HI All!

I am planning the grand opening party for my shop. We have been opening for almost 2 weeks but we never did a grand opening party to let the public know we are open and the shop has changed ownership. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do for the grand opening on a budget. Thanks.

are you doing it at night or during the day? My first thought was fun music in the background, some samples, put out business cards, maybe a screen display of your cakes, some cake dummies.

It will be probably be after hours around 7pm. We are planning on making some dummy cakes to display in the shop. We will have tables and chairs next week. I want to make a great impact since we are unique for the area.

Does your city have a Chamber of Commerce? Ours does and when a new business opens they have a grand opening and invite all the member businesses to come.

Not really help with ideas, but just another idea to get your business some exposure.

My local news station announces when new businesses open, maybe you could invite yours? What if you just happened to plan the party at ummm...6pm when the news is on?

You could offer a special for a week, $10.00 off orders of $__blank__ or more, or free 6 pack of cupcakes with an order of $_blank_ or more. Something like that may help bring in new faces to see whats going on and give you a try. Everyone loves a deal. Best of luck!

I was definitely thinking inviting some of the businesses to the opening including the newspaper and television stations.

sounds like you pretty much have your bases covered

Yeah some what... I don't know what I should put like just cupcakes or some others that I do.. I guess that is where I am stuck and maybe decorating it differently for the event.

Also partner with a charity.....

Bring in (#) cans of food for the food bank, get a cupcake.
Write a $10 check to the Food Bank and be entered into a raffle for a _____ (cake).

That charity link gets THEM advertising for you and sometimes can get the media in too.

johnson6ofus,
thanks! That is a great idea! Never thought of that.

your welcome....

Just pick a charity carefully, hopefully local to your town.

A "donation" also helps slow the gimme/grab although I do believe samples are a big part of it. Also, the donation aspect can late a few days to generate participation. Also, the charity may even send a plaque, or certainly a thank you letter that can be framed to start your part of "community" basis and generate positive word of mouth.

GOOD LUCK!

So with the help of some friends I have finally figured out what I want to do for the grand opening party of my shop. I am going with a candy land theme and my assistant will be doing face painting for the kiddies. We will also be inviting some local businesses and the media. We will have music, games and a raffle. I will be doing a mini buffet table and some mini cupcakes as well as some party trays. I am getting really excited about this. Oh and I have a cupcake pinata that I will have hanging in the shop as well.

I have always had a desire to have a bakery. I have this cool idea. At Christmas time (aren't we almost there?) Have a Christmas tree decorated with lights and cookies. The cookies would be hung with bright ribbons and all the little kids would get a free cookie off the tree.

Hey, a girl can dream, can't she!

How did your opening go?

Hey Minstrelmiss,
The grand opening is scheduled for December 4th. I am so excited because I am in the local paper here for vending at a fashion show on Sunday! So I will be contacting them this week to cover the story of the grand opening. I will be posting pictures of the dessert buffet I am doing next week. I will keep you guys posted.
Kima

Good luck to you!!!!

I use hat boxes many times for the open houses I cater...I use colored tissue and have the food "cascade" out of the box (kind of like the boxes are "bursting" with food...it works really well for the homemade caramels I have wrapped in colored foils...One thing to remember is to always have different levels of food...nothing is more boring than food that is lined up on a flat table...it does not show the creative side of you and all that you can do differently from others when it looks like an 'ordinary open house'. I would have cake plates all over the place...makes it festive! Hope that helps!

Thanks! I have to change the date with the holiday since I am still out of state until this afternoon. I want to have enough time to make sure everything looks nice. So I will be taking takes of pictures.