Tonight was fun. I had my first Massage Party tonight.
I'm sure you've heard of Tupperware parties and lingerie parties. Well, along that same idea comes the massage party. My next-door neighbor was more than willing to play hostess as the hostess gets a one-hour massage as payment.
The way it works, or as I did it is that a hostess invites several guests, arranges for food, and entertainment. In this case, Teresa invited 15 people and was expecting 10. She prepared a couple food items, and asked her guests to each bring something healthy. I started working on the first person as the others started to eat. I was doing chair massage. I bill this at one dollar per minute, and we had specified a 10-minute minimum session per person. Based on the number of people we might have, we also limited it to a maximum of 15 minutes. (Of course, I didn't tell any of them that other then the two nights in class working with the video, I had never done chair massage before.)
I started off by scanning my 'victim' and just doing what I felt they needed. Chair massage is mostly compression and rubbing, clothed. I did have some that wanted me to do some deep work on places like their neck and such. I explained that I would do what I could, but I was not using oil and I couldn't do a lot of rubbing on skin without causing a problem.
While this was going on, the rest of the group was playing charades. It was getting funnier by the minute. At one point while I was working, I got so enthralled with the games I had lost track of time. I probably worked on that person a little longer than I should have. She was also the one to give me a tip.
Everyone that got up from the chair had a smile on their face, and was very relaxed. One person had mentioned that they liked the fact that I worked on legs and arms. They said that this was something most people that do chair massage don’t do. I had previously been afraid of chair massage as the training I had been given was very brief and I had no experience to back that up. One day, it flashed in my head that I could do this. (Hmmm, fancy that. Just like everything else I do. Something comes up, hits me in the head and says, 'you can'.)
I was up late last night scenting oils and lotions and putting them into two-ounce bottles. Each person at the party got one of the 'scent of their choice' to take home. Then we had the grand prize drawing. We pulled a name from the basket Teresa provided, and the winner got a gift certificate for a one-hour massage. The certificate is valid for six months, but I am told I won't have to wait that long for them to redeem it.
Then we pulled a second name and gave that person a Caring Palms embroidered golf shirt. Hey, advertising is advertising. (Shirley’s new sewing machine is starting to be useful.)
All in all, the night went off very well. Now, I just hope it generates some business either with bookings, or more massage parties hosted by some of the people that attended.