Please note that the Crowne Plaza hotel is now Completely Sold Out!
If you were still waiting to get a room at the hotel, I need you to contact me immediately so I can make a list for a neighboring hotel. We have been contacted about a discounted rate if we have several people who still need rooms. Please do not wait until the last minute to be put on the list as the event taking over the Crowne Plaza is potentially going to spill over to some of the other neighboring hotels as well.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Costumers' Lost Weekend 2013 Hotel Update - Very Important!
This last week has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. We've had some great announcements and some surprises. Thankfully though, even the surprises already had contingency plans formulating due to word getting around about what we are doing and other businesses wanting to get involved. I hope to be able to make more exciting announcements in a week or so, but for right now, the most important business involves hotel room reservations at our host hotel, the Crowne Plaza.
As you all know, we were given a very nicely discounted rate for our event attendees to encourage overnight stay at the hotel. What you may not know is that we were only guaranteed a small number of rooms at that rate as a complimentary gesture. These rooms are not bound by contract.
According to my contacts at Crowne Plaza, we no longer have the luxury of waiting until June to reserve our sleeping space in the hotel. We will be sharing the hotel with a large event which has reserved all the remaining space. As such, once our rooms in our complimentary block are sold, there will be no more discounted rooms available. In addition, there may very well be no rooms available at the Crowne Plaza at all. And if that wasn't enough, because our room block is complimentary and not contracted (contracted room blocks mean the DFWCG guarantees the purchase of that number of rooms and is responsible for paying for the rooms not rented in the block), we run a risk of having our complimentary room block sold out from under us the closer it gets to our event date.
Have you made your reservations yet?
If you have not made your reservations yet, please be aware of the following changes:
As you all know, we were given a very nicely discounted rate for our event attendees to encourage overnight stay at the hotel. What you may not know is that we were only guaranteed a small number of rooms at that rate as a complimentary gesture. These rooms are not bound by contract.
According to my contacts at Crowne Plaza, we no longer have the luxury of waiting until June to reserve our sleeping space in the hotel. We will be sharing the hotel with a large event which has reserved all the remaining space. As such, once our rooms in our complimentary block are sold, there will be no more discounted rooms available. In addition, there may very well be no rooms available at the Crowne Plaza at all. And if that wasn't enough, because our room block is complimentary and not contracted (contracted room blocks mean the DFWCG guarantees the purchase of that number of rooms and is responsible for paying for the rooms not rented in the block), we run a risk of having our complimentary room block sold out from under us the closer it gets to our event date.
Have you made your reservations yet?
If you have not made your reservations yet, please be aware of the following changes:
- June 7, 2013 is still the final deadline for reservations on the discount code DCG. After this deadline there will be no more rooms given out at a discount.
- May 15, 2013 is a new deadline for a guarantee for our rooms in the discounted block. After May 15th, the Crowne Plaza may exercise their right to sell rooms in our block to people paying full price for the other event. There is no guarantee that they will or won't do this, but please be aware it may happen.
- The Friday night complimentary block was much smaller and is already sold out.
- Once we sell out our rooms in the complimentary block, we are not guaranteed to be able to acquire any more rooms, even at the full price rate.
- Full price rate is $139-$159
When making your reservations, if you have trouble with reserving over the internet, please call the front desk directly at 972-980-8877. If you still have trouble reserving a room, request to be transferred to Priscilla Johnson. Then, please e-mail me to be put on a reservations waiting list. I will then respond to you with information for the contingency plan I am working on now at the Residence Inn next door.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
You asked for it, we got it!
When Costumers' Lost Weekend began as tiny hope and then developed into determination, the CLW committee put out a survey of the kinds of panels our potential attendees wanted to attend. Far and above the other requests, hat making panels were the popular choice. Not just one kind of hat panel, but several kinds of hat panels requested several times over. Unfortunately we couldn't make a hat panel happen last year. But this year we have delivered!
Sharon Sullivan of Dream Hats fame has graciously agreed to teach us the basics of buckram hat blocking. If you've attended All-Con, or Anime Fest, or Fen Con in Dallas, then you've likely seen Sharon's work in person. You can also see her hats year around at Dallas Pin Up in Deep Ellum.
Follow her Facebook page for all sorts of hat inspiration photos and also for pictures of her adorable cats.
Sharon Sullivan of Dream Hats fame has graciously agreed to teach us the basics of buckram hat blocking. If you've attended All-Con, or Anime Fest, or Fen Con in Dallas, then you've likely seen Sharon's work in person. You can also see her hats year around at Dallas Pin Up in Deep Ellum.
