This file was created for scrapbook consultants but can the ideas can be used in many home-based business. The more elaborate games could be used at Croptoberfest or National Scrapbook Day. See also Workshops and the Consultant Section.
This is written for Tupperware but can easily be adapted to CM.
Use play money. Everyone gets $1 for coming, $1 if they arrive on time, and $1 for bringing a friend (or paid order from a friend). The hostess gets $5.
I explain that if they catch me saying 'Tupperware' the first one to notice gets $1.
I also give $1 to anyone that can give me a tip or testimonial about a product I demo.
I offer $2 or anyone that takes a post-it from my Dates board or a smile face from the board agreeing to a job interview. I give $1 to everyone who asks a question and $10 to the first person that asks a question about my job that I don't have an answer for.
At the end of the demo, after they do their orders, I auction off two products, letting the guests decide how much the first bid will be.
Use a nine square board and put different things in each ("try the personal trimmer", "use a die-cut", "journal a page"). When they have three in a row, they get to choose a sticker or die-cut; everyone can win up to twice. Whenever anyone marks out a square on the board, their name goes into a drawing at the end.
Place a timer where nobody can see it. Set it for random time periods. When the bell goes off, the last person to have finished a page gets a small prize. Passing a hat that ties in with the workshop theme helps keep track of who was the last person to finish a page.
Variation: When a customer finishes a page, they get a funny hat to wear until the next person finishes a page. Set a timer and when it goes off the person with the hat gets a prize. You could use a stuffed animal and set it at their place when they finish a page.
Have on hand several items. Have a list of things they have to do to earn patches, similar to the bingo list. Tailor it to your theme (for instance, if you are doing camp Wannacropalot and make patches, they earn a swimming patch for using a wavy border ruler, an archery patch for using the circle cutter, etc. I used clip art to make patches . . . made color copies and then put them on construction paper circles . . . very time consuming. You could cut colored circles and write "archery" or "swimming" when they earn one. They can only earn a patch once. Have them tape it to their shirt with tape runner or splits. I gave a prize to the one with the most patches when we took a dinner break. At the end of the night, they trade in patches for prizes . . . 3 for a die-cut . . . 6 for a die-cut and sticker strip . . . 9 for that plus paper . . . etc. You can control what stickers, die-cut, etc. they choose by having them draw from a bag for each item . . . this helps you keep the theme or give away stuff you have extra of. This could work for ornaments or hearts or whatever. For hearts, I would tie it to something like using the pink or red pens, using heart templates, using a heart die-cut, using the Victorian border ruler, using rose stickers, etc. You could use cheap children's valentines instead of cutting out a bunch of hearts.
At camp Wannacropalot, I also had them fishing out of a cooler with a child's fishing game. They were wary at first, but soon they were lining up to do it after they finished each page. A yellow fish meant 1/2 sheet of paper . . . for stickers, they drew from a selection of bug and camping stickers.
Put slips of paper in a bag with commonly photographed (but not too common) items written on them. Periodically pull one out and call it out. The first person to produce a picture of that item wins a prize . . . say, one die-cut . . . they then take a chance . . . if they can produce a picture of the next item drawn within five minutes, they get a bigger prize (5 die-cuts or something like that). If they can't produce the second picture they don't get any prize.
A modification is to ask for a page where they used a particular product or tool.
At my next crop, I will have a drawing where you win if you are sitting in a chair with a sticker under it.
I may also do one where when you finish your first page, you pick a balloon and pop it and get the prize written on the slip of paper inside.
Before the crop put slips of paper with items on them like star template, ocean border ruler or purple ABC's into a bag. Draw one every hour. The first person who shows you a page with that item wins a prize. Have another bag with one lesser prize and two slightly higher prizes in it. They can take a chance and draw from the bag and try for a bigger prize. For instance, their first prize is a die-cut. In the deal bag are slips of paper for two sticker mods, two sheets of paper, or one triangle.
Each person got a zip-lock bag; this is their "stocking" (for other months, change it to "backpack", "candy box", "handbag", or whatever.)
For each page completed, the participant gets a small prize to add to their
"stocking".
Examples:
1st page: sticker strip
2nd page: die-cut
3rd page: packet of M&M's
4th page: jiffy border
5th page: sheet of workshop paper
6th page: design line sticker
7th page: mini-kit for page decoration (make and take)
Don't make the prizes so much you can't afford it if they win all of them!
You could do this at Easter with Easter baskets - tell them they get something if they bring their own but have a few on hand! Or for the penny pincher crop - fill the piggy bank!
At unexpected times during your workshop, announce that anyone with a certain item in their photos currently in front of them receives a prize. The ideas are endless: a bald man, a dog, a baby boy, a party, food, baby, etc.
The first person to show you the item you ask for wins a prize.
Ideas include:
A circle cutter only page
A photo mounting sleeve
A ruled page used
A photo cut with the heart template
A personal trimmer and corner rounder page
Combine two things together for more difficult ones (scalloped ruler and scissors used).
This is a competition based purely on luck, so it's a great one to reward customers who may not work as quickly. Award a prize to the person with the most:
People in one photo
Years in one album
Photos on one page
Journaling on one page
After teaching your ShopTalk, the person who completes a page using that technique wins a prize.
Have the customers bring a photo of themselves as an infant or young child.
Put each photo, with a number above it, on a bulletin board. Take care not to damage the photo. Give everyone a piece of paper with as many numbers as there are pictures. Customers try to guess which photo corresponds to each guest. The winner will be the one who has matched the most pictures with the right people at the workshop wins.
This is best played when everyone is wearing a name tag. Have players cut one out using the circle cutter and attach it with photo splits or tape runner.
