how much time/cost do you prefer for a crop?

Julie - posted on 03/27/2010

For a regular crop 5-6 hours is a good block of time. My consultant charges $1.50 an hour, and she just serves ice water and some cookies and has candy on the tables. When I've gone to a big all day crop with lunch and dinner I paid $35.00, but that was also because there were prize drawings and we got a packet when we came that had stickers, paper etc. I live in Utah and the bigger crops I've attended are in Idaho. So cost probably depends on what part of the country you live in.

Marta - posted on 03/26/2010

I love weekend retreats for cropping, otherwise noon to midnight usually works great. Unless there is a lot of incentive, I find it hard to pay for cropping when I can crop for free any other time. What type of gathering and what will be involved is also a factor, will there be a class involved etc...

Ruth Ann - posted on 03/25/2010

In my area a 12 hour crop goes for 25.00.

Gina - posted on 03/25/2010

Personally, anything less than a 6-hour crop is almost a waste of time for me. We've had a few 12-hour crops and they're great. We'd have lunch catered in (our cost was around $5 per person) or have lasagna from Sam's Club and a salad. We'd also have some light refreshments for breakfast and snacks (fruit, doughnuts, bagels), and simple drinks, coffee, water, tea. We charged $25-30, but each guest also received giveaways, there was a make-n-take, and we had mints, hard candies and chocolates spread across the tables for "sanity's sake" LOL.

Jeanna - posted on 03/25/2010

I've gone to a scrapbooking retreat. It starts on a Friday at 3pm and goes till Sunday at 3pm. Lodging and meals are included for a price of $200. It's awesome cause you have the whole weekend and you don't have to pack up until Sunday.

Kelly - posted on 03/25/2010

twelve hour crops are ideal for me.its enough time for me to really get something done, I have been to four hour crops and I feel like I have to pack up just when I'm getting going! My friend holds the 12 hr crops in a hotel conference room, we paid $40 a piece and it included lunch from Panera, door prizes, drawings and free gifts.

She also does two weekend crops a year, fri-sun, which I really enjoy, gives me time to socialize and get work done and see what everyone else is doing. I also live in MD.

Buffie - posted on 03/25/2010

look for a bed and breakfast, if they have those there. I have gone thursday - Saturday with 5 other girls for $175 each. They provide the room, beds linens ect. but NO food.... I

Michelle - posted on 03/24/2010

I have attended many noon - midnight crops ( they are very popular in my area). The cost is $30 - $75 for the day. That will include 4-6 feet of table space, lunch, dinner, goodie bags, door prizes and many drawings through the day. Some include raffles, 50/50 drawings and silent auctions. Some have free use of tools, "yard sale" table(croppers bring items they no longer want and sell them) sticker trade baskets and free boxes. Some have vendors selling products from Avon, Jewelry, Food, Purses and of course Papercrafting Products of all sorts from adhesive to cricut cartridges. There is no limit of range of product.
Some have mini workshops and make and takes.
The more you provide the more you can charge.
Food is a big issue ~ some ask for attendees to bring snacks to share, some have coupons for lunch at local business' that deliver or sandwich bar, dinner has been pizza and salad, sandwiches, taco bar, baked potato bar or something of that nature.
Goodie bags, drawings, and raffles are from donated items or items bought inexpensively. Getting donated items takes a fair amount of effort from the Hostess.
The more table space you can offer the better; we tend to spread out more as the day goes on.
Seating ~ make sure that the chairs are comfortable enough to sat in for hours and hours. I recently attended a crop that had plastic folding chairs that slanted toward the back with a ergonomic knee support (sounds comfortable huh?) but I am only 5' 1" and when I sat all the way back I couldn't reach the table, when I sat forward I was sitting on the "bump". I left early and was sore for two days. The friends I attended with complained also about being sore for the next couple days. Check out the chairs!!
Beverages: some crops provide water all day and soda at meal times, some provide water and ask that you bring your own beverage of choice (indicate in writing if alcohol is not allowed ~ don't assume the attendee will know)
Decide if child care is provided, if children are welcome and how young you are willing to host. I was at a crop where there were two babies crying for over half the day. The hall cleared out pretty early. Most croppers are moms that love children but have paid for a day away so they can scrap uninterrupted. Other croppers are not parents and don't understand the needs, wants of a child and didn't pay to sit by one.
Hope this is all information that will help you plan. After all the pros and cons are weighed I want to add that I have hosted a few all day crops and had a blast! New friends are made and it is very creatively stimulating to see others styles and learn something new by watching the person next to you.

Elizabeth - posted on 03/21/2010

I am a Creative Memories consultant and we have all day crops like that and charge $20 for registration and that could include free gifts and lunch; usually dinner is left up to the attendee because there may not be that many there for dinner. If you are wanting to offer more than lunch you might want to ask for a little more than $20 because you will probably have to rent a large enough place and then you are providing lunch and dinner and you want to make sure that all expenditures are covered.

Dona - posted on 03/21/2010

Hi Sara, well, you do need to talk to a lot of people from your area but here in MD, weekend crops are the best! They are very popular and fill up quickly, first come first serve and a lot of people beg for another weekend. It's a little get away time where we go and stay at a nearby hotel that works with the host to book a group of rooms. The last one I went to, there were 30 of us. We have a small conference room loaded with 4 x 8 foot tables and each person gets their own table. They have security there and once you get set up, you can leave it up overnight. They lock the room and have a security guard check it frequently. The hotel our host uses is a Marriot and they have free continental breakfast so she provides lunch and dinner on Saturday and lunch on Sunday. She provides snacks and drinks all day and asked each of us to donate either a snack or a drink (which everyone brought more than enough). We arrive early Saturday morning (7am) and don't have to check out on Sunday until 5pm and we have the conference room until 6pm so there's plenty of time to pack up. She charged $100 and that included our room stay and a packet of goodies (items from creative memories, about $50 retail, it included special papers, a borders set and lots of stickers). She also had "drawings" and games where we could win other stuff. Of course she had a display of products and lots available for others to buy stuff while they cropped. She also had a basket of "trade stickers", when you use some off a sheet but don't need the rest and are looking for something, you check out the basket, amazingly enough, you can usually find something you can use. Others trade whole sticker sheets where they might have gotten 2 sheets in a pack and only need 1. It's a nice idea for sharing.

One day crops here go for around $50 and usually go 9am to 7pm. The host provides breakfast, lunch and dinner, breakfast is usually a selection of bagels and cream cheese or similar things, lunch is usually some type of sandwich, subs or wraps and dinner is usually some type of pasta and a salad. The host usually has snacks and drinks available all day as well. She also has "door" prizes at the end where she gives away $50 retail in products for first, $25 for second and $15 for third. She also gives you a little gift for coming which is some special papers and stickers, about $20 retail. One day crops fill up quickly too, usually there are about 20-30 people at each one.

I think the hosts keep costs down by making the "meals" themselves, one had a pasta dish she made herself that was really good, no one really cares about what they eat though, it's more about the free time to crop, lol.

If you keep your cost reasonable and include products for them to use at the crop, people will jump on it. The host also offers use of all her tools at the crops (she sets up a separate table so it's easy to take paper or photos over and use) and has lots of idea books on another table. I've gone to many of them with different people hosting them and they all do them about the same way.

I wish you the best of luck and I'm sure it will be fun, just be sure to check with others in your area, like I said, I'm in MD and that's what the going rates are and the times. What we would call evening crops here, (Friday nights usually, 5pm-9pm) usually cost about $15 with dinner and a free sticker page. Dinner is usually finger food friendly kind of things so you can eat and crop and not mess up your photos :)

Good luck and again, have a great time!