Follow her Facebook page for all sorts of hat inspiration photos and also for pictures of her adorable cats.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Costumers' Lost Weekend 2013 Parties
One of the most fun parts of Costumers' Last Weekend is getting to know our fellow costumers. Several of us already know one another from regular local events, but there are many folks who come and go from our events who we are just getting to know, or who are visiting the area and we may only get to see once per year. Socializing and networking with one another is such an important part of being a part of a supportive creative community.
This year instead of hosting one nice evening party and a Sunday brunch, we are adding on another social activity designed specifically for us to casually get to know one another before the panels get started on Saturday and we're hustling back and forth between our rooms and the class area. This is something we almost did last year, but we weren't sure how many people would be staying in the hotel on Friday night. At this time, we are planning to host this get together in the hotel bar area downstairs. However, if it turns out that we were able to secure the hospitality suite for Friday night, we will host the gathering there. Keep an eye out on our schedule to see what time we expect to start mingling on Friday night. You don't have to be staying in the hotel in order to attend and there is no RSVP. Just show up whenever and however you are and have a good time. We'll have board games out to play and I imagine some of us will be crafting as well.
One of our favorite events from last year was our Saturday evening Mourning Party. Our costumers really pulled out all the stops for a grandly dressed party of happy faced "mourners". For 2013, we really weren't sure how we could top that party. But in looking back all these years over our original requests for parties that we could never afford to throw, one request kept jumping out at us - a Masquerade Ball. So we said, "why not?" We already had offers for a few decorations, so again, "why not?"
This year we will be adding the Hospitality Suite across the hall from Maple to the party area on Saturday evening. That should give us more space and a better separation of the party theme areas. We're adding a Silent Auction and we'll have light snacks (in the Hospitality Suite Only). We're also bringing back the craft table where we'll have some little masks to decorate while we socialize. And of course, our photo area will be returning again so we can all get wonderful pictures of our outfits. I can't wait to see what everyone wears for this!!!
If you have any decorations you would like to loan to the Masquerade Party, please contact Maggie. All decorations will need to be dropped off prior to 5pm on Saturday and you will be expected to take them back with you no later than Sunday at Noon.
Parties summary:
Friday evening - Friday Night Meet & Greet
Saturday evening - Masquerade Party
Sunday morning - Brunch on the Orient Express (RSVP coming soon)
This year instead of hosting one nice evening party and a Sunday brunch, we are adding on another social activity designed specifically for us to casually get to know one another before the panels get started on Saturday and we're hustling back and forth between our rooms and the class area. This is something we almost did last year, but we weren't sure how many people would be staying in the hotel on Friday night. At this time, we are planning to host this get together in the hotel bar area downstairs. However, if it turns out that we were able to secure the hospitality suite for Friday night, we will host the gathering there. Keep an eye out on our schedule to see what time we expect to start mingling on Friday night. You don't have to be staying in the hotel in order to attend and there is no RSVP. Just show up whenever and however you are and have a good time. We'll have board games out to play and I imagine some of us will be crafting as well.
One of our favorite events from last year was our Saturday evening Mourning Party. Our costumers really pulled out all the stops for a grandly dressed party of happy faced "mourners". For 2013, we really weren't sure how we could top that party. But in looking back all these years over our original requests for parties that we could never afford to throw, one request kept jumping out at us - a Masquerade Ball. So we said, "why not?" We already had offers for a few decorations, so again, "why not?"
This year we will be adding the Hospitality Suite across the hall from Maple to the party area on Saturday evening. That should give us more space and a better separation of the party theme areas. We're adding a Silent Auction and we'll have light snacks (in the Hospitality Suite Only). We're also bringing back the craft table where we'll have some little masks to decorate while we socialize. And of course, our photo area will be returning again so we can all get wonderful pictures of our outfits. I can't wait to see what everyone wears for this!!!
If you have any decorations you would like to loan to the Masquerade Party, please contact Maggie. All decorations will need to be dropped off prior to 5pm on Saturday and you will be expected to take them back with you no later than Sunday at Noon.
Parties summary:
Friday evening - Friday Night Meet & Greet
Saturday evening - Masquerade Party
Sunday morning - Brunch on the Orient Express (RSVP coming soon)
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
No Rain on Our Parade
WORKING DRAFT
It was a close call, but we lucked out and the thunderstorms rolled in earlier than was originally predicted. We were afraid we might have to rain check our Picnic with the Pixies, but by 10am we were just dealing with cloudy skies and the occasional sprinkle.
Unfortunately, the weather brought in all kinds of nasties that prevented many of our usual suspects from attending, but we had quite a few new faces joining us and so the turnout was quite good in spite of missing our regular friends.
