As many of you MAMBI Happy Planner fans may know, last Thursday, April 21, Michael's, in partnership with Me and my BIG Ideas, hosted a Planner's Night Out event at Michael's locations across the USA and Canada.
I was one of the few fortunate souls to have had a positive experience. I thought I'd share my experience and some suggestions to bring to future planner meet-ups--because a lot of people were unsure what to expect or bring.
Planner's Night Out: Experience
Just to begin, in no way was I under the expectation that this was going to be an actual "class" like many thought it was going to be. In my mind, I thought "what exactly was there to teach?!" To me, at least, planning has no real methodology because it is how you express your creativity while trying to organize your life. While it is great to have a beautiful planner, the overall point of a planner is for function, right? Whether you are using it for every-day life, a home binder, meal planning, lists, memory keeping, bible study, work, school--no matter what you use it for, there is some sort of function to it and to tell someone how to organize their life is kind of bizarre to me. Because of that, I never thought it was actually going to be a "class"; rather I came into the event with the understanding that it would be a Planner Meet-up with endorsement of The Happy Planner products. I'm not sure how it was advertised on the USA website, but on the Canadian website, it was under our "Classes and Events" tabs, but I didn't see any specific indication that it was supposed to be more of a "class" than an "event" so I just assumed it was an event.
I came to the event with my best friend, my Mom and my sister--all who are new to the Happy Planner--hoping they'd get some inspiration as to how to decorate and organize their new Happy Planners. This was also my first Planner Meet-up but I generally had an idea of what to expect. The event--at least at our location in Whitby, ON--was not in the classroom, like we were expecting. Rather, it was held at a couple of tables located in front of the Children's section of the store.
When the class began, there were 9 of us in total--10 with our facilitator, who told us from the beginning she was just there to facilitate and answer any questions; not really to teach us anything. Our facilitator walked us around Michael's Craft Store, showed us some alternatives to buy (stickers, washi, etc.) from the Recollections brand so we could save money while planning, then brought us back to the table. She also gave us all a $5 coupon to thank us for showing up.
About 10 minutes after the coupons were handed out, everyone left except for me, my best friend and two local planners who seemed pretty familiar with planning. We all worked on our spreads and chatted until the end of the event at 8:30pm. We shared ideas, supplies, and just chatting on random other topics--we all went to (or graduated from) the same university, so we chatted a lot about school, work life and we heard stories about their parenting lives. Before everyone left, we all added each other on Facebook, exchanged Facebook groups that we thought the others may enjoy and all browsed the store together.
It was clearly so much more of a "meet up" than it was a class, for sure. Nevertheless, I wasn't disappointed. It is pretty unfair how some locations got free stuff while others didn't--from what I read online--but I still had a lot of fun. Maybe next event, will be more organized and more universal in structure.
As I said earlier, it was my best friend's first time planning, so I left her have a page from one of my planners, in my extension pack, to try it out and see if she'd like it before she bought one. Turns out she loved it and we're going to Michael's, later today, to buy her a Happy Planner! We also decided that this would be her "Best Friend" page in my planner, and when she gets her planner, I can decorate a page in her's.
As for me, I used a Monster's Incorporated kit by PrettyOnPaperCo on Etsy to decorate my second week in May. I actually do a lot of pre-planner decorating, so this was the next week I needed to get done. Super in love with how it turned out.
Me and my best friend ended our night grabbing dinner at Tim Hortons and chatting about the event. We decided we'd definitely go to another Planner's Night Out or Planner Meet-up in our area. We were event talking to the ladies at the event who stayed and chatted with us that we'd have a coffee and planner date in the future.
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Now that the event is done and over, I was thinking about some things people may want to bring to an event like this. I noticed a lot of comments on Facebook Groups I am part of people asking what to bring to an event like this. While the store didn't give much information to individuals when they called, I made a rough list as to what I thought was appropriate to bring and worked out for me at the event I attended.
5 Things to Bring to a Planner Meet-up
You can't really have a planner meet-up without your planner, now can you? I found it especially useful not only to decorate with, but to share inspiration with others at the event. Many people were going through my planner to see how I decorated my planner and similarly I was going through others' planners to see how they decorate. If you don't bring your planner to a planner meet-up, I'm not entirely sure what you would event do at the meet-up to be honest.
Next, I'd suggest something to decorate with. I primarily use stickers, like many people in the planning community use, but I know some people also use watercolor paints, stamps, scrapbook paper, or anything else they can get their hands on. Bring what you love to use. Maybe you'll inspire others to try out your method of decorating. Maybe someone at your meet-up was curious about your decorating method to begin with and now they have someone to ask questions from. Plus it is really relaxing to decorate at a meet-up while chatting.
I'd also suggest bringing some washi tape. Who doesn't love washi tape? You could swap samples with others. You could share supplies while decorating. It is just an all around useful item to use while at a planner event.
I forgot to bring scissors and I highly regretted it form the beginning. You never know when you'll need scissors. Whether to help you decorate, open up supplies that was just bought, or just to cut something you didn't know you would need to cut--it's useful to have. Who knows, maybe someone at your event forgot scissors--like me--and you can be the awesome planner girl who helped them out!
and finally, you can never forget the pens! One of the first topics of conversation at the event we went to was "What pens do you use in your planner?". What better way to suggest a product than by showing them--so they know what it looks like, how it writes, how it feels in their hand. Plus, how can you plan in your planner if you don't have anything to write with? You may even need a pen to write down contact information from the new planner friends you've just made.
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These were the 5 things to bring to a planner meet-up I could think of based off of my experience at the Michae's Planner's Night Out event. What are some essentials you can think of to bring to a planner event? If you went to the event, how was your experience? Let me know in a comment down below!
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