Starting the New Year at Noon: Children's Discovery Museum Celebrates Noon Years' Eve
Published
Guest Post from Debbie McKenzie, Development Manager for the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
Each December 31st, the night may belong to the adults, but at Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, the day belongs to kids! Looking to boost attendance on a historically slow day, the Museum was inspired by a local daytime New Year’s celebration for families. Roughly ten years ago, the “Noon Year’s Eve” celebration was born at the Museum, and has been a family favorite ever since. A la Times Square, the ball slowly dropped as our visitors, young and old, counted down to noon. “Happy New Year” resonated through the museum, confetti cannons were fired, families hugged and the crowd sang Auld Lang Syne. By the 3rd year, the event was so well received (we couldn’t get people in the door fast enough) we added 2 more ball drops. We now celebrate across the time zones with ball drops at noon, 1pm and 2pm.
This year we had slightly over 3,200 visitors, and even though it was a crazy busy day, we sold 89 memberships! The vibe on our exhibit floor was joyful, energetic and fun - so much so - that many people stayed for all 3 drops. Marketing is done via social media, our e-newsletter (37,000+ households strong,) print and radio ads. Though to be honest, our best marketing is word of mouth, thanks to our members and visitors who've participated in previous years.
We just recently started selling admissions tickets online, so it was 99% at the desk. We had 2 stations primarily dedicated to ticket sales and another primarily for membership sales. Members and online admission ticket purchasers had a separate check-in station. This was our first year using barcode scanners – scanning rocks! All in all, the line to get in was much shorter than in previous years and added to the great experience.
Here is the video from our 2014 Noon Year’s Eve celebration:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=colz8RnlAcs[/embed]
P.S. Confetti cannons are a blast to fire!
Each December 31st, the night may belong to the adults, but at Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, the day belongs to kids! Looking to boost attendance on a historically slow day, the Museum was inspired by a local daytime New Year’s celebration for families. Roughly ten years ago, the “Noon Year’s Eve” celebration was born at the Museum, and has been a family favorite ever since. A la Times Square, the ball slowly dropped as our visitors, young and old, counted down to noon. “Happy New Year” resonated through the museum, confetti cannons were fired, families hugged and the crowd sang Auld Lang Syne. By the 3rd year, the event was so well received (we couldn’t get people in the door fast enough) we added 2 more ball drops. We now celebrate across the time zones with ball drops at noon, 1pm and 2pm.
This year we had slightly over 3,200 visitors, and even though it was a crazy busy day, we sold 89 memberships! The vibe on our exhibit floor was joyful, energetic and fun - so much so - that many people stayed for all 3 drops. Marketing is done via social media, our e-newsletter (37,000+ households strong,) print and radio ads. Though to be honest, our best marketing is word of mouth, thanks to our members and visitors who've participated in previous years.
We just recently started selling admissions tickets online, so it was 99% at the desk. We had 2 stations primarily dedicated to ticket sales and another primarily for membership sales. Members and online admission ticket purchasers had a separate check-in station. This was our first year using barcode scanners – scanning rocks! All in all, the line to get in was much shorter than in previous years and added to the great experience.
Here is the video from our 2014 Noon Year’s Eve celebration:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=colz8RnlAcs[/embed]
P.S. Confetti cannons are a blast to fire!
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