- Apr 14, 2004
- 3,020
- 403
Here is a compilation of e-mails I've received on doing Couples Shows from my files. I usually do the "Tool Time" segment right at the beginning of the show. While everyone is being seated, I pass around the Batter Bowl filled with some of the more "obscure tools" that are difficult to tell what they're for just by looking at them (like the Grapefruit Knife, Mini Tart Shaper, Hold-n-Slice, V-shaped Cutter, Egg Separator, Lemon Zester/Scorer, Julieen Peeler, etc). I tell each of the men to pick a tool (and no peeking in the catalog to see what it is -- I sometimes wait until after this part to pass out the catalogs for this reason). I go around the room and have each of the ladies tell me their name and their favorite Pampered Chef tool and the guys have to guess what the tool they're holding does. If they get it right, they win a prize like the Quick Cut Paring Knife (if I have a small group -- under 5 men), or if there's a larger group, they win a ticket. Then I draw ! from all the tickets and one guy will receive the prize. It's usually lots of fun. I've done the "Oldy Wed Game" (see below) -- very funny. The couple that had the most points won a Mini Spatula or something comparable.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Barbara
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are the Couples questions that I use...Newlywed Game style...backs to each other and write answers on paper.
It has always been a great time...lots of laughs!!
Couples Show Questions
1. Who in your household wears the apron in the family?
2. Is there one dish you wish your wife/husb would never make again?
3. Is there one dish that you wish your wife/husb would make more often?
4. When your wife hangs up shirts in the closet, do the buttons face to the left or to the right?
5. What date is your wedding anniversary? or your wife's birthday?
6. What percentage of the time do your husband's clothes end up in the clothes hamper at the end of the day?
7. What was your wife wearing on your first date?
8. Where did you go on your first date?
9. Describe your wife using our cookbooks...is she more like..
It's Good For You Casual Cooking All the Best
10. To describe your husband's physique...would you say he is
the Skinny Scraper the Classic Scraper or the big Mix and Scraper
11. Which tool describes your spouses dancing style??
masher shaker turn about
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Something that I have done at couples shows in a race with the apple peeler/corer/slicer. Men against the women... three per team and host couple are the team captains and pick their team mates.
I show them how to work the a/p/c/s then use my timer and let the men go first. Then, the ladies go. Whoever does their three apples in the fastest time gets served by the other team.
The Guys love the AP/C/S because it comes with its own wrench. Tell them they have to have the Easy Accent Decorator too because every kitchen must have its own "Kitchen Caulker"! I throw out Smartie Candies when someone comes up with a quick tip for any of our products or asks me about my job. Ever who has the most Smarties
at the end of the show, wins a prize!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is what I did last time and it worked out great: the roasted chicken recipe in the baker with lid and potato and carrots (posted to the loop recently) which baked while I prepared a dessert recipe. Before I started the dessert, I said how I wanted to cater to both men and women, so I put on my apron and then added a tool belt (my husbands real tool belt loaded with some PC tools and regualar work tools). They all got a big kick out of it.
I then prepared the dessert recipe which I said for our sweet ladies who won't always admit to their sweet tooth. When I spoke of what was made for the mens taste, I explained how I did the chicken recipe. They both loved each recipe. I then passed around the tools from my tool belt and we played a guessing game (I tried to pick tools that were not ordinarily shown--and both sexes had fun guessing mostly silly answers.) One woman really thought the EAD was for caulking! Of course the egg seperator was the Madonna Bra!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The greatest success in couple shows I've had is to get the crowd to participate. I love doing a cool veggie pizza with two groups completing the pizza. I bring 2 of each tool - food chopper, cheese grater, knives, spatulas, garlic press, slice 'n serve, batter bowl, cutting board, aprons - just cook the two crusts as soon as you arrive so they cool.
