Note: The Following is an account of a gift delivered to the Stars on Ice Cast on behalf of their fans. We arranged to have a gift delivered at nearly every stop for the 97-98 season.
Lake Placid - Nov. 29, 1997
Well we're off to the beginning of the SOI tour and the first gift bag for Scott and the cast was successfully delivered. I thought I’d share how I put the bag together and how it was delivered. But especially let you know how it was confirmed the cast received it and .......LOVED IT!!!!
These are the items that were in the bag:
1. Twelve sleeves of golf balls for Scott with the engraving
"Welcome Back Scott
Lake Placid, NY
1997"
This was on each golf ball in red lettering. The reason I had so many balls is I had to have them special ordered to have that saying and there was a minimum number that had to be purchased. However, it worked out really well. I ended up putting a golf ball in each little gift bag I had for the cast members. A little hint though.....between now and Christmas when you purchase 12 dozen or more Titliest or Pinnacle golf balls they will personalize them for you for FREE!! They couldn’t have the balls ready for the Lake Placid show but I’ve ordered mine for the Detroit show and it is much cheaper. A local golf shop where I lived had the forms from the companies which you should be able to find at any golf shop that sells Titliest or Pinnacle, however, if you would like the phone number to the shop in the area I live just e-mail me and I’ll get it right out to you.
2. An 8x10 puzzle with a photo of Scott with the words "Welcome Back Scott" written on that as well. Becky Patrick provided the great photo and gave the original 8x10 to Scott as well. That might be a nice gesture in the future since you need to have an 8x10 photo made to create the puzzle anyway!!
3. A large tin of cookies from the Cookie Bouquet Corporation based in Ohio. I had them deliver them to Lake Placid Wednesday morning and I added them right before I made the delivery. I also requested they be sealed very well to make sure the cast didn’t think we baked them personally.
4. I made a stop at a wonderful chocolate shop in Lake Placid and purchased several chocolate decorations and added them as well. They were wrapped and sealed very well and had the store label on them so once again any tampering would have been obvious.
5. Additional gifts sent by fans for other skaters. This was a really neat addition to the bag. It filled it up very nicely. There was an extra gift for Scott, Paul, and four others for Katia and Daria. I wrapped everything in Christmas paper and put name tags on everything. Any notes sent with the gifts were included under the wrappings so they wouldn’t get lost.
Putting the bag together:
I know we had originally stated that we would use a basket but I would of had to purchase quite a large basket to get everything in there nicely and they would have been more difficult to deliver. So I decided to purchase a VERY large Christmas gift bag and 12 mini (teeny tiny) gift bags for the other cast members. The smaller bags came with little name tags attached so it worked out great. In each smaller bag I put a yummy chocolate treat, one of the golf balls and three to four pieces from the puzzle. I kept the puzzle pieces attached for each bag so it wouldn’t take as long to put the entire thing together...time is valuable to them and it still made the same impression I’m sure. Each bag was sealed and then everything was put into the large bag. The smaller gift bags had the identical picture as the big bag so that was neat how it all matched!! I sealed the large bag closed and put a card on the outside which said to "Scott and Cast". Then on the outside I had streamers coming down from each side and to the end of some I tied ribbon around some of the golf balls....it turned out so cool.
Delivering the Bag:
Because I knew the opening night of the show would be so crazy I feared they might not have time to really open the bag and see all that was inside....or worse...not receive it at all. After talking with one of the security guards there, he agreed that it would be best to deliver the gifts during the week rather than opening night. I gave the bag to the security and they promised to personally take it down to Scott and the skaters. They thought the bag to so neat and thought it was really nice that the fans would do something like this...they especially liked the golf balls hanging on the outside of the bag. Well by the next morning I had to keep wondering if they had received everything, or if the security was just making good on their chocolate fix for the day. The bag was delivered on Wednesday late afternoon and it wasn’t until later in the week that my fears were calmed. I met some wonderfully kind people in Lake Placid and one of them just happened to be very close friends with one of the cast members. They were planning a meeting to resolve some business and she said she would bring up the gift bag at that meeting to see if they had gotten it safely. Well you can’t imagine how excited I was when I got the phone call to my room that not only had they received the bag but they all opened each gift and they sat down and did the entire puzzle together....most importantly...THEY LOVED IT!!! Scott loved the golf balls and they all thought the puzzle was really neat idea.
I think it will be great to have a different puzzle at each stop. They all deserve something special for the incredible show they put on this year. And Scott was beyond incredible. His routine to the Wizard of Oz is a true classic!!!!
Have fun with the other baskets....I think they will really appreciate one at each stop!!!
Happy Holidays Everyone!!
Kathy Streng
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