Mother's Day spa box - thoughts?

[dixiedragon]

I volunteer with a dog rescue group, and I'm thinking about putting together a mother's day spa box fund raiser. $50/box, including shipping. I'm planning to use the Region A boxes, so shipping will be less than $10 in the contiguous 48. and I doubt I'll have many (if any) boxes going to Hawaii or Alaska!

Here's what I'm planning for the box to include:
Soap - 2
EO blend - 2 (small bottle of some sort of EO blend, maybe a roller ball bottle, maybe a dropper bottle)
Scented wax melt - 2
Lip balm - 2
Bath salts - 1 bag with 4 servings
Lotion - 1 4 oz jar
Whipped shea - 1 4 oz jar

I'm going to have the items made so customers won't be buying at random, for example, 1 bar of lavender oatmeal soap, 1 bar of lime blossom soap, 1 bottle of Lavender Rose Geranium EO blend, etc. With pictures. I plan to start making soap now so it is ready to go. I'm only going to offer 50 boxes, and I plan to ask the rescue to cover shipping costs. I just can't do $500, assuming all of the boxes get bought!

Not sure of the best way to sell these. I think the Rescue could make a listing on their page for it with pictures, PayPal, etc and that way it would be easy for people to share? Any other ideas?

I'll make the soap now. Leftover soap I can easily give away for Christmas. Same with lip balm. I'll make the other things in small batches so I don't have a ton left if the boxes don't sell.

Looking for any thoughts/ideas/input.

 

[Obsidian]

Make sure to advertise locally too. Put up a flyer at the rescue and if there is a pet store close, put one up there if they will let you. Maybe you could even have a pick up day at the rescue for anyone local who buys, saves on shipping.

Do you have any local facebook yard sale groups? Many will allow posting for fundraising. Not sure if you use etsy but if you do, make sure to list there.

 

[dixiedragon]

The rescue doesn't have their own facility - they're all foster based. I do plan on advertising at the weekly adoption events at local pet stores. I will check with local sale groups - good idea!

 

[dixiedragon]

If this is a success, my plan is to offer holiday boxes (Father's Day, Christmas, Valentine's) and maybe seasonal ones.

 

[amd]

If they do an email newsletter, make sure it gets included in there! A clickable shopping link works wonders in email.

 

[dixiedragon]

Waiting for my new Nurture mold to come in!
One of my soaps will be Rose Petals & Honey, with rose FO and honey. I'll be combining a few rose samples with a larger bottle.

Second bar - now I'm struggling, because I typically buy in 2 and 4 oz quantities, and now I need 8 0z to make 40-50 bars! Maybe I will advertise the box as containing 1 bar of Rose Petals & Honey, and one bar of a surprise fresh green scent. I have BB's Fresh Bamboo and BB's Cucumber & Kiwi. I'll be able to do everything else the same - everything NOT CP uses minuscule amounts of fragrance.

 

[shunt2011]

I like your idea of a kind of mystery soap for the second one.

 

[cerelife]

@dixiedragon, this is such a great idea!!
I volunteer for Southern States Mastiff Rescue and I've never even thought about using my soaping business to their benefit. Thank you for the inspiration!!!

 

[dixiedragon]

@dixiedragon, this is such a great idea!!
I volunteer for Southern States Mastiff Rescue and I've never even thought about using my soaping business to their benefit. Thank you for the inspiration!!!

I think the forum needs an Animal Rescue subforum, lol. I've been wanting sell stuff to benefit an organization for a while but I've had a hard time figuring a way to do it. I am really digging the spa box idea because I don't have to have a huge inventory, move it to craft shows, etc. I hope it works out! I looked on Etsy and most $50 spa boxes have a lot less stuff, so I think it's a good deal.

I've also decided to add a No Added Fragrance spa box. I've had a few people come to me looking for stuff with no fragrance and I realized they probably have a really hard time finding lotion, bath bombs, etc! So I'm going to make the same kind of stuff, but with no FO or EO. There will be cocoa butter, virgin coconut etc, so some items will have a very light fragrance from the ingredients themselves.