renting Christmas decorations

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renting Christmas decorations

Posted By: Rod Newbound
Date: Thursday, 7 October 2004, at 12:36 a.m.

Hello all,
Thank you for providing this forum. I am a frequent visitor to sowpub and really enjoy the posts. What a great service you are providing.
I just finished reading the latest issue of The Great Ideas Letter, where you brought up the idea of renting Christmas decorations to businesses. I think it is a viable idea and the decorating part itself can really pay off. My wife works at a plant nursery which turns their greenhouse into a Christmas theme (and of course sells thousands of dollars worth of ornaments, etc.) every year. They spend months creating theme trees with matching ornaments every year.
Every year they have people approach them about buying their trees already decorated (and there is a a company which actually caters to that idea). The way they do it is they have a few standard pre-lighted "fake" trees from which the customer chooses. The customer orders from these and the tree is shipped directly from the warehouse to their home. For a 9' pre-lighted "flocked" fake tree the price is $300-$400. Some people buy even more expensive trees. And these trees have no ornaments.
I told my wife she and her co-workers need to privately do decorations in addition to their regular job. The problem is they are so busy with their regular job during the holidays, they are just too tired to do more. Since most families now have two "breadwinners", I'm sure many families feel the same way. And in the wealthier neighborhoods there are extravagant Christmas parties where money is not an issue.
I worked for a place for a while in Seattle which paid a lot of money for "Victorian" dressed carolers to come in for about 30 minutes. Just another angle.
Clearly Christmas is a bigger season for decorating than any other, but this idea could easily be transposed to other holidays and themes. I still smile when I think about the story of the "off-key singing telegram". The idea could easily be enhanced with the holiday theme tee-shirts from a few weeks ago. Think there isn't money in decorating? My wife's co-worker just told her she spent just one day doing a special decorating job for a single store locally which paid her $3400 for the job(this included the cost of the "set"). And this wasn't even for Christmas.

Messages In This Thread

renting Christmas decorations
Rod Newbound -- Thursday, 7 October 2004, at 12:36 a.m.

Do it remotely
Michael Ross -- Friday, 8 October 2004, at 8:23 a.m.

Re: renting Christmas decorations
sandy -- Sunday, 10 October 2004, at 3:03 p.m.

Excellent idea!
Michael Ross -- Monday, 11 October 2004, at 8:18 a.m.

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Message: > Hello all, > Thank you for providing this forum. I am a > frequent visitor to sowpub and really enjoy > the posts. What a great service you are > providing. > I just finished reading the latest issue of > The Great Ideas Letter, where you brought up > the idea of renting Christmas decorations to > businesses. I think it is a viable idea and > the decorating part itself can really pay > off. My wife works at a plant nursery which > turns their greenhouse into a Christmas > theme (and of course sells thousands of > dollars worth of ornaments, etc.) every > year. They spend months creating theme trees > with matching ornaments every year. > Every year they have people approach them > about buying their trees already decorated > (and there is a a company which actually > caters to that idea). The way they do it is > they have a few standard pre-lighted > "fake" trees from which the > customer chooses. The customer orders from > these and the tree is shipped directly from > the warehouse to their home. For a 9' > pre-lighted "flocked" fake tree > the price is $300-$400. Some people buy even > more expensive trees. And these trees have > no ornaments. > I told my wife she and her co-workers need > to privately do decorations in addition to > their regular job. The problem is they are > so busy with their regular job during the > holidays, they are just too tired to do > more. Since most families now have two > "breadwinners", I'm sure many > families feel the same way. And in the > wealthier neighborhoods there are > extravagant Christmas parties where money is > not an issue. > I worked for a place for a while in Seattle > which paid a lot of money for > "Victorian" dressed carolers to > come in for about 30 minutes. Just another > angle. > Clearly Christmas is a bigger season for > decorating than any other, but this idea > could easily be transposed to other holidays > and themes. I still smile when I think about > the story of the "off-key singing > telegram". The idea could easily be > enhanced with the holiday theme tee-shirts > from a few weeks ago. Think there isn't > money in decorating? My wife's co-worker > just told her she spent just one day doing a > special decorating job for a single store > locally which paid her $3400 for the > job(this included the cost of the > "set"). And this wasn't even for > Christmas.
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