RECAP: Snowflake Soiree 2017!

Hello Wisconsin Winter!  We just had our third annual Midwest Teacher Blogger/TpT Meet Up and it was awesome!  You may remember, we had it during the summer the past two years, but we decided to change it up.  Summers are so busy for teachers as we try to pack everything in that we can't do during the year, so we thought moving the meet up to the winter was a better idea.  We wanted to have something to look forward to in the cold, Wisconsin winters.  And that's when the Midwest Snowflake Soiree came to be.

Angela from Hippo Hooray for Second Grade and Jessica from Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten, along with Paige from Our Elementary Lives, Amber from Mrs. Unger's Unbelievable Elementary Experiences, Brian from Wise Guys: Creativity for the Modern Classroom and Meg from The Teacher Studio hosted the third annual meet up for midwest bloggers and TpT authors.

The planning committee in front of our photo booth. 

Left to right, Brian, Amber, Paige, Jessica, Meg & Angela

This year it was held in the Wisconsin Dells at the Crystal Room at Buffalo Phil's Pizza & Grille.   With plenty of space and a great group of bloggers/TpTers, this meet up was the best one yet!  We got to reconnect with everyone we have met at the last meet ups and we got to collaborate in sessions to improve our businesses.   With over 35 participants, there were many familiar faces and some new faces as well.

Here's the awesome banner with the Platinum Sponsors: 

Kelli Alaina, Teachers pay Teachers & The Essential Teacher

Here's a little recap of our awesome day!  We started the morning with a mimosa bar and a meet and greet!  We got to say hi to our friends and introduce ourselves to people we hadn't met yet.

Here's the welcome table. 

And the welcome committee! 

 Once we got our name tags and our swag bags full of some fabulous swag, we found a seat and started to mingle.

The swag bags included gifts from The Essential Teacher, A Perfect Blend, Seat Sack, Teachers pay Teachers, Whimsy Clips, The Sparkle Bazaar, A+ Images, Planbook, Kindergarten Rocks, Our Elementary Lives, The Teacher Studio, Smartphone Marketing School,  and ABCs with Mrs. B.  

During our mingle time, we could get a mimosa, complete a post-it holder craft and put our name in as a raffle for the giveaways.

Here are some people crafting. 

 Table #1 of giveaways. 

 Table #2 of giveaways.  

 Let the meet up begin!

 After introductions, we started our first breakout session.  The sessions were based on ways to improve our businesses.  From Pinterest, to Facebook and collaborating to product creation, so many ideas were shared by all.  Everyone left with a list a mile long of things they wanted to do to better their businesses.

In between sessions, we got to eat lunch and enjoyed more time to connect and socialize.  And can I just say, the food was delicious.  That potato soup with bacon was seriously fabulous, am I right?  The service and hospitality from Buffalo Phil's was also wonderful!

Take a look at the center pieces made by Amber.  She did a great job with the decorations.  And thanks to her mom for having all the snowflake decor!

After several more breakout sessions, we got together in groups to do a product review/TpT store feedback.  Here we gave each other ideas and suggestions on a product or on our overall store look.  I think this was the best part of the day.  So many great suggestions were given to make our businesses even better!

At the end of the day, the giveaways were announced.  We each had 5 tickets with our names on them and we could put them in any giveaway bag we wanted.  Then names were chosen and giveaways were announced.

Here are the winners:

A+ Images, Teachers pay Teachers & C. Jayne Teach

 Teachers pay Teachers, Witt Fitt

Kendra Scott

C. Jayne Teach, TpT, Sit Spots, Classroom Friendly Supplies & Teacher T Shirts

 Classroom Friendly Supplies, Teacher T Shirts, Sit Spots, A Perfect Blend

 Hue Document Cameras

 Tieks, Seat Sack

 Seat Sack, Whimsy Clips

 Kelli Alaina, Smartphone Marketing School

 Amazon Gift Cards from Wise Guys, Teaching in the Tongass

So there you have it!  It was a fabulous day as always and we can't wait until next year.  Can we have one in the summer too?

Here's the whole group.

Again, we loved hosting this annual event and cannot wait to see everyone again.  We hope to see you next year!