First Ever Steph's Sweet Treats Customer Appreciation Day

Well I did it!  My first customer appreciation day is in the books and it will go down in history as a very proud moment for me.  It was a bit of a whirlwind day for me, but I'll do my best to put it into words for you.  

Before

After (Photo by PhotosByShawna) Notice the falling down tent decor in the after...I feel ya tent...I feel ya!

I'll admit, I was super nervous leading up to this event.  I've been to other companies customer appreciation days before, but I've never planned an event like this myself.  I was mostly nervous that nobody would come and the event would bomb for all the wonderful vendors who took their time and energy just to be part of my special day.  It's one thing to make hundreds of cupcakes for an open day and not have a good turn out...that all falls onto me.  But this...this involved a lot more people and their expectations of a good event for their products as well. SO MUCH PRESSURE!  What if nobody shows up? What if the vendors feel like they wasted their time?? What if people think this is silly??  This is what ran through my head on a non-stop roll leading up to the event.  

I had the vendors, I made all the cupcakes (and cookies), I had the signs, balloons, decorations, door prizes, specials on cupcakes, cookies samples, music, a photo booth, coloring table, and a "plan" in my head...now I just needed people to show up and enjoy.....

And boy did they ever!  My open days always have those very busy couple of hours, but I've never sold over 700 cupcakes in two hours before!!  Did I mention my event was four hours?!  I had my fingers crossed that I'd be able to sell a lot of cupcakes and sell out....but I never imagined it would be so quickly!  Thankfully, my customers are almost always understanding, and even congratulatory, when I run out.  Plus, there were a ton of awesome vendors there... so there was more fun to be had beyond cupcakes.  I still felt awful for running out-however, just like the trend with my open days, there's usually a rush the first hours and then foot traffic slows down-so I'm not all that positive I would have needed that many more.  lf only I wouldn't have chosen those few hours of sleep......

This line didn't slow down the first hour- Photo by PhotosbyShawna

As usual, I had my husband and baby with me for the big day.  Aaron helped dish out cupcakes at rapid speed and Wyatt strolled around with grandpa and grandma making his rounds.  It still doesn't feel real that I organized (not without the help from vendors reaching out and/or spreading the word for me) my very first customer appreciation day.  Sorry to sound like a broken record here, but sometimes I feel the need to pinch myself, because how can this possible be real?  Only a few years ago Steph's Sweet Treats was just something I would dream of and laugh at the thought of it actually happening.  And now here I am...beyond lucky to have you guys... the customers to make this day possible and to keep me in the kitchen baking day after day.  You don't know how much each and every order means to me.  So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  

This day was a celebration for the customers.  For you to come get cupcakes, shop vendors, get your photos taken in the photo booth, eat pizza, and just have a fun local Saturday.  I hope you were able to make it, (if not, I really hope to do it again!), and I hope you had tons of fun!  Having my friends and family present was the cherry on top!  

Photo by PhotosbyShawna. My Grandpa and Grandma Carley are two of my biggest cheerleaders in life!

-I will be uploading all the event photos on Facebook over the weekend.  If you took a photo booth photo or just want to look through the photos that's where you can find them.  Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for making this event a success and for another week of orders!

Here's a sneak peek at a few more photos from PhotosByShawna-