Fun Recital Resources
We’re not sure about you, but now that Spring is officially here (in Georgia at least!), we’ve officially started our transition into the hustle that is our year-end show. Or, as we affectionately refer to it: recital mode!
Recital mode is a pretty big beast (no pun intended since our theme is Rhythm & The Beast this year!), so there are a.lot.of.tasks to tackle. If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you already know about the fun but extensive pre-planning we conquer at our annual recital retreat. And like us, by now most of you probably already have the major things covered…location, dates, theme, dress rehearsal dates, etc. But what about the fun stuff? You know how much we love fun + fancy, so we wanted to share some FUN ideas and resources that can add flair to your recital (and possibly dollars to your bottom line)!
Recital Flowers
It’s no secret that flowers rank among the most popular recital gifts parents, families and friends bring to their favorite dancer at her recital, especially the little ones participating in their very first one! Why not make it easier on the attendees (and, let’s be honest, save some of them who forget or didn’t realize it was a thing!) by offering flowers for sale at your show. We’ve been selling flowers at our recitals for many, many years, and it has always been a success for us. Our customers appreciate it so much that they have now come to expect it!
You probably have a local florist in your neighborhood who would work with you to put together packages. But, if you don’t have time to sort through those details, our favorite online flower resource is 48 Long Stems – a convenient online florist with a vibe of being in your backyard. Bonus: they even specialize in recital flowers! They have lots of flower choices and price points you can choose from. We’ve had great success with the quality of the flowers we order, on-time delivery and wonderful customer service in the three years we’ve been working with them (and no, this is not even a sponsored post!). Of course, we always like to take our flowers to the next level, so for an added touch of fun, we buy our own colorful tissue paper and cute ribbon (coordinated to our recital theme color scheme of course!) to wrap our dancers’ flowers. This makes them look even more special!
Recital T-Shirts
Recital t-shirts probably tie with flowers when it comes down to the most popular recital gifts, especially if your t-shirts are fun and cute! We create our own recital t-shirts every year through CustomInk and are always so pleased with the outcome! They offer so many options, are super easy to work with and can produce quality shirts at affordable prices so you can still sell them for a profit. Choose fun colors and graphics that tie into your theme, add your logo and watch all your little dancers prance around the theater in their brand new, coveted recital tees! You can also upload your pre-designed art! The artists there are great to work with, and their customer service is second to none! You can start selling them at dress rehearsal and/or in your studio even before recital!
Recital Branding
What’s the very first thing every parent is going to do when their little dancer is all dressed up in her costume, donning lipstick and blush, holding her beautiful bouquet of recital flowers? You guessed it: Snap a picture or 1,000. And the very next thing? Post it on social media (hopefully tagging your studio, using your recital hashtag!) for all the world to see! If you do not have a step-and-repeat banner with your logo or other clear branding in a photo op area at this event, you are missing out on a major, free advertising opportunity! Make it even more fun by adding props around your banner to tie into your recital theme, and dancers will be waiting in line to have their picture made to commemorate this event! If you need help with your studio branding, check out our Confetti Branding FunPacks in the Confetti shop. You can also read our blog post that covers lots of other important studio branding ideas!
Recital Goodie Bags
At our studio, we stopped handing out trophies a long time ago! Instead, we create super fun recital goodie bags for every dancer! Even better, we recruit several of our performing company dancers (or our alums home for the summer) to assemble the goodie bags a week or so before the show. We simply use a clear plastic bag tied with a fun ribbon. Each goodie bag includes a laminated personalized bag tag with our logo and our show logo (we design these and our local printer prints them for us), a fun prize in the theme of our recital (last year it a temporary tattoo with our show’s logo), candy, and a CD with about 20 of the songs we use in the show. We pass them out when the dancers return backstage after their performance on stage, and they all look forward to it every year! You will also see the bag tags on their dance bags season after season!
What fun resources do you use during recital time? We would love to hear from you on any ideas you have to share! Just comment here or send us an e-mail!
2 Comments
August 16, 2017 at 1:09 pm
Sarah Marquis says:
I have been looking for reasonably priced bag tags since I sat in you Dance Teacher Summit 2016 where do you guys get them?
PS I love these blog posts!!
August 17, 2017 at 1:24 pm
Confetti Crew says:
Hi Sarah! We are so glad that you enjoy our blog posts!! We have bagtags custom made for our studio. We use a graphic designer for the design and use our local printer for printing and laminating them. I would suggest contacting your local printer to inquire about their ability to create them for you. If you don’t have access to a graphic designer, printers often have in house designers who can create your item for you. I hope this helps!! Let us know if you have any other questions!