Last weekend, I attended my second Monster Mania convention. I went to my first Monster Mania back in September, in Hunt Valley, MD. It was there where I really met Chad. It was also the first time I made dolls (one Freddy and one Michael). Last weekend at the MM in Cherry Hill, NJ was the first time attending a convention with Chad, and being on my own as a vendor.
I've been to few conventions, having only begun doing so last September, and since I've been going, I usually have been with my bff Kristy, who works for Fright Rags and I would help her sell/watch the table if she needed to step away, etc. But being a "real" vendor on my own was such a thrill!
I flew down to Maryland earlier in the week to spend time with Chad and had sent all my items down previously. After putting the finishing touches on most of the dolls (also thanks to Chad's mom for helping, and Chad for attempting to help) sewing the tags on, and printing out price lists, I felt really excited and ready.
Early Friday morning, we loaded up his car, and were on the road around 10:30 so we could make it to vendor check in on time (which began at noon). About an hour into our venture, Chad realized he left something pretty important at home, and we headed back. What was supposed to be a 2.5 hour trip ended up being a 6 hour trip also thanks to Jersey traffic. Oh well, what's a road trip without some minor hiccups? At least we ended up at the hotel safely and in one piece.
When we finally arrived, the convention had just started. We unloaded and I immediately threw all my stuff on the table and got to chit chat with my pal Jes, who was selling her awesome artwork.
It was definitely very different being on the vendor side of things. I'm used to walking around for hours, meeting numerous celebs and buying crap I have no room for. Instead, I spent my days mostly sitting behind my table, which was actually pretty draining (and did a number on my vocal cords). I wouldn't have traded it for anything though. I got to meet a lot of people and customers that I've interacted with through email or Facebook, I got to see people's reactions to my products and did a bit of networking.
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| Chad with Nick Castle and the Michael Knit Terror |
Chad was a huge help that weekend, he ran around for me so much and sacrificed a good chunk of his hang out time with friends to sit at the table with me. We were both exhausted all weekend, but I wanted to make sure he still got to have his fun. I don't know what I would have done without him.
Despite feeling absolutely horrendous, we ended up doing a Dirty Santa get together with a bunch of Chad's friends. It was a lot of fun, and I ended up with a copy of Robert Englund's "Hollywood Monster".
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| Michael Baldwin and myself |
Sunday was pretty lackluster. I was really low on dolls (went from over 50 on Friday and was left with about 5 on Sunday). Since the day was a little slow, I was able to walk around with Kristy and Chad a bit. Met Michael Baldwin of Phantasm Nick Castle and Doug Bradley (both loved and now own their dolls).
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| Doug Bradley, Pinhead Knit Terror and myself |
Packing up was a little depressing, and would have been a lot more boring if it weren't for Jes' daughter Maeby playing around and crawling under my table. She had me cracking up! We had about an hour and a half of nothing until a bunch of us were going to hit up the Pop Shop. Dinner was great, about 20 of us there, and racked up a bill of over $400.
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| me & Kristy. I looked (and felt) so exhausted! |
Luckily, Chad and my drive home wasn't too bad, and we made it home in the time we were supposed to, and safely.
Such a long weekend, but it was such a great experience! I won't be vending again until MM in August, then the plan is to do Horrorfind, MM Hunt Valley and Rock & Shock as well.
