Bingo Open House? Does It Have to Be a Big Event?

[Intrepid_Chef]

My recruiter came up with an idea for a fall kickoff that would involve playing bingo. Since her church is only a few miles from my house, she reserved the church for this event.

Now our A/D is having her own Bingo and wants everyone to participate. A future director wants to have one closer to our area, since a/d's event is so far from us. I suggested that she join our event, but she doesn't want to do it unless there are at least 5 or 6 people inviting folks.

Recruter and I both think it's fine if we just have the two of us ... it doesn't have to involve 100 people!

Is there something I am missing? We are just thinking of a open house that will include Bingo and other stuff too ....

 

[pampered.chris]

I think that you can make it successful w/ just the two of you as consultants there. Let us know details when you figure them out...this sounds interesting.

 

[confusedturtle]

I am not quite sure how the bingo would work but Im very interested in hearing more about this. I wanted to say congrats on the 1100 shopping spree win. Someone in my cluster won something like that too, my director sent me pics of the person with all of the products. Very cool, congrats!

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Honestly ... I'm really not all that sure ... My recruiter and I are both "cluster crashers" who moved up to our A/D's first line when our director quit. Apparently, their definition of "Bingo" and ours is quite different.They always counted on a HUGE crowd ... and play bingo for 2 hours. They have HUGE gifts for the winners and charge $2 admission, and charge for extra cards. The way they work it is that your guests sit at your table and that is how they divide the orders. Those who don't have a consultant are divided evenly among all participants.Meanwhile ... my recruiter is concerned about spliting up the orders among too many people ... because we really wouldn't get that much out of it. PLUS we are the only consultants who live in this part of our area. (Actually, she lives much farther away but her family and her church is from this area.) If we have it 1/2 an hour away in either direction, that takes us too far from our customer base, and we both are trying to get away from driving too far for shows.She has a really great idea about putting everything in the starter kit on a table with a sign that says, "Never pay fulll price again!" That way people can see what they get in their kit.(confusedturtle, where did your clustermate win it ... was it this year ... and which wave are you in? I'm kind of curious what others won. I have a "whirlwind of excitement" thread about that.)

 

[cookingwith_tara]

There's a bingo download I purchased from a website called thebooster.com and I've played it alot! You type in anything you want in the squares! It's so much fun.

I first played it with new merchandise. I used the names of the new product for each square and also, host/guest special for that month, recruiting and booking squares. Then once I "drew" the card it allowed me to talk about or pass the product. It's not like B something or "I" something. They get to look at their entire card. You also get to determine how many squares it prints per card.

I also have different ways to earn extra bingo cards like if they bring a dish to share, bring a guest over 18, bring an outside order (get creative) Also, at the end of the night we have a drawing. Everyone gets one "ticket" for coming but if they book a show I'll give them 2 or 3 more depending how soon they want the show. The drawing giveaway is usually something from the outlet. The last time I used the mini fluted stoneware which is still on the outlet. My last Bingo was about $600 with about 6 people. I was able to make it into 2 separate orders. I used the FPV to buy extra things to giveaway at my next events.

I have a lot of fun doing it.

 

[cookingwith_tara]

Honestly ... I'm really not all that sure ...

My recruiter and I are both "cluster crashers" who moved up to our A/D's first line when our director quit. Apparently, their definition of "Bingo" and ours is quite different.

They always counted on a HUGE crowd ... and play bingo for 2 hours. They have HUGE gifts for the winners and charge $2 admission, and charge for extra cards. The way they work it is that your guests sit at your table and that is how they divide the orders. Those who don't have a consultant are divided evenly among all participants.

Meanwhile ... my recruiter is concerned about spliting up the orders among too many people ... because we really wouldn't get that much out of it.

PLUS we are the only consultants who live in this part of our area. (Actually, she lives much farther away but her family and her church is from this area.) If we have it 1/2 an hour away in either direction, that takes us too far from our customer base, and we both are trying to get away from driving too far for shows.

She has a really great idea about putting everything in the starter kit on a table with a sign that says, "Never pay fulll price again!" That way people can see what they get in their kit.

(confusedturtle, where did your clustermate win it ... was it this year ... and which wave are you in? I'm kind of curious what others won. I have a "whirlwind of excitement" thread about that.)

You also have to be careful about charging. In Florida we can't do that on Bingo's unless you have a gaming license and you have to be at least 18 b/c it's a type of gambling.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

The admission is to cover rental of the hall ...

 

[lacychef]

I've been doing bingo open houses for a couple years now; everyone keeps asking to play! (and it's just me....it doesn't have to be a huge event)
What I do is: have new products displayed, prepare ahead several new recipes & have guests taste/rate them, I talk up upcoming host specials, then we just play bingo. I give away prizes from my PC closet; whatever I have on hand. If I'm low then I'll just do a gift certificate thru me.
I printed cards from a website...don't remember which one....I just searched "free printable bingo cards", then printed on cardstock paper. My daughters also like to come & call the numbers!

 

[scottcooks]

I gave a long post on the "How to make a large church fundraiser attractive" thread under fundraisers, about bingo specifically.Regular bingo = $$$PC bingo = fun, good for a cluster, can be $