It's been two years since I started my craft night The Craft and Cocktail Club! For those that don't know this is one of my businesses- a monthly craft night with cocktails!
Up to now, there's been 19 Craft and Cocktail Club nights, 3 Craft and Mocktail Clubs (Our event for under 18s!) over 44 different craft projects made and over 300 cocktails drunk!
I can't believe I've been hosting these nights since 2016! When did that sneak up on me?
With the opening of our second venue for The Craft and Cocktail club this Friday at Hooray's Britsh Gelato Kitchen in Stratford upon Avon I thought it would be cool to record the journey of The Craft and Cocktail club so far!
I suppose that the path of The Craft and Cocktail club started back in 2014 in our lounge, I invited a couple of friends over for a Christmas craft night taking over the lounge and covering the floor with glitter! We made snowglobes, Star decorations and Hama beads snowflakes and of course drunk lots of mulled wine!
Then in 2015 I hosted a spring craft night, again in the lounge. We made flower crowns, decoupaged frames and made plastic animals into cute keyrings. I went to town on the snacks and the spring theme- even laying down beach mats to make a rug to sit on. It was a lovely night, spending quality time with friends that made me think there was something in setting this up as a monthly night.
At the beginning of 2016, I approached the Churchill Theatre about starting a craft night for adults and it wasn't long before The Craft and Cocktail club was born. I am massively grateful to Kiaran for giving me the opportunity to give it a go and being there every step of the way.
I've been passionate for a long time about crafting for adults, there is so much for children to do craft wise but once you pass a certain age it's harder to find somewhere to get crafty!
I am not the type to go clubbing or even out to the pub often- I like sitting down and chatting with my friends So I wanted the craft and cocktail club to be a night out that was exactly that- a place to chill have a great time with friends for all of those like me who want a night out without the noise of a bar, with added glitter and glue!
Here's the poster I made to promote the first night, No photoshopping involved here- I laid everything out on the dining room table, stood on a chair to take the photo then cropped it to fit!
The first Craft and Cocktail club happened on the 19th February, Made up entirely of my friends who had very kindly bought tickets, which I am so grateful for ( most of whom have been to almost all of the 19 Craft and Cocktails to date)- You have to start somewhere! We made pom-pom keyrings, marbled bird photo holders and embroidered notebooks.
Lots of things have changed and evolved since this first night- Doing three crafts in the time frame was very ambitious so we took it down to two which works so much better. The first one didn't have The craft challenge either- It took everyone a while to get going and get into crafting before, adding the craft challenge felt like the perfect way to counteract this and has been a big hit at every craft and cocktail club ever since.
I also realised very quickly that the further into the night it is , the more drunk people get- so leaving crafts like sewing until last was not the best idea! That's been a big learning curve all the way through; thinking about the order of the crafts that will work best for a drinking crowd, that also factors in drying time and logistics of 30 people using glue guns!
It took a while for The craft and cocktail club to grow to a point where it sold out and I am super pleased to have lots of gorgeous ladies coming back!
Of course not everything has gone smoothly or without some hilarious moments there was the lady that grabbed all of supplies and scuttled back to her table like a hamster filling it's cheeks with food, the table of women that didn't make a thing but drank about three bottles of wine each and had the best time ever, the ones where there almost wasn't any cocktails, the one where the glue didn't work when making tissue paper decorations or the one where none of the plugs worked when using the glue guns.
It feels important to also include the one complaint, however upsetting it was to me (I always want everyone to have the best time!) It was over their cocktail so thankfully not personal to the night it's self and easily resolved. I have to be proud that it's the only one over two years!
Last year we did our first themed Craft and Cocktail night- with a Harry Potter theme- which went down a treat, I had to add extra tickets which also sold out! This year I am adding more themed nights to the calendar as these are such good fun.
This week is the first Craft and Cocktail at our second venue, Hooray's in Stratford upon Avon. Which marks a very exciting first step in growing the Craft and Cocktail club to lots of new venues! A big step that took me a while to make, but I am so glad I finally took the plunge. Especially as it looks like the first cocktail at Hooray's is going to be unicorn themed!
My only regret so far is not having enough time to take more photos, I'm always to busy crafting and chatting I forget to take them!
So here's to the next two years of Craft and Cocktail Club, from my lounge to two venues in two years- What will the next two years bring? World domination perhaps?
You can find tickets for upcoming Craft and Cocktail Club nights at : www.craftandcocktailclub.co.uk/book-now
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