Hi, friends!
I am so excited to share about the meetup we hosted about 3 weeks ago in Sacramento...
Last fall, a few of us girls from the Central Valley of California (Sarah, Laura, and Brianne) were meeting for dinner, as we try to do every two months or so.. We love collaborating, and especially love getting a chance to hang out. We have been able to connect through various meetups, including many of the great meetups at TPT Vegas 2015..We began discussing our dream of hosting a teacher meetup in the Spring for teachers, bloggers, TPT sellers, and the like, and what we would want it to look like... It came down to a few musts: it had to be fun, it had to include more than just our region of California, and it needed to include ALL types of educators...
And then we started planning and dreaming...
We had NO idea that so many AMAZING companies would be interested in donating products for swag bags, giveaways, and more...
We had NO idea that so many AMAZING TPT sellers would donate products for our attendees to download exclusively....
and
We had NO idea that so many AMAZING educators would attend....
Meet a few of my newest friends! ;)
Friday night, we got into town and met up at our hotel. After unloading our giveaways and swag in the hotel room, we headed out for dinner with these amazing people:
Clockwise, From top left: Brianne, Elliott, Me, Jillian, Laura, Sarah, Amy, and Shyra(a great help the weekend of the event)...
That's right. Teachers Pay Teachers sent not one, not two, but THREE amazing individuals from Team TPT: Amy, Elliott, and Jillian
And amazing they were! Their kindness and support truly made our event what it was. THANK YOU, Teachers Pay Teachers!
After dinner and great conversation, we walked back to the hotel to meet the amazing educators attending that were already socializing for Happy Hour! Everyone was so friendly, and made introductions immediately.
Catching up with my friends from TPT Vegas, Kinderbrations and Katie Byrd, and making a new friend in Teacher Crafter, Lorraine!
When Happy Hour was over, we went back to our rooms with happy hearts, and a new-found energy. It's a good thing we had that energy, because we had about 80 swag bags to stuff... And by stuff, I mean stuff!!
A quick toast before getting started!
(P.S. I big-time heart those seltzers. I loved them as a kid, and when I saw they were back in stores, I HAD to ask if they would even consider donating. They were SO kind, and easygoing! Every person attending our event went home with a bottle of their choice! You can find their website here)
Rows, and rows, and rows of swag!!
After filling our swag bags, counting and recounting the contents and bags, we headed to bed. We knew we had a fun day ahead of us!
Saturday morning, Sarah and I (we were sharing a hotel room) woke up excited!! We knew our friend Brittany would be there in the morning, and couldn't wait to see her! I hadn't seen her since I met her at a meetup almost a year ago, but we've kept in touch since! Our shared love for Disney and teaching kindergarten meant instant friendship...
We loaded up our arms with bags of t-shirts, and headed over to the state capitol.... We had plans to take a picture on the steps outside. When we arrived, people were already there! We had fun catching up with those who didn't get a chance to make it to Happy Hour, and people kept raving about the softness of the shirts. Seriously, Brianne, can I just order a shirt for every day of the week from this company?! We lined everybody up, and took some great pictures of the group!
The FABULOUS Amy, of Team TPT!
Elliott and Jillian are still all smiles after a flat tire!
Then we sent them off on a scavenger hunt, created by the lovely Laura! Many people have told us it was a great way to get to know the area, and to make new friends! Those who completed the Instagram scavenger hunt received extra tickets for our giveaway! If you want to find some of the fun, search #teacherstakesacramento2016 on Instagram!
We then walked back to the hotel to load up the goodies for dinner and headed to our event space.
Our wonderful bellhop with one of the MANY loads to the cars....
Sarah had brought many pieces from home to help make the event decor consistent with what we had been using for the weekend: white, teal, black, and red. She had a great knack for making it even more special with her design eye.
Once we were set up, we were ready for our friends to show up!
We had Sarah and Laura (wo-)manning the check in table, I was handing out name tags for the awesome wine glasses made by Sprout Classrooms, and Brianne was greeting people after they had checked in! We gave attendees (and ourselves) some time to mingle and meet before we started with giveaways....
My fellow Primary Punchbowl friend, Andrea, won some sweet Nickel and Suede earrings!
Sweet Katie Byrd won a recycled book bracelet!
Here's Brittany with her score of Heidi Songs resources!
We can't forget to mention some other great giveaways...
Thanks to HUE
and many more!
We also had some AMAZING donors to our swag bags.....
Also included in our bags was a program that listed all of our wonderful TPT Authors who had donated to our Dropbox link. It was a great way for TPT Authors to gain exposure, and the attendees to get some awesome digital resources for their classrooms!We even had our very own Melonheadz clip art designed exclusively for our meetup!!
I guess there are worse things than having attendees complain that their arms hurt from so much stuff, right?!
In addition to the awesome wine glasses {for all attending} provided by Kate, we also had our dessert provided by the lovely Sheila Jane Teaching, who was celebrating her 1 year anniversary of her teacher happiness website! What better way to celebrate an energetic, POSITIVE person than with sweetness!!
When the night was over, some of us headed out to go bowling as well. What a laid-back way to end the night!
I cannot wait to start planning our next labor of love, #TeachersTake____2017... Stay tuned! I hope you will join us next time!
If you're sad you missed out, or have a bit of #FOMO, don't stress! Here's the good news... If you were unable to attend our meetup this Spring, you still have a chance to win some of our amazing swag! We are hosting a giveaway through March 23, so be sure to sign up below with the Rafflecopter!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
