Just for Fun - New Graphics and Merch for The Merry Hoopsters
The Merry Hoopsters are a group of folks that have been camping together at the Philadelphia Folk Festival for 20 years, give or take.
I happen to be fortunate enough to be a member of the Hoopsters, since 2018 give or take.
In 2018 and 2019, someone else in the crew, an established leader of sorts, made t-shirts for everyone. In 2020, there was no official Folk Fest, due to COVID.
Despite this, our group of kooks organized a small campout for just our crew, complete with lots of hand sanitizer, single-serving snacks instead of large communal noms, and face masks. I took it upon myself last year to create a fun logo and order shirts and tank tops to commemorate our “Faux Fest” outing.
We even made a tiny version to send home to the youngest hoopster (who does not yet come to fest on account of being way too young to hang). His had only the front design, reserving the beer joke for those 21+ only.
The 2020 shirts were a big hit last year.
This year, I was really busy and didn’t feel like taking everyone’s shirt sizes, chasing people down for money one by one, and calling them out when they tried to take someone else’s size when they realized they ordered the wrong one for their pandemic bod. ;)
So instead, I made a cute graphic and we kept it simple with some 3”x3” stickers for everyone. On the plus side, after I showed the design to one of the other Hoopsters, she loved it so much she covered the expense to order them on the spot so we could just give them out for free. So no chasing anyone down for money, no debate about the difference between a mens XS and a women’s small….easy peasy.
Now that the campout is over, we are discussing getting some merch made, and taking the time to collect the money once we decide on a product. I may be biased, but I am pushing for something that is NOT t-shirts, for the reasons listed above.
Here are some of the cool and affordable items I can get with low minimum quantities (some as low as 12 units) that I presented to my group.
How much will it cost? I’m glad you asked!
The glass pint glasses (both kinds shown in the first 2 images) with 5 color screenprinting run approximately $13/each for an order of 36 units.
The double walled 22 oz beer glasses run approx $14.50/each for a run of 36, with full color printing.
The pillows could be sublimated (printed all over, both sides, etc) and run about $23/each for an order of 36 units, or even as few as 25 units at that price!
The carabiner camp mugs with full color printing run around $9.50/each for an order of 36 units.
The aluminum pint glasses with the full color printing run approx $9.60/each for an order of 36 units.
Once we finalize our votes and make an order, I’ll update you with the winning product.