{"id":1228,"date":"2009-11-02T13:22:19","date_gmt":"2009-11-02T18:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2025-06-03T09:14:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T15:14:30","slug":"christmas-open-house-checklist-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/02\/christmas-open-house-checklist-part-one","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Open House Checklist, Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\">Christmas Open Houses are a great way to drive traffic to your store and create a community social event. This is the first of a two-part series on how to plan your own Christmas Open House, step by step.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">To hold your own Christmas Open House this year, start with this checklist to help you get organized.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Plan Your Fun-Filled Event, One Step at a Time.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Expand your mailing list. Include a sign-up list at your checkout station. Give customers the option to be notified of sales and specials events &#8211; don\u2019t forget to collect email addresses too.<\/li>\n<li>Stock your store with holiday merchandise by mid-October at the latest.\u00a0Pass out <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/wish-list.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wish Lists like this one<\/a><\/span> for customers to create their own personal gift registry.\u00a0Have them write down their favorite items and return the form to someone on your staff. Friends and family can then stop by and choose something on the registry. This is especially helpful for male shoppers \u2013 they can call in advance and you\u2019ll have the gift wrapped and ready to pick up.<\/li>\n<li>Set a date \u2013 preferably the same weekend each year so customers can plan to attend.\u00a0For extra incentive, plan a special sale.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re planning to include a Santa, book one early. Hire a local photographer or recruit someone on your staff to take pictures.<\/li>\n<li>Decorate your store with bold holiday decorations. Include a sign about the open house in your window display.<\/li>\n<li>Starting in November, play Christmas music and use candles or diffusers to create a Christmas mood.<\/li>\n<li>Display door prizes near the front of the store, preferably at a table where people can sign up for your mailing list and be entered in the drawing. Include small prizes such as Christmas ornaments or small boxes of gourmet treats \u2013 it\u2019s more fun when more people win.<\/li>\n<li>Get your holiday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/packaging-category\/christmas-packaging-supplies\/mc-55\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">gift wrapping<\/a> station organized. A free gift wrapping service will really set you apart and will pay for itself with the customer loyalty you\u2019ll build. Advertise this free service in your marketing. Make sure your bags are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/printed-packaging\/paper-bags\">custom printed<\/a> or use a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/printed-packaging\/labels\">personalized label<\/a> so you will advertise your business to each gift recipient.<\/li>\n<li>Plan an easy holiday menu \u2013 punch or cider, cookies and candies, and nuts, dips and appetizers to balance out savory and sweet. If you sell gourmet food or mixes, by all means serve what you sell! Carryout party trays from local restaurants are great. You can even hire a caterer or get staff to help. Set up the food table at the back of your store to encourage the flow of traffic.<\/li>\n<li>If needed, recruit extra help for the event to wrap gifts, serve punch, or take photos.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"left\">For tips on promoting your event, keeping everything running smoothly the day of, and following up with customers afterward read Part 2 below.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/09\/christmas-open-house-checklist-part-two\">Click here for Part Two of our Christmas Open House Checklist<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas Open Houses are a great way to drive traffic to your store and create a community social event.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/02\/christmas-open-house-checklist-part-one\">Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":388,"featured_media":1990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[155,295,17,6972,238,1,162],"tags":[234,228,232,229,233,6986,235,231,230],"class_list":{"0":"post-1228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"category-featured-customers","9":"category-gift-gourmet-business","10":"category-how-to-videos","11":"category-offering-gift-wrapping","12":"category-packaging","13":"category-business-101","14":"tag-christmas-gift-wrapping","15":"tag-christmas-open-house","16":"tag-christmas-retailing","17":"tag-gift-registry","18":"tag-holiday-open-house","19":"tag-retail","20":"tag-retail-gift-wrapping","21":"tag-retail-open-house","22":"tag-wish-list","23":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/388"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1228"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32466,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions\/32466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashvillewraps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}