Shecky’s

I went several years ago to the Shecky’s Girls Night Out in Denver. My friend and I didn’t know what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised. I want to say that it cost $ 15 to get in, and we got a free «Goody Bag». This bag had many samples of awesome new products… including a pair of the softest Karen Neuburger socks which, at the time, were retailing at Nordstrom for somewhere around $ 15 a pair. We got to participate in a pairing for women event sponsored by Anheuser Busch. They presented several beer varieties that I had never seen or obviously tried (some kind of blueberry wheat). That was an awesome component. We got to sample many beverages and products while we were there, and saw many unique vendors selling their wares. I only bought a few things, but they were good purchases.
When I saw the Groupon for tonight’s event in St Louis, I got a little excited. It was more expensive than it used to be, but it has been a few years… and with the Groupon, it was about the same cost. I was excited. I bought the Groupon, and excitedly headed toward the Coronado Ballroom this evening. Parking was scarce, so after looking for something on the street for 15 minutes, I decided to pay the $ 5 for the lot. I walked up, stood in line for about 15 minutes longer. A friendly police officer (that hilariously knew little about what was going on in the venue he was watching) checked all of our driver’s licenses, but then the girl’s doing the actual checking-​in needed to see them as well. It seemed a little redundant.
I got myself checked-​in, and moved into the next room, where there was a pretend red carpet set up, and a photographer. An employee noticed I was alone (awesome… was I wearing a neon sign or something?), and said that I could avoid the red carpet if I didn’t want a photo. Though I did appreciate the info, I would have been too embarrassed at this point to get a photo of myself. Can you imagine if I did do that? Oh, the hilarity! I filtered to the next room and picked up my goodie bag, then into the next room where I tried some wine. Blech. No bueno. The company (Jam Jam) also gave out chapsticks. I hope the chapstick is better, though my hopes aren’t super high for a free chapstick.
I walked around the room… pretty quickly because there wasn’t too much I wanted to see. I got a sample of some kind of creamy Peach liquor (they also had Strawberry). This was very yummy. I just did a little google search for creamy peach liquor. The name, it turns out, is Qream. Pharrell is the celebrity face behind this new product… but what that means is really unclear to me. Did he spend his hours in the lab mixing up fruity concoctions? I think not. Though I find it silly to have a celebrity basically say that he or she is the brainchild of a product, if Shecky’s had given a small bottle of this, they would have earned at least another star for it.
After «Qream»… ugh, that name… I walked back through the first room to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I didn’t. I noticed a mostly naked male, who was serving up samples of La Croix sparkling waters. I asked if the Coconut water was good… and he offered a sample. He was Australian. I get it. Have the hot Aussie at the events, and you’ll bring in the ladies. Smart, marketers! Smart. It smelled pretty heavenly. It was not. I do like flavored waters (mandarin orange is my favorite if you’re taking notes), but I was not a fan of this one.
I ran into a friend from college that I haven’t seen since, and she happened to be with a girl I recognized from my high school. My chance run-​in was one of the highlights.
I got home, and looked in my bag. A new Venus razor, several samples from Body Shop (perfume, lotion, shampoo, and conditioner), A plastic martini shaker, a trio of Softlips lip protectant, an Aveeno moisturizing sample, several Goody Colours hairbands, a travel sized Dial body wash, a small Lady Speed Stick, a Loreal hairspray from their new Satin line, a Nivea lotion and some DekTek floss picks. It’s a pretty good swag bag, but it doesn’t compare to the KN socks.
This wasn’t what I expected, but all of the samples will be awesome for my Denver trip next week.
Mediocre Shopping and Sampling