The pub my Significant Other works at is on a fundraising effort to raise £600 for CLIC Sargent (the children's charity). We were bouncing some ideas around & the one of the first things that came up was a fancy dress night (which has been done to death, frankly.) Now i'd been having some thoughts about arranging a meet for some local ladies who were interested in corsets to offer advice on lacing, repairs etc in response to some enquiries i'd received. The two thoughts came together and the idea of a Corset event emerged. Possibilities include the advice & demonstration on lacing methods, going through the different types of corsets & boning to match people's requirements, possibily inviting an off-the-peg corset maker to have a stall there, maybe a talk on the history of the corset, a prize draw and a corset fashion show.
We've got the provisional go-ahead (although he's having to check the rules on sales before we confirm a seller/s) but i'd like to test the water a bit- do you think such an event could be a success? Would you be prepared to pay a nominal entry fee (it is for charity, after all)? How far would people be willing to travel- it would be held in Worcester, would it be worthwhile flyering in Birmingham? Grateful for any input, constructive critism or advice as i've never had a hand in arranging anything like this before!

Oh yes, the other possibilty was getting in touch with a local salon and looking at hosting a "pamper night" where, in return for publicity/ promotion the salon offers mini treatments and guests donate the money they would've spent on the treatment to CLIC Sargent. I like the idea of this a lot but it depends if there's a local business willing to donate it's time and whether people will be comfortable having this done in a pub environment, of course.

Just a thought regarding the pamper night. If you can't get a local salon to donate the treatment fees to charity you could always try students. Local colleges always have beauty therapy/hair/make-up students who need work experience. As you're not going to be doing any "in-depth" treatments in a pub it would be pretty safe letting them loose on members of the public.

Interesting idea, i rang our local college but with it being ht eholidays there was no-one there (and presumably last year's students will have graduated & this year's won't have started yet). But i will certainly mention it to them later in the term- maybe in Decemeber during the day so people can have a break from Xmas shopping.

A friend of mine runs a big pamper day in Liverpool every six weeks or so. I am sure if you wanted any tips and advice she would gladly help you out she is lovely. One thing I love about her event is they do a great big curry yum yum and they have and different cakes. they have lots of different therapies and then stalls selling all sorts. Its a fun day they even have belly dancers so maybe you could have some performers there to. I don't actual wear a corset when I am performing as I have the fear of getting stuck, I once got stuck in a waspie on stage and the fear has stayed with me. I do love to wear them tho.
Diva x

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Diva Hollywood - http://www.myspace.com/divahollywood

If I remember correctly beauty therapy students tend to do 2 years training so after the holidays you should be able to find some students with at least 1 year experience.

I'm surprised there's not been more interest in the corset night. Maybe it's because it was aimed at people who don't routinely wear corsets but are interested & need advice, whereas the ladies on here are familiar with corsets & the ins & outs.

It's quite a specialist thing really - I doubt you'd get many punters from off the street, and I guess people are so spread out across the country on the forum that not many would make it to an event like that just through distance. I know that I *might* go to an event like that if I could just turn up on the day, had nothing specific planned, and it was no more than 10 miles away.

I would definitly go with the pamper day - you'll get a lot more walk-in trade (oo-er). If you had students doing walk-in beuaty treatments all day, maybe you could also schedule in specific 1/2hr workshops at various intervals, and get the corset hints and tips in that way....

And you could get the bar staff making lovely smoothies and naughty, fruity tipples as well.

Love, Hugs and Strawberries

Angel

diva where that?? why haven't you told me before?!?!
can i come....!

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Millie Dollar - Liverpool based performer