Demonstrate your first recipe then pop it in the oven. While that's cooking - select two teams, maybe 3-4 on each, can either be males vs. females or couples vs. couples. I bring enough aprons for everyone to wear and the guys especially get a kick out of selecting their "color"... I give them about 7-8 minutes to put it together. DO NOT time them - I did that once and the guys were trying to hurry and use my egg slicer to cut cucumbers ---- broke the wires! But it was a fun time especially for those watching. They were even taking photo's of the two teams! Really made a mess though so be prepared. Just get them to interact with you. Have fun!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had a "hoot" of a couples show a few months ago. I really focused on the men, because they seem to crave that attention. I gave the host the Barbecue Turner and told him it was the "magic tool", that it was able to detect the next "volunteer" magically. Of course, he hammed it up and did his best "Vanna" impression as I pointed out it's other magical features.
Each guy would then come up after being "magically" volunteered by the previous man holding the magic tool. As each man came up, I would show him quickly how to operate the next tool and then sell it while he was using it. I would also cross sell to other related items if he was too slow or being silly...
There was 30 people crammed in the room, so it was a pretty wild bunch. (they had started their "pre-party" an hour before the demo started). For those of you who don't remember "pre-parties" from college, this means they were pretty liquored up before my party even was scheduled to start! I would recommend nipping the pre-party. While a drink or two can loosen up the checkbook, too many drinks causes them to be unable
to find the checkbook at all!
I borrowed the host's apcs and we did an apple race between two guys. I have never seen that much apple juice fly in the air in my life!!! Definitely do this on the tile, like we did, or take a vinyl tablecloth to put down, for this little competition. They really had fun, though, and everyone was cheering the guys on. They were so into it, I really thought the one guy was going to be mad if he was beat! This certainly made "mom's apple crisp" a much more exciting demo than I have ever seen it before.
Beware that men think of sex every 8 seconds and there is a propensity towards them making the double-entendre type jokes with many of the tools. (it's amazing how many dirty jokes can be made in the kitchen. Why is that? ..... but I digress). I simply said with a smile and a giggle "Let it go on record that the Pampered Chef Lady did NOT tell these jokes!" This seemed to bring them back to some sort of polite humor without appearing to be a total prude.
Most of all, I think it is important to make it fun or the guys will get up an go in the other room to watch tv or something (I've had that happen). What we women consider to be "fun" may not play with a room balanced between men and women. Oh, yea, and occasional husband who is dragged to the party with the wife can sit and chuckle with the gals. But, get a whole room of them, and the testosterone pervades the mood of the room quickly!
I like how this demo worked because it was really no more work than a regular show, and I didn't have to do a lot of orchestrating to set it in motion. Well, there was the sticky apple juice on the floor.... But, other than mopping up that, it was just like any other demo in terms of preparation and clean up.
B. Oliver
Let me know if you have any questions!
Barbara
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are the Couples questions that I use...Newlywed Game style...backs to each other and write answers on paper.
It has always been a great time...lots of laughs!!
Couples Show Questions
1. Who in your household wears the apron in the family?
2. Is there one dish you wish your wife/husb would never make again?
3. Is there one dish that you wish your wife/husb would make more often?
4. When your wife hangs up shirts in the closet, do the buttons face to the left or to the right?
5. What date is your wedding anniversary? or your wife's birthday?
6. What percentage of the time do your husband's clothes end up in the clothes hamper at the end of the day?
7. What was your wife wearing on your first date?
8. Where did you go on your first date?
9. Describe your wife using our cookbooks...is she more like..
It's Good For You Casual Cooking All the Best
10. To describe your husband's physique...would you say he is
the Skinny Scraper the Classic Scraper or the big Mix and Scraper
11. Which tool describes your spouses dancing style??
masher shaker turn about
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Something that I have done at couples shows in a race with the apple peeler/corer/slicer. Men against the women... three per team and host couple are the team captains and pick their team mates.
I show them how to work the a/p/c/s then use my timer and let the men go first. Then, the ladies go. Whoever does their three apples in the fastest time gets served by the other team.
