Yes, the contents are much cheaper than the almost $5 it would take me to mail it later.

 

Same here! Hand them out then. I find the hosts get more excited and the other guests start asking to be invited to that party!

 

I don't! I got tired of potential hosts bailing and me losing out on the cost of the contents of my host packet (plus my time putting it together).

I'll pencil them in then follow up the next day to confirm. I then give them 3 days to give me their guest info, b/c I am once again mailing out the invitations for my hosts. I will mail out the host packet after I have mailed out all the invites. This pretty much ensures the show is gonna "stick" if I have mailed out the invites. When I do this, I have not ever had a host cancel or bail out on me...thus losing the show and the cost of the host packet contents.

 

I do and so far have not had anyone bail on me....even my cattie hosts. I just take a couple for cattie shows and a couple for cooking shows...all made up like I was getting ready to mail them. I would not give them for potentials that are looking at 2-3 months down the road....usually the hosts I have met at these events start cattie shows right away and the cooking shows are booked within a month or so.

 

Yes, I hand out the packets when the person books a show.

Mailing from military address to military address here on the island is free, but we are prohibited from using the military mail for business purposes. I can't mail catalogs or packets to hosts. I'm also prohibited from mailing the invites for my hosts. If I get caught violating the rules, I can loose my mailbox. Can't live without mail, so I follow the rules.

 

Glad you posted this tread! I have been wondering the same thing

 

I always hand them out at the show/event. It's MUCH cheaper to hand them out there than it is to mail the stuff later. I'm only out about $2 in cost if they do decide to bail out, and that is rare.

 

Mailing does get quite costly. If someone lives nearby or in an area I'll soon be travelling to, I often drop them off if I don't have enough.

 

I hand them out if they book within the next month.... longer than that and I will mail it about a month before their show. Postage is too expensive for me to keep mailing them afterwards.

 

I send out a guest list and give them time to fill it out and return it to me. (I do send them a self addressed envelope). Since I work another full time job, have a growing team of 20 or so, I have no time to hand deliver unless they are on my route to work. Once I get their list, I mail the packet.

I did try handing it out as they booked but as someone mentioned, I lost too many host packets when they cancelled, changed to another season, etc.

My recipe choices are in my packet and it helps me keep my scheduled more organized. For me this works. We live in a rural area and it is too much time and travel to hand deliver much. My advice is always, try what works best for you and see what is the most affordable time and money wise.

 

I am doing another booth. Since I didn't have much luck on the first one I was wondering how you promote the giving away a free kitchen show i.e. do you have a bowl and put leads in there so they think there is a drawing and do you try to book at the show? How successful is that?

Thanks

Judy

 

I'm going to give this a shot at an Expo I'm doing on Saturday...I'm going to have a booking incentive--book a that day and you will get a free gift the day of your show (PC shopping bag and SB--stolen idea from a thread I got here). That way if they cancel, I'm not out a gift. I'm doing the 24 shows in 24 hours booking challenge this weekend. In addition to getting a free gift, the first 24 shows booked during my challenge will have a chance for a $50 shopping spree. I'm hoping that will generate interest! I spent an hour the other night (I'm splitting this up, LOL) and got 5 shows (including one for October, lol--hey, I'll book ahead, definitely!) and a bridal registry. I'll post how it goes at my expo...I am going to make up host packs--unsure how many since I had to prepare for 100 gift bags for attendees (mini cattie and 1 recipe card--all w/ my name all over). I'm thinking 10-15 and I can always use them later when needed. I'd be happy to get even one booking...more would be nice since I was offered a shift at my waitressing job and had I not already paid for the both, I probably would have taken the guaranteed cash:blushing: