It all started back in September when I attended the Content Magazine networking event at Lomas Brewing Company in Los Gatos. I had gone to Content Magazine’s previous networking event in March but did not get to meet the owner Daniel Garcia at that event. I decided that I would sign up to meet with him for the first available slot. I showed him my portfolio with photos from my scavenger hunt on August 25th in Japantown, the Rose Garden, and Little Italy. He loved my photos and the ideas for the hunt. He suggested that I meet with Katie Otis from Design In Mind for more feedback. Design in Mind is a digital design agency. Katie was a great person to talk to. She was very excited about my scavenger hunt ideas and said that this could be my niche’. She said that you can have different levels of hunts to cater to all types of audiences. I listened to all of her her advice regarding my event planning business. A week later I emailed her thanking her for meeting with me. She emailed back stating that she wanted to hire me for her her company’s holiday party team building event. What an awesome opportunity! I met with her at her office in the beginning of October and started planning the DIM Downtown Hunt for December 14th. The hunt was filled with food, drinks, treats, DIY stations, an art walk and a wrap-up party at the De Anza Hotel. The whole event was branded with DIM’s Pantone 3385 Mint color and logo. She had back packs, umbrellas, and maps printed with their logo for the hunt. The team received co-branded merchandise at the Moment Pop-Up Shop Bobo Design Studio as well during the hunt. It was so much fun! Since her team enjoyed the hunt and activities so much I decided to duplicate the hunt and sell tickets for a Valentines hunt in February for my friends.
DIM Downtown Hunt 12/14/2018
After the holidays I started to plan my I Love SJ Hunt for Valentines in Downtown San Jose. It was pretty simple to plan since I had the same businesses participate in the hunt from before. I sold three different ticket levels for the hunt: a gold, silver, and copper ticket. All included a goodie bag with an I love SJ button pin, sticker, hunt map, and chocolate heart candy. I merchandised the hunt to be in the theme of valentines with a black, white, and gold color story. The gold and silver ticket started at Philz Coffee were you received a $5 gift card for any type off coffee you choose. Stop #1 was at Philz Coffee on the Paseo De San Antonio in Downtown San Jose for about an hour were I handed out the gift cards and goodie bags. All three ticket levels then went on from Philz with their hunt maps to the next stops.
I Love SJ Hunt Goodie Bag
Stop #2 was the Burning Man Ha Ha Sculpture by Laura Kimpton next to the Hammer Theater on the Paseo De San Antonio. Everyone had fun taking laughing photos in front of this sculpture. Next was Stop #3, an art walk of two murals between 1st and 2nd Street off of San Carlos. The first mural was the Abundance of Life Mural which is a new mural that was featured during the Pow Wow Festival in October and produced by Empire 7 Studios. The second mural was the SoFA Mural by artist Lila Gemellos. Little did we know that day that it was going to be painted over for the new 100 Block MuralProject and new SoFA Mural. We were lucky to get some fun photos before it disappeared later that day. Last weekend my family and I went to check out the artists in action creating the new murals. Stay tuned for my new blog post about the 100 Block Mural Project.
SoFA Mural by Lila Gemellos
After our art walk we headed over to Stop #4 to get creative at the Japanese store Muji on the Paseo de San Antonio. Everyone had a recycled notebook in their goodie bag to stamp at the Stamp It Station. This was everyone’s favorite stop even on the DIM Downtown Hunt. The kids and parents had a blast stamping their notebooks each with their own designs. Moving on from Muji was Stop #5, fudge tasting at Candy Kitchen. Each hunter got to taste two different flavors of fudge; chocolate, vanilla oreo, and chocolate mint, which was the favorite at this fun family owned candy store.
Candy Kitchen Fudge Tasting
Muji Stamp It Station
We then headed to the afternoon portion of the hunt to the San Pedro Market for Stop #6, which was lunch on the heated patio at Vino Vino. We had the patio all to ourselves. They even let us bring in outside food from the San Pedro Market as long as we bought a drink. It was so much fun hanging out for a lunch gathering enjoying the wine and delicious food as a group. After we filled our bellies with food and laughter the gold ticket holders headed across the street to Stop #7 at Fractal Floral in the Moment pop-up shops for their DIY Airplant Terrarium Station. This was another favorite activity, especially for the kids. Everyone had their own terrarium creation with fun add-on figurines to put inside.
Fractal Flora DIY Airplant Terrarium Station
After using our green thumbs we moved along back through Downtown San Jose to the Martin Luther King Library for Stop #8, the Recollections library tour. The kids had a blast playing in the rotating bookshelf and finding the Alice In Wonderland Door, The Hatch in the special elevator. From the library we headed over to Stop #9, which the XO Burning Man Sculpture also by Laura Kimpton in front of the Rotunda a the City Hall. Everyone had fun taking photos siting on the sculpture. We then headed over to Stop# 10 to sit and rest with a delicious cool and refreshing treat at Cream on 1st Street. We all enjoyed their fabulous ice cream sandwiches. I highly recommend their mint chip ice cream with the chocolate chip cookie dipped in chocolate chips.
XO Burning Man Sculpture by Laura Kimpton
After we enjoyed our delicious ice cream sandwich treats we started our afternoon art walk Stop #11, which was the end of the hunt. The first mural, which is on 1st Street next to Cream is the Panda Mural by the artist Phoung-Mai “Mai” Blasich from P.M.B.Q Studios. This mural has been there since 2013. She now has a pop-up shop at Moment though March. I went by to meet her in person last week. Stay tuned for my info about her shop and art in my next blog post. Following this mural were two more murals off of Santa Clara Street near the San Pedro Market. The first one is at the Harts Dog Park by Roan Victor and the next Dac Phuc Vietnamese Cuisine by Harumosato both produced by Empire 7 Studios the Pow Wow Festival.
Panda Mural by P.M.B.Q
The hunt was a hit back in December with the Design In Mind team, and with my friends for Valentines. Stay tuned for my next hunt in May near Cinco de Mayo called Viva La Vida SJ Hunt with more art delicious food, wine, and DIY activities!