meet and greet question (general)

[Starflyr3]

I am organizing a meet and greet on an upcoming trip and thought it might be fun to have a little "prize drawing" as part of it.

 

What kinds of things would people be interested in "winning"?

 

should I go small, like glow jewelry/fun sunglasses/lanyards or big like wine/champagne?

 

Stuff from on land or stop at the onboard store?

 

Help!

[beachbum53]

I am organizing a meet and greet on an upcoming trip and thought it might be fun to have a little "prize drawing" as part of it.

 

What kinds of things would people be interested in "winning"?

 

should I go small, like glow jewelry/fun sunglasses/lanyards or big like wine/champagne?

 

Stuff from on land or stop at the onboard store?

 

Help!

 

Based on (our) past experiences, you can probably figure on about a third of those saying they'll come to actually show up. There's a good chance that you'll end up taking a bunch of stuff back home. Quite honestly, while it seems like a good idea, I would forget about buying prizes for everyone. An alternative idea would be to have everyone attending bring one item per family member with them. That way, there would be an even number of prizes, and you don't get stuck lugging a bunch of stuff back home that doesn't get handed out. The prizes can be for anyone, regardless of age or sex.

[SPacificbound]

If there are more than just a few people you are going to be carrying a bunch of stuff.

 

As far as "glow jewelry" etc. I wouldn't think that would be very popular. Wine would be fine for some and not for others. Not sure how much you want to spend, but something like Post It notes and pens, highlighters, magnet clip, magnet hook, etc wouldn't take up much room and would be very useful.

 

Fairly often on Roll Calls someone will organize a gift exchange for those who want to participate. The ones I have usually seen are limited to $20.00 or so, and have been gifts from where the giver is from. As gifts are turned in the giver gets a ticket, then at some point those with tickets get to pick up a gift.

Edited March 7, 2016 by SPacificbound

[Bonnie J.]

At one meet & greet everyone was asked to bring a gift- $10 max. I brought a six pack size cooler that I got as a free gift on Carnival. The gifts were wrapped so you didn't know what it was. Everyone put what they brought on a table. Then numbers were drawn to see who could choose 1st. Only those who brought something got something. It was fun but not everyone brought a gift but we still had fun!

You shouldn't buy anything but your gift.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Bonnie J.

[Starflyr3]

we arent doing a gift exchange...

 

Im organizing it, and we're doing an icebreaker with an item (that Im providing, w/the invite) and I was thinking of numbering those and pulling like 5 numbers out of a hat (or similar) and having a few "prizes" for showing up. Not something for everyone. Does that make any sense?

 

Or should I just drop the idea entirely?

 

The glow jewelry is b/c its NCL and people seem to like glow stuff at the white hot party - not because I think most people love glow necklaces! ;)

[sparks1093]

we arent doing a gift exchange...

 

Im organizing it, and we're doing an icebreaker with an item (that Im providing, w/the invite) and I was thinking of numbering those and pulling like 5 numbers out of a hat (or similar) and having a few "prizes" for showing up. Not something for everyone. Does that make any sense?

 

Or should I just drop the idea entirely?

 

The glow jewelry is b/c its NCL and people seem to like glow stuff at the white hot party - not because I think most people love glow necklaces! ;)

 

It makes sense and you are limited only by your imagination and your airline weight limit:). I know several places where I could get my hand on some Vermont made/marked items that are small and relatively inexpensive so that is probably what I would do.

[Nic6318]

I am organizing a meet and greet on an upcoming trip and thought it might be fun to have a little "prize drawing" as part of it.

 

What kinds of things would people be interested in "winning"?

 

should I go small, like glow jewelry/fun sunglasses/lanyards or big like wine/champagne?

 

Stuff from on land or stop at the onboard store?

 

Help!

 

Hi there

 

In this situation I think it more a matter what is fair for you to do. Don't go too far out of your way in this planning. I gather this is for your roll call group. While it isn't always the case as was said, sometimes people say they will come but just don't show up. I have had times when myself and my wife were the only ones to show up but other times we have had a hundred people :).

 

A gift exchange is easy but keep the limit to spend very small. It should just be a token. Some groups arrange activities such as a slot pull. You need to try and get a real sense of what others in the roll call would like to do. Just arranging the time and place so that it doesn't conflict with peoples schedules is sometimes task.

 

Now if it is apparent that you have a fair size group and you wanted to have some nice prizes, I would be looking to the cruise line for possible assistance. To start with you would need a venue, but the CD and or staff will often be able to arrange this. I would suggest that you go to the NCL board and ask there what others were able to do and who they contacted.

 

As I said don't knock yourself out but have a good time.

 

have a great cruise

[Grandma Dazzles]

It is thoughtful of you, but I agree that you have no idea how many people will show up. You might want to consider something very small, or to be used on the trip, e.g. Candy, bookmark, magnet.

 

Have participated in several gift exchanges at meet and mingles and for anyone flying weight and size can be very important.

[DocF]

There is a huge problem with organizing any sort of a roll call meet and greet. That is one has no idea who or how many will show up.

 

I have had 40 people say they would be there and had literally almost 200 show. It was fun and we had a great time and I was glad we had planned very little as it would not have worked well.

 

I have also had 40 people say they would be there and had two others show up. We picked up two stray couples and had a fine time chatting, but I would have been more than disappointed if I had planned much of anything besides getting together and saying "Hey" to each other.

 

Most of the time the results are somewhere in between. The best ones have been extremely casual with little planned. The one that had lots of planning put in to it, was not very good and the other planner and I felt we has wasted a lot of effort.

 

Be guided accordingly.

 

Doc:p

[LHT28]

I just bring names tags for people to fill out & wear

sometimes the group is so large you will not get to meet only a few

If your group is small you get to introduce yourselves

 

Never done a gift exchange or slot pull etc..

we all seem to be there just to put faces to the names

 

YMMV

[Starflyr3]

We're doing a slot pull, and we have the venue and time for the M&G

 

I just wanted to make it a little more interesting is all. :)

 

I don't have time for much, we're leaving Saturday ;). My Mom is helping with the invites; we have 90 adults and about 50 kids. Idk if the kids will show up. Mine probably will be in kids club.

[hoopslover]

Our Panama Canal cruise on NCL had a great meet and mingle, slot pull, cabin crawl. Anyone who wanted to participate was asked to bring a small gift from wherever they were from. Cost was limited to under $15, I think. People brought various items from around the world. Everyone who brought a gift pulled a # from a basket and we chose a gift based on the # we drew. Most people brought a bag to put their gift in.

 

Slot pull was fun. Everyone put in $15 and each one got 5 pulls on a dollar wheel of fortune machine. Each pull was worth $3. All of the money was put into the machine at the beginning and everyone pulled. Those hitting a jackpot over $40 was given $40 off the top and the rest was divided between the participants. I think we broke even or it was pretty close.

 

The cabin crawl was great as we had people staying in the haven, owner's suites and everything in between. NCL provided snacks for all of us in the haven. I probably won't ever see those staterooms again.