, limes, and lemons.

Pimp your Drink Counter

I got a bunch of garden games, but I didn't mind paying extra for these. I will use them for my wedding and any other summer parties. We had giant jenga. On the blocks I wrote dares. These included putting 5 marshmallows in your mouth and singing 'let it go', and hopping on one leg. We also had croquet. I attached paintings of flamingos to make it look like the one used by the Red Queen.

Flamingo Croquet

Alice in Wonderland

Mad Hatters Tea Table

Giant Jenga

Alice in Wonderland Cake

Alice in Wonderland Party

Links -

Talking Tables plates-

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00YORJFLA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bunting (I Paid £2) -

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0052RTPKM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ivy - 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HE5F2AC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Quoits game -https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0046Z6ZDG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Keys -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ICDIRR0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pink flowers (the price of these changes weekly. I got them for £1.98) -https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00WHQ2KPI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Book - 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0907486215/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Croquet-https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K22B0TQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Harry Potter Classroom Theme

Harry Potter Camp

I did a Harry Potter camp a few years ago when I was working in South Korea. It was quite difficult as I could get some of the materials suggested on Harry Potter websites, or they were too expensive. Our school only got a small budget for materials so we needed to use paper and other materials found around the school.

Flourish and Blotts

Magical Menagerie

Honeydukes

Honeydukes

This is the link to the original post.

http://wherewillmyfeetpart2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/harry-potter-camp-regular.html

In this post I will go more into how I made the decorations rather than the activities themselves.

First, I printed out signs saying Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley. I then tea stained the paper and after they dried, I glued them to black paper. 

I made a mini Diagon Alley for the classroom. For the potion shop, I just filled old jars with bubble bath and put brown paper over the lid. I then tied a ribbon around the top. For the sign, I printed out pictures of slug killer off a Harry Potter internet site and printed pictures of slugs. I then glued them on to a sign and tea stained the poster. 

For the Flourish and Blotts shop, I used this website:-

 http://www.littlehouseonthecorner.com/halloween-book-covers/

I printed the book covers off the above website, and tea stained the paper. For the sign I printed it off Google images and attached to an old calender.

For Honeydukes, I used coloured paper to cover the tables. I them printed out labels using clip art. I used jars for the chocolate wands. I used this website for labels http://www.borealisblog.com/harry-potter-party/ and this website for the Bertie Botts every flavour beans  http://www.pilgrim1987.narod.ru/bertiebotts.htm. I also used this website for other labels http://www.fantasyjr.com/printable-halloween-labels/

I had other shops but I didn't get photos of them. Hopefully in the future I can do another Harry Potter themed party and do a new post about it.

Anne Boleyn Hat - French Hood

You need 1/2 a meter of fabric of you choosing and 1/2 a meter of another type/colour of fabric. I also got 1/2 a meter of white linen (or a cheaper similar material) and a meter of buckram. I also got some wire from Wilkinsons for a 70p. You will need lace, ribbon or other items to decorate. I used gold ribbon, black lace and a broken old pearl necklace. You need need extra ribbon to tie the ends together.Your thread should be in a similar colour to your main fabric. I got some maroon, gold and black thread to match the colours on my hat.

1. Each hat will be a different size for every wearer. I found out my size by cutting out the shape on some paper and then seeing how it looked on my head. I cut it down until I found the perfect size.

2.2. I then pinned the paper on to some buckram and cut around it.

3. Cut on the shape in buckram

Number 3

4. I then attached a wire in the inner layer of the material. This was messy for me as I don't have a sewing machine so it was all done quickly by hand.

Number 4

5. I then added some of the extra material to the sides in order to protect the ears of the wearer. This will make it hard to hear but it is much more comfortable than without.

6. Bend into the shape of your head.

Number 5 and 6

7. Sew on a piece of ribbon to each side of the hat underneath. They should be quite long as you will use them to tie your hat on to your head.

8. Sew the inner and outer layer on.  Sew near the edge as this is where the decorations will cover.

Number 8

9. Add decorations to the outer part of your hat. Pearls always look elegant.

Number 9

9. Fold up the white linen and sew it underneath your hat.

10. Use the second part of your fabric to make a veil. Sew it underneath your hat. Finished!

Anne Boleyn

Corporate Competition Party or Event

Over the years, I have been to a few corporate events. I won tickets for the public via social media. The reason retail businesses do this is to expand their audiences. On the companies Facebook or Twitter, you are required to follow and share the competition post. This helps them market the company or product at a faction of the cost they would have had to pay for an advert or marketing scheme.

I also have been to a few events with my work. These events where for suppliers and other businesses within the same industry. But in this post I will talk about the ones I went to by winning tickets.

