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Expo Celebrates Another Successful Year

February 10, 2012

Halloween & Party Expo Delivers More in 2012

It went off with a BANG! Literally. With its pyrotechnic “fireworks,” the opening Halloween Costume Style Show at the 2012 Halloween & Party Expo set the tone for the four-day event. The annual expo, held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, had a great deal of sparkling moments as it hosted thousands of industry professionals with one common goal: Buy, sell, meet, see and experience all things Halloween, costume and party.

“The primary purpose of the Expo is to put buyers in contact with exhibitors and to facilitate order-writing, but we also want the show to be educational and fun,” said Jonathan Erwin of the Halloween & Party Expo. “We’ve received great feedback from previous shows and crafted an experience in 2012 built around our known successes and some great new opportunities.”

By day, the show floor was business as usual. Registration numbers exceeded those of 2011, with thousands of buyers visiting the 350+ exhibitors over 600,000 square feet. In between meetings and appointments, buyers had the opportunity to attend free sessions at the new Education/Demo Center in Hall E. Top industry professionals gave lectures and presentations covering a swath of topics from how to create fanciful balloon decorations, to ways to increase their ecommerce traffic and profits. Nearby, a number of attendees marveled at the 20-foot-plus balloon cake created by AeraDeco Video, which beckoned buyers towards the Culinary Art Displays Area.

But in an industry dominated by people in the business of partying and celebrating, the nighttime events such as the Halloween Costume Style Show and Saturday Night After-Party provided memories to last well past next year’s show. The Style Show exceeded expectations once again, with an immersive preshow skit involving video of a murderous chase which melded from screen to stage in real-time. Over 100 of the newest and most anticipated costumes and licenses flooded the stage amid pyrotechnics, an aerial artist and even a live snake.

Afterwards, hundreds of buyers and exhibitors convened at nearby pub, Little Woodrow’s, to meet, mingle, dance and network amidst the sights and sounds of a professional video DJ. Attendees enjoyed the free appetizers and body painting sessions offered by Liquid Latex, with one lucky party-goer even being chosen at random for an Xbox 360 Kinect.

Other special prizes given away throughout the week included hundreds of dollars in gift cards and exhibitor discounts at the Guessing Contest Area, a new car from Leg Avenue during their last style show, and a cruise vacation for two which was up for grabs by anyone who completed the Expo Scavenger Hunt. The hunt engaged active participants in a number of the special areas located throughout the show floor, such as the Boo-hemian Lounge, Zen Den and Green “Scream” Photo area.

The Halloween & Party Expo’s history of showcasing exciting celebrity appearances continued with the addition of Dina Manzo on Sunday, January 29. Manzo, a former member of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, currently stars in her own party-planning show on HGTV, Dina’s Party. Before greeting fans and signing autographs, Manzo led an informative and captivating session on some of her favorite tips and techniques for saving money when planning beautiful events.

While at the show, many attendees were introduced to the ease and convenience of following the Halloween & Party Expo on Facebook and Twitter. A large projection screen in the Social Media Café displayed the Twitter feed, while large plasma screens lining the main aisle of the show featured important and interesting information regarding the show and Houston, as well as exhibitor promotions and advertisements. “Our social media feeds are a great way to stay updated with what’s going on at the Halloween & Party Expo,” said Jonathan Erwin. “While the website is a fantastic resource to reference at all times, the social media feeds deliver the newest information as it develops, directly to your homepage. It’s a really simple way to ensure buyers and exhibitors receive up-to-date information right away.”

“We are very happy with the experience we were able to provide to our attendees in 2012, but we continue to strive for improvement with each year,” said Erwin. “Therefore, we strongly encourage all attendees to complete our online evaluation and let us know what they liked and what they didn’t like; what they think should change and what they want to see stay the same.” And a number of exhibitors were also apparently pleased with the 2012 experience, as over 70 percent of available booth space for next year was re-contracted by the end of the show.

Plans for the 2013 Halloween & Party Expo and beyond are well underway. Stay updated with all the happenings at the Halloween & Party Expo website, www.halloweenpartyexpo.com, as well as on Facebook, at www.facebook.com/theHPE and Twitter, at https://twitter.com/theHPE.