This was our first time hosting an event at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens. Since we have active members from all the far flung reaches of the DFW Metroplex, we are always looking for event locations that are easier to get to for everyone. I am so happy that we have found this garden! It is central to most of our active members, it's a Beautiful spot, it's Free, we can bring our own food in, and as an added bonus it is dog friendly. In fact, we enjoyed this location so much that we are contemplating making it a regular site for casual sewing and photo social picnics.
The place in the gardens we chose to use for our picnic was where the covered pavilion is located. It is a lovely little pavilion with stone seating and a nice podium table where we could pile up all of our food. Speaking of food, we had quite the spread to munch on! Pretty much everyone brought something good to eat. We even had a full gluten-free section as one of out attendees had special food requirements.
At a All-Con this March, we reconnected with some friends in the Ball Jointed Doll community. They were interested in the idea of bringing their elven and pixie dolls to the picnic to photograph with us. I'm glad they were able to make it out.
Those sweet dolls were so much fun to play with! And I understand that the dolls had as much fun posing and playing as we did.
The photo ops weren't just reserved for the dolls. A few of our attendees worked on their Regency period posing as outlined in Scene in the Past's blog about Regency poses.
As usual, we turned out to be quite a photogenic bunch!
Here's what other attendees had to say about our picnic.
Scene in the Past
All photos courtesy P. Crandall Polk and Jennifer Thompson.
It was a close call, but we lucked out and the thunderstorms rolled in earlier than was originally predicted. We were afraid we might have to rain check our Picnic with the Pixies, but by 10am we were just dealing with cloudy skies and the occasional sprinkle.
Unfortunately, the weather brought in all kinds of nasties that prevented many of our usual suspects from attending, but we had quite a few new faces joining us and so the turnout was quite good in spite of missing our regular friends.
At a All-Con this March, we reconnected with some friends in the Ball Jointed Doll community. They were interested in the idea of bringing their elven and pixie dolls to the picnic to photograph with us. I'm glad they were able to make it out. Those sweet dolls were so much fun to play with! And I understand that the dolls had as much fun posing and playing as we did.
The photo ops weren't just reserved for the dolls. A few of our attendees worked on their Regency period posing as outlined in Scene in the Past's blog about Regency poses.
As usual, we turned out to be quite a photogenic bunch!
Here's what other attendees had to say about our picnic.
Scene in the Past
All photos courtesy P. Crandall Polk and Jennifer Thompson.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Costumers' Lost Weekend 2013 Panels
One of the best parts of our Costumers' Lost Weekend is that we can finally get together and learn things from one another via our panels. This year is going to be even better with our Sunday workshops.
Panelists are beginning to think about joining us at CLW in the Summer. One thing they have all asked the Committee is "what kind of panel would you like?" Well, that is my question to you. If there is a certain kind of panel you would like to see presented, please let us know and we will see if we can find someone who is able to present it.
CLW Panel Survey
And if you have a panel that you would like to present to our attendees, please go ahead and submit your application. If by chance we do receive more applications than time to present, we will hold the extras for the following year, or see if we can add a class day to our Guild Calendar.
CLW 2013 Panelist Application
Panelists are beginning to think about joining us at CLW in the Summer. One thing they have all asked the Committee is "what kind of panel would you like?" Well, that is my question to you. If there is a certain kind of panel you would like to see presented, please let us know and we will see if we can find someone who is able to present it.
CLW Panel Survey
And if you have a panel that you would like to present to our attendees, please go ahead and submit your application. If by chance we do receive more applications than time to present, we will hold the extras for the following year, or see if we can add a class day to our Guild Calendar.
CLW 2013 Panelist Application
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Picnic with the Pixies
If you follow the going's on of the DFWCG, you may have noticed that we sure do love a good outdoor picnic. For several years now, our Georgian Picnic in the Fall has been quite the success. When we organized our first Georgian Picnic in 2009, we had no idea that it would be so successful that it would gain a permanent place in our event calendar.
This spring, we have decided to double up on our picnic fun. On March 23, 2013 we will be gathering at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens to have a Picnic with the Pixies.
Picnic with the Pixies is an outdoor fantasy costumed event for all ages. We plan on playing some fun games and since it is a picnic, feel free to bring some food to munch on. And as always, costumes are encouraged, but not required for participation.
In case you missed our fabulous 2012 Georgian Picnic, many of our atteendees wrote recaps of the event:
Festive Attyre
Cynthia Griffith
Cynthia's Video
Maggie of Padawain's Guide and The Costumer's Guide to Movie Costumes
The Aristocrat
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