10 Tips to Host an Oily Make & Take!

Soon after we found Young Living essential oils, I was finding ways to make my own nontoxic alternative products with the oils. After experimenting a little a friend and I thought we'd plan a Christmas Make and Take oil style! We did have a blast and the event was fun and successful. However, we quickly discovered the event was a lot of work and we decided to not do another for awhile.

Fast forward to last summer. My team was asking for another Make and Take and I hesitantly did a summer themed event. This event was larger (28 people showed up!) and had more take homes. 

I was overwhelmed to say the least, but everyone had a blast and the event was a success. 

Pretty last minute, my friend and I started planning another Christmas event. Our mission was to keep it simple, fun, educational, and easy. We made a few changes and we both agreed we managed to perfect the experience.

I wanted to share a few things we have learned and maybe help someone else looking into hosting their own oily event! 

1) Keep it simple! Avoid projects with lots of ingredients or steps. I found if there is one I'd like to share, but it will be pricey or time consuming, I'll make one at the event and then give it away as a door prize.

2) Only do around 4-5 make and take projects. This keeps the cost down and makes prep easier. The containers and jars are where the cost adds up. Also, this is good if you are limited on space to set up lots of stations.

3) Making the projects versatile to go with many different oils. This made it easier for those who didn't have many oils in their collection or only brought a few.

4) Have the guests prepay to guarantee they will show up and that you will brake even on the cost of materials and supplies. We used eventbrite.com with success. The small fee is paid by the ticket purchaser. Make sure to avoid conflict and post what you will do in the case of refunds. I do you can refund your ticket up to 2-3 days before the event. This gives time for someone else to fill their spot. You can decide what to do if someone can't make it due to sickness and such. 

5) Make the workshop only open for a set amount of guests. This helps you prepare enough materials and not have to worry about running out. That's where eventbrite comes in handy. You can set the event to only sell a set amount. I like to stick to 20 tickets.

6) Have the guests bring their own oils. This was a huge help for this past class. I didn't have to worry about having enough oils for each project. We made a list of suggested oils to bring and posted it on the Facebook event page and the eventbrite event. This worked out really well! If someone brought a non member they shared their oils with their friend. I also brought a stash of oils to have on hand incase someone didn't have any. Also, I made my oils available to those that didn't have one that went well with a particular project. 

7) Make a few oil infused dishes for a snack. Have oil infused water, iced tea, cider or hot cocoa. Remember, keep it simple!

8) Write the directions for the project on the plastic table cloths or on a piece of paper at each station. I like to have one project per table. If the table is large enough, you can make two stations work. Just make sure the guests have room to move around the table.

9) Have a recipe handout for the guest to take home. Have all your event's projects and directions listed. I include several more favorite household recipes as well. My goal is to teach my members more ways they can incorporate their oils into their daily lifestyle. 

10) RELAX and apply some Stress Away! The more events you do, the easier they will get! You'll start to figure out what works for you and what doesn't.

My goal is to do an event every 4-8 weeks this coming year! My team loves the Make and Take events and I do to! Try not to over complicate your event (Like I did!) and you will have so much fun! 

Yes, you still have to plan, prepare, set up, tear down and clean up…hopefully these 10 tips will help give you more confidence and less stress as you plan your oily make and take. 

This is a great way to get your non-oily friends to sample and learn more about essential oils! Have fun with it and take lots of pictures! 

(Me and my oily friend at the event!)