Competition platforms

The first event I went to was one I won via Very.com. You had to make a Pinterest board using their products. This meant their products were being shared from their webpage at no cost to themselves. Their website would have got a lot of traffic too. I would recommend Pinterest if you are using your event to share your products.

You can also use Twitter to follow/ re-tweet, Facebook to like/ follow and Share.

Very then used the items used on our boards to design the party decorations which the press would photograph.

Be careful of bad PR companies

Very.com organised this event via an external PR company. I also went to the BAFTAS (won via Hello but I think the company was hired by EE) and this was organised by the same PR company. Both events were organised by young twenty year olds that were more worried about having a good time themselves rather than the clients.

I don't know if this PR company has connections to get these contracts with these companies, but if you are hiring externally do research on that company! Or you could keep main staff members from your company involved in the process to keep an eye on proceedings.

Otherwise, as with these events, all winners were complaining. They will then go to friends and family and give bad press about an event you have spend thousands on. Media can help a company but there is also the negative side to it. The people attending your events can write negatives things on media platforms and the whole event can have a negative impact on your company.

Example of a good competition event

If organised very well these events can bring in a lot of good publicity and new customers. I went to an event for Pandora with Stylist.co.uk. It was well organised and everyone felt relaxed. There were waiters who made sure you always had a drink or something to nibble. They had hair dressers/ nail stylist ready to do pamper everyone. I believe the services of these companies would be provided free or at a low cost, as these companies were advertised at the event and goody bag at the end.

There was a lady showing the products and selling them. These were not pushed and you only went to her if you wanted to. At the end of the event we were given a gift bag. This contained vouchers for all the companies that were there that night. It also contained a Pandora gift card. As the event was hosted above the Pandora show at Oxford Street, nearly everyone ended up using their gift card and spending extra. My friend who I took to the event had never bought the product before and now has started buying.  This shows a good event can bring in new clients.

Marketing Ideas for Corporate Anniversaries

Anniversary Logos

Update all employees email signatures with an anniversary logo stating which anniversary you are celebrating or which year the company was founded. This lets prospective clients know your company is secure and they can trust you with their money/ business. Most companies fail with their first few years so be proud your business has made it so far!

You could also change your profile picture on media such as Facebook/ Twitter and Instagram to one that celebrates your anniversary.

Timeline

Created a timeline for your website and show clients the key stages of your company getting so far. This could be opening of the business, first office/ showroom, opening a second store/ office, the amount of people in the team expanding, first major contract.

You could use this timeline in your shop/ office/ showroom if you have the space. If it is an office then perhaps the reception area where clients wait.

Magazines/ Publications

Make a copy of the above timeline for magazines/ newsletters. You could get in contact with publications to see if they can feature you in an anniversary special. If you are having a party/ big event then invite newspaper/ magazine editors. This can gain you free publicity and build relationships for the future.

This doesn’t have to be big publications. You could ask your local newspaper if they want to do a feature. It could be your main client area is local business, then this would be the group you want to target.

Discount promotions

25% off for your 25th anniversary for store card members if you are in retail. Perhaps an exclusive sale for key clients. You could also provide reward cards for new clients, this would allow you to obtain their details to send marketing emails to in the future.

Personal thank you cards

To key clients, a personal thank you from the owner for helping the business grow. Remember without these clients trusting your business at the very beginning, you wouldn’t have any business at all.

Charity

You and your employees could do a fun run and get donations for a local charity. This would create good feeling in the local neighbour hood. It would also help create a positive team environment as all staff would be training together.

Wedding Shows

Over the last month I’ve been to two wedding shows, the luxury wedding show & the National wedding show. I enjoyed both, but perhaps the luxury wedding show that little bit more as it was more intimate.

These places are great to view different companies in a small space of time. I won’t be able to use any of the suppliers because I went to shows in London, and I will be having the wedding in my home town. We will look for suppliers closer to home to save money. Though, both places gave me loads of ideas for my 30th birthday tea party and the wedding!!

My favourite supplier at the fayres was a company called Little Fancies. They make the most stunning biscuits and they are a reasonable price. They are great ideas for wedding favours. I am thinking of getting some for my tea party as she can send them to anywhere in the UK.

The website is here: - http://www.little-fancies.co.uk/

You also can try different cake flavours that you didn’t know existed! Fruit cake? Not any more! For my wedding I will probably get a basic sponge in white icing to save on cost though.

At the luxury wedding fayre there was a photo booth. I think this is a great idea for wedding and it is one of those things people talk about for ages after the event. If you can’t afford a photo booth you could go DIY with it. Make a back drop and get lots of props for people to use!

A lot of the companies give discounts when you sign up with them at these fayres. If a particular company that you are interested in is going to be at a fayre, it might be worth going!