The Guys love the AP/C/S because it comes with its own wrench. Tell them they have to have the Easy Accent Decorator too because every kitchen must have its own "Kitchen Caulker"! I throw out Smartie Candies when someone comes up with a quick tip for any of our products or asks me about my job. Ever who has the most Smarties
at the end of the show, wins a prize!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is what I did last time and it worked out great: the roasted chicken recipe in the baker with lid and potato and carrots (posted to the loop recently) which baked while I prepared a dessert recipe. Before I started the dessert, I said how I wanted to cater to both men and women, so I put on my apron and then added a tool belt (my husbands real tool belt loaded with some PC tools and regualar work tools). They all got a big kick out of it.
I then prepared the dessert recipe which I said for our sweet ladies who won't always admit to their sweet tooth. When I spoke of what was made for the mens taste, I explained how I did the chicken recipe. They both loved each recipe. I then passed around the tools from my tool belt and we played a guessing game (I tried to pick tools that were not ordinarily shown--and both sexes had fun guessing mostly silly answers.) One woman really thought the EAD was for caulking! Of course the egg seperator was the Madonna Bra!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The greatest success in couple shows I've had is to get the crowd to participate. I love doing a cool veggie pizza with two groups completing the pizza. I bring 2 of each tool - food chopper, cheese grater, knives, spatulas, garlic press, slice 'n serve, batter bowl, cutting board, aprons - just cook the two crusts as soon as you arrive so they cool.
Demonstrate your first recipe then pop it in the oven. While that's cooking - select two teams, maybe 3-4 on each, can either be males vs. females or couples vs. couples. I bring enough aprons for everyone to wear and the guys especially get a kick out of selecting their "color"... I give them about 7-8 minutes to put it together. DO NOT time them - I did that once and the guys were trying to hurry and use my egg slicer to cut cucumbers ---- broke the wires! But it was a fun time especially for those watching. They were even taking photo's of the two teams! Really made a mess though so be prepared. Just get them to interact with you. Have fun!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had a "hoot" of a couples show a few months ago. I really focused on the men, because they seem to crave that attention. I gave the host the Barbecue Turner and told him it was the "magic tool", that it was able to detect the next "volunteer" magically. Of course, he hammed it up and did his best "Vanna" impression as I pointed out it's other magical features.
Each guy would then come up after being "magically" volunteered by the previous man holding the magic tool. As each man came up, I would show him quickly how to operate the next tool and then sell it while he was using it. I would also cross sell to other related items if he was too slow or being silly...
There was 30 people crammed in the room, so it was a pretty wild bunch. (they had started their "pre-party" an hour before the demo started). For those of you who don't remember "pre-parties" from college, this means they were pretty liquored up before my party even was scheduled to start! I would recommend nipping the pre-party. While a drink or two can loosen up the checkbook, too many drinks causes them to be unable
to find the checkbook at all!
I borrowed the host's apcs and we did an apple race between two guys. I have never seen that much apple juice fly in the air in my life!!! Definitely do this on the tile, like we did, or take a vinyl tablecloth to put down, for this little competition. They really had fun, though, and everyone was cheering the guys on. They were so into it, I really thought the one guy was going to be mad if he was beat! This certainly made "mom's apple crisp" a much more exciting demo than I have ever seen it before.
Beware that men think of sex every 8 seconds and there is a propensity towards them making the double-entendre type jokes with many of the tools. (it's amazing how many dirty jokes can be made in the kitchen. Why is that? ..... but I digress). I simply said with a smile and a giggle "Let it go on record that the Pampered Chef Lady did NOT tell these jokes!" This seemed to bring them back to some sort of polite humor without appearing to be a total prude.
Most of all, I think it is important to make it fun or the guys will get up an go in the other room to watch tv or something (I've had that happen). What we women consider to be "fun" may not play with a room balanced between men and women. Oh, yea, and occasional husband who is dragged to the party with the wife can sit and chuckle with the gals. But, get a whole room of them, and the testosterone pervades the mood of the room quickly!
I like how this demo worked because it was really no more work than a regular show, and I didn't have to do a lot of orchestrating to set it in motion. Well, there was the sticky apple juice on the floor.... But, other than mopping up that, it was just like any other demo in terms of preparation and clean up.
B. Oliver