Guest Post: Pinterest Party

While it is losing a little bit of steam, Pinterest still remains one of the top three social media sites out there today and one of the most popular with women. I love watching some of the creative things that people are doing with their pages, posts, etc., but one thing really stood out to me and that idea comes from Reader Joanne.  

Joanne and her friends took all that there is to love online about Pinterest and brought it offline with a Pinterest party.  

Here’s how it went down in Joanne’s words:

·         The party started with a conversation about a pin -- a friend and I were talking about how the broader group (we are all friends from church) were pinning a lot of the same things (see above). I suggested that we have a Pinterest party where we could sample a lot of the things we seem to be interested in. I convinced my friend to host it -- she is more centrally located and has a bigger (and cleaner) house!

·         It was all very casual - everyone was asked to bring something they
had seen on Pinterest. No one brought copies of the recipes - but we
had pinned so many of each other's pins, we already had them or knew
someone who did. (We just used Post-Its to label the goodies.)

·         Our host made favors she had seen pinned -- homemade dishwasher
detergent and s'mores. Another guest made a different s'mores favor --
double the fun!

·         People brought various crafts projects they had been working on. One
made an Anthropologie-inspired comforter as well as felt barrettes she
created for a fund-raising effort. Another showed us how she makes
tutus for little girls (cute!).

·         For the Pinterest-curious, we had a laptop set up with a tutor to show
them the ins and outs.

·         There was a beauty corner (it wasn't intentional, just how people
gathered) to practice making braids and other cute hairstyles and a
group getting pumped for the Hunger Games opening by polishing their
nails with the new(ish) China Glaze collection -- Capital Colours.

·         It was very fun, and we want to do it again. In fact, there used to be
something like this a while ago. A bunch of the married women from our
church used to get together once a month, bring food and work on a
craft together. Sometimes the craft was enjoyed by the maker, and
others were donated to a group in need. The group was called
Homemakers. I like to think Pinterest helped bring it back!

Some things that Joanne would change about the next party:

·         Send out Pinter-vites! I'm shocked that, at the time, evite didn't
have a Pinterest party invite (not sure there is one now, haven't
checked to confirm).

·         Have people bring the recipe or create a pinboard to collect all the
goodies. Or print out cute labels for writing the name. I would also
have the maker include her name, so people would know who to hound, or thank, or curse!

·         Have a theme -- whether it's try out all of the so-called "best
banana bread" recipes pinned, everything made has to have a fruit or
be on a stick, or simply spring recipes, or something else.

·         "Assign" or find volunteers to bring some savory goods, so you don't
end up on a total sugar high! (To our credit, we did have enough
savory goods, but there still were A LOT of sweets.)

·         Encourage people to bring containers to take stuff home

·         I would love to do a meal swap using Pinterest (a la
http://freezermealsforus.blogspot.com/) -- but that would work better
with a smaller group. We easily had about 20 women!

·         More organized craft projects!

My person add to this party would be to also wear an outfit inspired by the site. You know me; I take themes to the extreme!