A to Z Challenge - 2019 - X is for Expo

My oh my we are down to just 3 letters in this year's A to Z 10th Anniversary Challenge!  For X I am using EXPO as my word which comes in very handy since the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt is using a word with XP!   Thanks, Linda, for helping us keep on track with two challenges!

I've mentioned that I get ideas from magazines and kits, but another big source of inspiration and the place I get a lot of my supplies from is the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo.  There are three Expos a year within traveling distance although I usually only go to two of them.   It is a great time for me to spend a day with my niece, Donna, who is my scrapbook buddy.

We buy our tickets online and then pick them up at Will Call.  If we get there early enough - of course we do! - they give you a Golden Ticket that you can use to try to win a door prize.

There is a big table that has all the different prizes donated by the vendors at the show.  We take our time looking at each one and then when we decide what we want to try for, we put the ticket stub in the matching bin.  Of course we go for different things so there is a chance for each of us to win.  There are also workshops going on during the day and usually we take one of those too.  When you pay for a workshop, you get free admission to the showroom.   

The prize table

The workshop schedule

Inside the actual showroom there are anywhere from 30 to 50 or more different vendors showing off their products.  There are early bird specials if you get to the booths before a certain time.  We don't always care about those but sometimes there are good ones like buy one and get one free of certain things.   

My niece, Donna, ready to shop

They are just about to let us in.

There are also floor demonstrators.  They show you how to use the new products and let you do "make and takes" so you can try them for yourself and then keep what you make.

All through the day they call out door prizes.  There are a couple of ways to win.  One way is just by your name because you bought a ticket.  One is the "number game."  There are numbers on the floor and when they tell you they are going to pick a number, you try to find one and stand on it.  I was lucky #11 once.  I won a paper pack with some extra goodies in it.  Donna won one too at a different show.

Of course the most coveted prize is the one from the Golden Ticket.  Both my niece and I have been lucky enough to win one.  Mine was from the company called Scrap That and this is me with the manager of the company.  

It is a really fun day for my niece and I.  We always come away with some great bargains and some new ideas to try.  The next one is in June in Santa Clara and I'm looking forward to going! 

Happy Shoppers

Have you ever been to a Stamp and Scrapbook Expo?  Does it look like fun?  Tomorrow is a day of rest.  Come back Monday for the letter Y.  I'm going to try something really different.  Care to guess what?