Birthday Party Cooking Show for Tween

[ChefJWarren]

I'm also doing a cooking show with tweens, but it is a birthday party--she LOVES to cook.:chef: We are making mini cakes in the prep bowls and decorating them.

We are going to do it similar to a bridal shower where she picks out what she wants and we are putting it on a board so her guests can pick out what they want to buy for her. How do we put this on an invite? Do we tell guests not to bring a gift, that they will pick it out at the show? Is that too pushy?

I probably won't get any bookings off of this (no parents), but hopefully the sales will be decent. Plus, I think it will be a lot of fun! :balloon:

 

[cmdtrgd]

The parents NEED to be there, even for just a little bit of time. If not, you will end up with NO sales!

 

[wadesgirl]

I would do it with the parents there, like Kate said, there will be no sales if they aren't there. Do a mother/daughter show or something.

 

[ChefJWarren]

She has been planning this show for months, it is a birthday party, not going to turn it into a mother/daughter show. The girls all know about it and understand they will be buying her gifts from her wish list. Just wanted some wording for the invite to let parents know what is expected, so the girls will have money (good point!).

I also know I'm not a caterer or a party planner. The mother and I are both comfortable with the situation and will have fun making cakes with the girls.

 

[Stephaniecafe]

How did this show turn out?

 

[ChefJWarren]

It is actually this Saturday. The daughter wants to be a pastry chef and is already taking classes. We made a wish list board for the guests to pick gifts off of. She included this info in her invite, but mostly they already knew about it. The mom is sharing cattys with the moms and trying to get outside orders. We are making mini cakes in the prep bowls and then decorating them with the decorator set. I'll update after. Thanks!

 

[Stephaniecafe]

Fuel the fire baby!!I am a pastry chef and so that was why I was asking how the show ended... It was a mentor of mine coming to my house to teach me to decorate cakes as a 12 yr old that actually got me thinking of that career and I spent many a babysitting dollar on pastry bags and decorator tips! I just want to applaud you for doing this party! The culinary world is perfectly short of talented gals coming into the ranks and I for one am so thankful for someone taking the time to teach me a few things that added fuel to a growing passion for art and food! Good luck!!Hey, babysitting dollars work for buying tools just as much as any other dollar. If those gals are interested... fuel the fire baby!! It may only be a few years from now that she decides her passion for food is best served as a recuit! Life is shorter than I ever imagined!!!

 

[ChefJWarren]

We actually did talk about the opportunity and this is something she can do in college to make extra money! Mom is very supportive. Thanks for your kuddos!

 

[Stephaniecafe]

Your welcome! She cans sell a ton of knives in cooking school!!!

 

[ChefJWarren]

Thought I would update on what happened with this party. First of all, I will say "You live, you learn". Although I had my doubts I will always do a party because; you just never know what the results will be!

They invited about 15 girls and we were going to bake prep bowl cakes and decorate them. I brought most of the items to demo that she had on her wish list. The show was at 6:30 so the girls came prepared for a sleepover (first mistake). 4 girls showed. None of them brought money--even though they were told to bring money because they could pick gifts from the bday girls wish list. Well, pretty much 15 year old girls apparently don't exchange gifts anymore when invited to a party. They mainly came prepared for an allnight sleepover. We made cakes and decorated them. It was really a lot of fun and the girls had a great time decorating their cakes. Mom and bday girl were pumped because it just made her want the gifts even more.

Mom said that since they didn't have any sales at the party, she would pass the catalog around and collect orders--which is what I advised her to do in the first place. I recommended passing the catalogs around to the moms and getting orders prior to the show. Apparently she had her daughter pass the catalog around (to whom I don't know).

She emailed me on Thursday with an order for the ice cream sandwich maker and sugar/flour shaker. I just told her the price (plus shipping and tax) and said she could mail me a check or call with cc info.

I'm not going to fret. Its my own fault. Now I know. Oh well, I'm over it.

BTW I drove over 150 miles total to do this show.

 

[Grandmarita]

I applaud you for following your dream. I've done three Mom/Daughter parties for the same group over the three years I've been a PC. One Mom
booked from the first party, and is booking off the third party. Sales were
minimum $150 the first time, $300 this time. It was the fun that we all had
that made it worth while. At least we have ten people excited about PC, and
girls who have began to enjoy cooking with their Moms and friends. One gal
even invited her soccer coach to one of the parties. I have pictures of them on my website when we did a Halloween theme with our mini fluted stoneware cakes made into pumpkins that Mom/Daughter teams decorated. We transmitted the photos to my husband who judged their efforts, and the DH of my hostess, and my DH's scores were combined to come up with the winners. The winners got to take their cakes home. We ate the others as our refreshments for the party.

Enjoy your creative ideas, even if they are not $1,000 parties. They are memorable and could lead to repeats that are more successful.