The Results and Fall Festival

Costume Swap was a great success. Especially for a first year even that got planned by two people who did NOT have the time to pull it together. Between Shannon being in the first trimester of a pregnancy and my insane work schedule these days, the swap really snuck up on us. But, we pulled it together, found some great sponsors, and managed enough media contacts to pull in a decent turn out.
In my mind, the biggest success was that everybody that donated a costume to the swap was able to find a new costume for their kids. One mother brought 5 beautiful costumes to donate on Friday night and found adorable, matching fairy princess dresses, complete with hairbands and flower wands for her two daughters the next day. We watched our own green dragon costume be chosen by a little boy, who proceeded to wear it around Fall Festival for the next TWO HOURS. My own boys walked away with a red devil (so appropriate for a nearly 2 year old Josh!) and a purple king robe that put the biggest smile on Owen's face.

In the end, we will be able to donate about $200 to FAN, and that's a bonus in my book!

Our booth happened to be right between the bouncy houses and the pony rides. Owen was sooooo excited to ride the ponies, and after patiently waiting for everything to get set up, he was rewarded with one of the first rides of the day.


Next year, the biggest change would be to find more volunteers to hang out at the booth. Shannon ended up being there most of the day Saturday and by 3:00 she.was.done. With more volunteers, we could have kept the booth opened longer and probably sold 10-20 more costumes on Saturday evening. Maybe even had the booth open for Sunday as well. But, we were able to sell the remaining costumes to a local consignment shop and add the money to our donation to FAN.

Success!

Costume Swap is Coming!

Amid all the life happening, I've been working with my friend Shannon to organize the Central Oregon Children's Costume Swap. We are thrilled to have some great sponsors and excited to see how everything comes together.

Central Oregon Children's Costume Swap
October 1, 2011 at Fall Festival

How it works:

All costumes $10 (all proceeds to the Family Access Network.)

Donate a costume and receive $5 credit toward your selection; Donate 2 and select one free!

Costume drop off will be Friday, September 30 from 6-8 p.m. at the Bend-La Pine Admin Building.

Who knows how much traffic we will generate, but this is only our first year as an official event. The real goal is to give parents a venue to recycle past Halloween costumes and pick something new. Hopefully we'll raise a little bit of money for the Family Access Network along the way.

For more information, check out the Central Oregon Children's Costume Swap on Facebook or Shannon's blog.

Also, our event is affiliated with the National Costume Swap Day that is promoted by Green Halloween. If you're not in Bend, you can check out the national website to locate a similar swap in your area.