Maker Faire Give-a-ways?
0 views
Skip to first unread message
Rodney Abke
May 9, 2013, 11:39:10 AM5/9/13
to MI ROBOT CLUB
Hay Guys, I'm just throwing this out there. There is a party supply company called oriental trading company that sells cheap (in both sense of the word) party favors. There may be other suppliers.
These are possible give-away/sale items. Most of the stuff they have are less than a dollar each. Many much less. If we could get the money together we could get some of these things for maker faire and give them away to kids or sell them at a profit to their parents. Or both. Below are links to the Robot related items they have.
I like the erases or sticker to give away. And/or the wind-up robots to sell Maybe at $1.50 to $2 each. That would give us a $0.50 to $1 profit on each.
Any thoughts?
Rodney Abke
May 9, 2013, 2:31:50 PM5/9/13
to MI ROBOT CLUB
Follow-up,
I looked on Amazon and they have a lot of these toys at cheaper prices considering shipping costs.
Example, the wind-up robots are $11+$8 shipping for a dozen at oriental trading, but is $13 at Amazon, including shipping and no tax.
Keith Mc
May 9, 2013, 3:23:43 PM5/9/13
to MiRob...@googlegroups.com
Rod wrote:
> Hey Guys, I'm just throwing this out there. There is a party supply company
> http://www.orientaltrading.com/robot-erasers-a2-9_1123.fltr?Ntt=robot
> http://www.orientaltrading.com/wind-up-robots-a2-12_3572.fltr?Ntt=robot
> [...]
I've gotten home theme party items from Oriental Trading before.
Nice, cheap, throwaway junk... {grin} But their shipping used to be VERY
slow-boat, so you do need to plan WAY ahead with them. I'm not sure
if we have time to get from them this time, but it is a good resource.
If we ARE going to get into sales/givaway/make-n-take biz, we have to be careful.
We're going to have to start handling left over inventory, put up cash, etc.
Currently, we are only doing two major events per year, AAMMF, and DMF.
Be honest... Is this REALLY worth getting into for only two public events per year?
Since we don't have a Clubhouse yet, what do we do with inventory between events?
If YES, then something CHEAP like the robot erasers might be a candidate.
They are only $5.50 for 24, or ~23 cents each. Not bad... Sell them for
a buck, and we only have to sell 25% of them to break even.
They're not fragile, and are small, so inventory between events is trivial.
The windup walking robots are $11 for 12, or close to $1 each.
That means we would have to sell them for at least $2 each. Why?
Because my past history with that kind of toy says that MANY
of them be DOA or will fail quickly, and we'll have to replace them
at our cost, at the event. Some won't work out of the box. Some
will break easily at the event from simple handling, and some will
die from over-winding. They're cool, but not very durable.
But... Both of them are not MADE items, and this is a MAKER faire...
I'm not sure that is in the right spirit.
So... what would be in the spirit of the event?
A cheaper "made" alternative is simply to stick with DTP printed things.
NO inventory to deal with, and we can quickly make more, if we run out.
Examples:
- A "certificate" for "winning" an Arena event,
- A Robot Driver's License
- A card stock and brass paper fastener Make-N-Take "robot puppet"
Certificates and RDLs can just be printed out on plain paper or card stock, and
cut out with a paper guillotine (which I have) .
BTW... Biz card stock comes pre-perforated for you, at 10/page
It works out to be only a few cents per card, plus your printer ink.
Some related options, if we go with DIY printing up something:
-- Sticker paper is a bit more expensive, but not bad at all for DIY stickers and badges.
-- Printing (card/sticker), plus a clear adhesive lamination - more durable, at slightly higher cost
-- Cardstock plus pin style name holders are about 25 cents each in 100s, but pins damage shirts.
-- Cardstock plus neck hanging name holders are top of the line, at ~70 cents each, in 100s.
My thought - Simply print a takeaway souvenir/award for them on cardstock,
then offer to SELL them either lamination or a name holder if they wish it.
Best of both worlds. It would be free to them for just the card (and pennies
each cost to us), but the holders or lamination service will pay for itself.
(and if you sell even a few holders, it covers the printing costs for the event. :-)
Make-N-Take. Hmmm... I didn't reserve a Make-N-Take space.
My concerns - It could... split our labor from running Arena events, keep
us from talking with the crowd, can be messy, and will crowd the display.
What do you all think? Do we REALLY want to consider a M&T project?
If so, what could it be? (Hopefully something that won't cost us too much up front.)
- Keith Mc.
> Hey Guys, I'm just throwing this out there. There is a party supply company
> called oriental trading company that sells cheap (in both sense of the word)
> party favors. There may be other suppliers.
> [...]
> party favors. There may be other suppliers.
> http://www.orientaltrading.com/robot-erasers-a2-9_1123.fltr?Ntt=robot
> http://www.orientaltrading.com/wind-up-robots-a2-12_3572.fltr?Ntt=robot
> [...]
I've gotten home theme party items from Oriental Trading before.