Supplies: Tape player and tape. Creative Memory product wrapped many times.
Have a package for each grouping of four to six people. Bring out the package(s) and announce that it is to be handed from person to person around the group for as long as the music is playing. As soon as the music stops, the one who is holding the package takes off one of the wrappings. The package will have several wrappings, each separately tied. The customer who takes off the last wrapping will come to the CM product, and a note saying "This is yours for keeps".
At your workshop instruct your guests to see how many words of four letters or more each one can make using only the letters in Creative Memories. No letter may be used more often than it appears in those words. The customers with the most words wins. You could use other words.
Select a number of Creative Memories objects, and place them on a tray.
Allow your customers a minute or two to look at these objects, then remove the tray and give each customer a pencil and paper and have write down as many as they can remember. The customer who remembers the most correctly wins.
In addition to the prize, the following items are on the table:
1. pile of photo split peelings
2. bowl of small paper scraps
3. jar of sticker modules
4. jar of border rulers
5. bowl of circles cut out of dud pictures
You could also have straight pins stuck in a cushion, a dish of navy beans, a box of toothpicks, etc.
Guests can look at the items, but not touch. They write down their guess of quantities for each item. When the number or quantity of the items is called out, players must note the extent to which they are off. For example, if someone guessed 290 photo-split peelings and there were 298, they write down 8. The person with the lowest total is the winner.
Prizes are a wonderful touch to a workshop. By using consumable products as prizes, you increase your profitability, and introduce new products!
Free workshop certificate
Sheet of patterned paper
Specialty paper (holiday, baby, etc)
Die-cuts
Limited Edition stickers
ABC or 123 stickers
Sticker strips
Photo mounting sleeve
Pick up square
How I work my prize drawings is: everyone gets one ticket for coming (the door prize is a completed page), one for making a page, two for journaling a page, one for using ABC stickers, one for using deckle cutter, one for buying a set of border rulers, four for scheduling a class, three for completing ten pages since the last crop, two for buying an album, etc. I change it every couple of months.
One thing I am thinking about doing is charging $7 at the door and my regular charge of $5 if they pay in advance. They will have one month to make up the crop if they call in advance to cancel, if they don't show up they lose their $5. (Amy)
The first person to find all the items (or the most items) during the crop is the winner! When you find an item have the person sign beside the item. (if it says "page" or "pages" you need to actually see the page). Here are some suggestions.
Find someone who has:
Be the 1st to:
Add six ideas that have to do with newly introduced products.
Make several different Bingo sheets - five or six columns (for longer crop) across and down. Middle is a free square . . . if it is six squares across and down, they get two free. You could have the bingo sheets the same for everyone. For something major (such as book a class) you can have it count as two squares.
Here are some examples:
Decide if one page can only count towards one thing, or multiples. Like if they journal on an 8x10 . . . you can let them fill in the journaling square AND the 8x10 square. Or you can have them choose. If you have more than ten people you may want to make the choice. Of you can change the amounts and make it ten pages or ten feet of runner.
Put 'easy' and 'hard' tasks on any given line. You can give prizes for the first to get a Bingo and for the first to Blackout! I've given a free workshop certificate to the person who completes the fewest pages "because you need some more time to work on your album"! Give consumables as prizes. You could give play money to the bingo winners and have an auction at the end.
One idea for prizes: one bingo gets two stickers, two bingos get that plus a die-cut, three get that that plus a sheet of paper, etc. A blackout is a set of page protectors. Three bingos is the most I've ever had. They love this because not only do they usually win something, it also inspires them to try different things!
Have a basket with names of tools written on slips of paper, and periodically draw one out and call it out . . . and if anybody is using that particular tool at that moment, then they get a prize . . . if no one is using it, then you can give a prize to whoever has used it on their current page.
Every time you do a page you get a randomly drawn card. One with the best poker hand at the end wins a prize.
(1999 version, by Jean Gifford)
Everyone gets a zip lock bag for their "stocking". Every time they finish a page, they get a treat from Santa to "fill the stocking". They will also have a computer printed page showing each decorative design, and how many pages are required to earn it.
Start with one "gift" in the stocking for "zero pages done" . . . a "Merry Christmas" sticker strip.
One page completed: Reflections Christmas tree sticker
Two pages completed: Jiffy corner: White triangle, evergreen gingham triangle, cinnamon hearts and holly stickers
Three pages completed: Border design, red line drawn with wide-tip pen, silver/gold confetti, holly, and pine cone stickers.
Four pages completed: Santa border. Deep blue paper cut to 11 x 2 3/4 inches, sleigh, reindeer, and Santa stickers.
Five pages completed: Carolers die-cut, music note stickers
Six pages completed: Jiffy border, deep blue paper cut to 2 1/4 x 8 3/4 inches, four tree stickers.
Seven pages completed: "Merry Christmas, holly, and jingle bell stickers.
8 pages completed: "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to men" sticker. Paper Whispers letters, one each of P and G. two squares deep blue paper, cut to 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 inch, holly stickers.
Usually customers will not claim all prizes in a four-hour crop. If you wish, you could offer the "unclaimed gifts" for sale as make and takes at the end.
(Laurie)
Have a jar with cards that name different aspects of page creation. Have them pull out their last completed page, and draw a card out of the jar. Anyone with a match wins. You could have one drawing per hour or at random times. If no one matches the first card you can draw another one.
Suggestions for cards:
made a border from stickers
used printed paper
used a die-cut
journaled the page with a paragraph
page contains three W's: Who, Where, When
used a border ruler
mounted one photo on a slant
matted a picture
used the corner rounder
left all pictures on a page uncropped