Fab Fete: Contemporary Carnival

With so many elements to my Contemporary Carnival event, I had to split up the event elements into two posts.  As a continuation to my Carnival Candy Bar post, I’m going to go straight into all the other fun, fashionable details!  Making sure we had fun activities throughout the store was one of my concerns.  So though the men’s department featured the carnival candy bar, I still had the women’s fashions, shoes, handbags, cosmetics and jewelry departments to worry about on the first floor.  So first I confirmed fashionable gifts with purchase and raffles throughout the store.  Next I had our associates dress in carnival theme.  I even initiated a storewide contest for best carnival themed fashion which turned out to be a fun morale booster.  Check out these pictures and see how they got into it!

Throughout the store, we promoted “Magic Makeovers” and highlighted the super transformative powers of our makeup artists, personal shoppers and stylists.  Trust me, I’ve seen their work and they really can work magic!

By women’s fashions (women’s contemporary) and jewelry, I placed a directional sign, again using one of our disassembled coat hangers and simply posting our customized signs from Party NV who helped create all the graphic elements for the event.

I placed it behind our fashion fortune telling area to help draw attention to the fun, free and fabulous service.   Given our fashion fortune teller was going to be sitting while doing her readings, I knew I could get away with placing the sign behind her while still ensuring readability.

Our fashion fortune teller for the day was stylist, Cathy Berger from Fashion Societe. 

She was able to read people’s shopping needs and recommend what she saw in their fashion future.  I gave her the hat and lace black opera length gloves to wear, both helped to complete her carnival look.   And her crystal ball is simply a crackled fishbowl vase turned upside down on our Michael’s riser and bling plate.

The table was dressed in striped linens that I purchased used and super cheap from Cloth Connection on sale.  I again stapled the pom pom trim that I purchased from Cathie Filian  for a more customized and coordinated look.   Yes, I said stapled… I’ve customized event tables before with linens and trim and have painstakingly pinned every inch of the trim in the past.  And after getting severe back cramps and knowing how much sweat and toil that takes, I opted for the quick and easy 3minute version.  And it worked! 
Notice all the carnival graphic details of the tents, candy red and white stripes and vintage font elements.  I had the mini chocolates worded “shop til you drop” and used our leftover hang tags as a table topper, decorating the perimeter of the fashion fortune telling table.  What do you think?

A carnival needs fun games so I created a fashionable take on the traditional “Pin the Tail on the Donkey Game”.  There are no donkeys at Saks, nor should there be so I converted the title into “Pin the Purse on the Fashionista” and held it within the handbag department – makes sense, no?  Given I didn’t have the budget or staff to hire someone to man the game, I had our partner gym, Equinox man the table and use it to draw attention to their giveaway gym passes.  Shoppers would stop by, be tied with a scarf, be spun around then pin their purse of choice on the fashionista in front of them.  If they got it right, they would win a bigger Equinox pass.  For playing, everyone won a little something from Equinox and everyone was treated to some candied carnival peanuts too!  Here I am demonstrating to the Equinox guy, how I want the game to run.

The blindfolded gal is our fabulous intern who painstakingly helped tape all the mini chocolate covers and create those branded gift wrap popcorn holders in the previous post.  Thanks, Kaitlyn!

The Equinox guy was a super sport and agreed to wear the bowtie that I handed him.

Another game that we played was Fashion Pictionary.  Think Pictionary but with fashion terms like “perm”,” lingerie” and “stilettos.”

I had the intern write on the blank cards that Jodie from Party NV created for us.  I love Party NV!  They create custom party designs, decorations, favors and more!

Contestants won carnival themed goody bags for their participation.

Across the way in shoes were the clown shoe cupcakes.  I bought the clown shoe cupcake holders off of OrientalTrading.com  – they were the perfect match to our blue/red/white/black color theme.  And I asked our local baker to create red velvet cupcakes.  Colors must match, ladies!

For more on Party NV and other carnival themed parties, check this link and you’ll see where the original event graphics came from!

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