Nice, cheap, throwaway junk... {grin} But their shipping used to be VERY
slow-boat, so you do need to plan WAY ahead with them. I'm not sure
if we have time to get from them this time, but it is a good resource.
If we ARE going to get into sales/givaway/make-n-take biz, we have to be careful.
We're going to have to start handling left over inventory, put up cash, etc.
Currently, we are only doing two major events per year, AAMMF, and DMF.
Be honest... Is this REALLY worth getting into for only two public events per year?
Since we don't have a Clubhouse yet, what do we do with inventory between events?
If YES, then something CHEAP like the robot erasers might be a candidate.
They are only $5.50 for 24, or ~23 cents each. Not bad... Sell them for
a buck, and we only have to sell 25% of them to break even.
They're not fragile, and are small, so inventory between events is trivial.
The windup walking robots are $11 for 12, or close to $1 each.
That means we would have to sell them for at least $2 each. Why?
Because my past history with that kind of toy says that MANY
of them be DOA or will fail quickly, and we'll have to replace them
at our cost, at the event. Some won't work out of the box. Some
will break easily at the event from simple handling, and some will
die from over-winding. They're cool, but not very durable.
But... Both of them are not MADE items, and this is a MAKER faire...
I'm not sure that is in the right spirit.
So... what would be in the spirit of the event?
A cheaper "made" alternative is simply to stick with DTP printed things.
NO inventory to deal with, and we can quickly make more, if we run out.
Examples:
- A "certificate" for "winning" an Arena event,
- A Robot Driver's License
- A card stock and brass paper fastener Make-N-Take "robot puppet"
Certificates and RDLs can just be printed out on plain paper or card stock, and
cut out with a paper guillotine (which I have) .
BTW... Biz card stock comes pre-perforated for you, at 10/page
It works out to be only a few cents per card, plus your printer ink.
Some related options, if we go with DIY printing up something:
-- Sticker paper is a bit more expensive, but not bad at all for DIY stickers and badges.
-- Printing (card/sticker), plus a clear adhesive lamination - more durable, at slightly higher cost
-- Cardstock plus pin style name holders are about 25 cents each in 100s, but pins damage shirts.
-- Cardstock plus neck hanging name holders are top of the line, at ~70 cents each, in 100s.
My thought - Simply print a takeaway souvenir/award for them on cardstock,
then offer to SELL them either lamination or a name holder if they wish it.
Best of both worlds. It would be free to them for just the card (and pennies
each cost to us), but the holders or lamination service will pay for itself.
(and if you sell even a few holders, it covers the printing costs for the event. :-)
Make-N-Take. Hmmm... I didn't reserve a Make-N-Take space.
My concerns - It could... split our labor from running Arena events, keep
us from talking with the crowd, can be messy, and will crowd the display.
What do you all think? Do we REALLY want to consider a M&T project?
If so, what could it be? (Hopefully something that won't cost us too much up front.)
- Keith Mc.
James Ronald
May 9, 2013, 4:21:16 PM5/9/13
to MiRobotClub
I would like to see something like a template printed on 8.5"x11"
paper that can be colored, cutout, folded and taped together. The
robot would be printed with Michigan Robot Club / A2 Mini Maker Faire
2013.
- Jim
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MiRobotClub" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to MiRobotClub...@googlegroups.com.
> To post to this group, send email to MiRob...@googlegroups.com.
> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MiRobotClub?hl=en.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>
>
paper that can be colored, cutout, folded and taped together. The
robot would be printed with Michigan Robot Club / A2 Mini Maker Faire
2013.
- Jim
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MiRobotClub" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to MiRobotClub...@googlegroups.com.
> To post to this group, send email to MiRob...@googlegroups.com.
> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MiRobotClub?hl=en.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>
>
Rodney Abke
May 9, 2013, 4:26:03 PM5/9/13
to MI ROBOT CLUB
I don't think we should try a Make-N-Take and take this year. I think we would need to do more planning and line-up the money. The robot drivers licence is a good idea. That would be a good giveaway item for all the reasons you mentioned. THe members working the arena could hand them out.
Selling the erasers is a possibility.
On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 3:23 PM, Keith Mc <ac...@provide.net> wrote:
- Keith Mc.
Rodney Abke
May 9, 2013, 4:28:27 PM5/9/13
to MI ROBOT CLUB
Jim,
thats a good idea too, if we can find a template. maybe even something that uses rubber bands to make it move.
James Ronald
May 9, 2013, 6:54:27 PM5/9/13
to MiRobotClub
Having lots of cool robots should probably be our focus...
Btw, I was able to spend some time yesterday working on getting the
Roomba RPi working with the PyRobot Python bindings. You would think
that there would be 1001 examples, but there are not... Plus I'm
learning Python as I go.
- Jim
Btw, I was able to spend some time yesterday working on getting the
Roomba RPi working with the PyRobot Python bindings. You would think
that there would be 1001 examples, but there are not... Plus I'm
learning Python as I go.
- Jim
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages