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The Princess Shop

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Celebrating The Princess Shop's 7th Birthday!

posted by The Princess Shop    |   November 27, 2014 14:02

The Princess Shop is celebrating its 7th Birthday! Our organization has seen a lot of growth in the last seven years since its inception in 2007 by co-founders Chantal Hounjet and Ainsley Robertson. Since 2007, The Princess Shop has assisted 511 Princess Graduates celebrate their accomplishments and the important milestone of high school graduation through our Dress Program. 

The Princess Shop volunteer team hosted a birthday party last night to celebrate another successful year as a volunteer team and volunteer board. The Princess Shop is very grateful to all of the support demonstrated to our organization through our committed volunteers, board, and sponsors. Our celebration last night featured delicious food and refreshments - including a gorgeous birthday cake! It was a great opportunity for our team and supporters to get together to reflect on The Princess Shop's 7th year and start our 8th year in operations in a fun, celebratory way! 

Thank you to everyone who made it out last night for our celebration! Special thanks to our volunteer team for providing the appetizers and desserts, and for arriving early to help decorate! 

As always, thank you to all of our sponsors for their continued commitment to our Dress Program, Next Chapter Program and Fairy Godmother Program. Additional thanks to our Graduation Services sponsors and our Professional Services donors. Special thanks to our Dress Program Diamond Sponsors - Cameco, Kinsmen Club of Saskatoon and SIGA

Our team is looking forward to all of the celebrations yet to come for The Princess Shop's 8th year of operation. Particularly our 8th Annual Glass Slipper Benefit for Princesses - tickets go on sale Monday, December 1! Check back to our website to purchase tickets.

Happy Birthday Princess Shop!

Help The Princess Shop keep the celebration going! Consider sending The Princess Shop a birthday gift and help us continue to assist young women in Saskatoon and across Saskatchewan.

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Fairy Godmother Program November Activity

posted by The Princess Shop    |   November 18, 2014 09:00

The following is a post from Olivia, one of our two Fairy Godmother Program Coordinators. Participants in the Fairy Godmother Program meet on the f first Tuesday or Thursday of the month for an activity as a larger group (outside of their individual meetings as matches). Here's what happened during their November activity!

Yoga with the Fairy Godmother Program

With everyday stressors in life often taking an emotional and physical toll on our bodies, it is important to stay balanced.  This importance led Erika and myself to plan an hour of relaxing yoga for the November Fairy Godmother Program Activity.

I would like to send a warm thank you to Tasha from Moksha Yoga for donating her time and instructing Tuesday's and Thursday’s practice with patience and enthusiasm.  Tasha did not hesitate when she was asked to lead the sessions as an in-kind donation and arrived both days with an eager excitement to be a part of the program this month.  Without the generous people like Tasha contributing to The Princess Shop, the organization would not be where it is today.

In came November, quite briskly, and in came the Princess Graduates and Fairy Godmothers to stretch out and let go of the day’s thoughts.  For some, it was the very first time practicing yoga.  Everyone agreed that trying new things can be intimidating at times but is worth the experience in the end.  Tasha made us all feel more than comfortable and a couple of matches enjoyed it so much they chatted about attending yoga together on their own.

It was inspiring to see the Fairy Godmothers encourage the Princess Graduates to take a chance on something they may not have done before and Erika and I are both thankful we were able to be a part of that!

Best, 

Olivia

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Inventory!

posted by The Princess Shop    |   November 12, 2014 10:33

 

The majority of first-time visitors to The Princess Shop always say the same thing upon entry into our location, something along the lines of: "Wow. There are a LOT of dresses in here." 

Since its inception in 2007, The Princess Shop has accepted donated graduation and formal dresses from members of the public and from dress stores. We have an inventory of over 3000 dresses (and growing everyday)! We have been so fortunate to have amassed such an incredible selection of beautiful gowns. But, there's more to it than just collecting dresses! We thought we would share a bit about how our dress donation and invetory process works.

How does The Princess Shop receive its dresses? 

Dresses are donated to The Princess Shop or to our dress drop off location. We currently have one drop off location besides The Princess Shop, but we are always looking for more! If you would be interested in collecting dresses at your business on behalf of The Princess Shop, please let us know! Further details of the dress donation process are available here. But a summary is that we love and accept all dresses that the donater thinks a 2015 Princess Graduate would wear - so generally, a dress should be no more than 5 years old. We ask that the dress is in clean, wearable condition. 

Once a dress comes in as a donation, members of our volunteer team enter it into inventory. Each dress is assigned a unique number and entered into our large inventory spreadsheet with description of the dress and any information provided with the donation. Once a dress is selected, the spreadsheet is updated to reflect whether the dress is out witha Princess Graduate, or has been returned to our shop. 

Every fall, the entire volunteer team gets together for an afternoon and we go through each and every dress in our inventory. We ensure that all of the dresses that should be in the dress racks are accounted for, check for any mending or drycleaning needs, and take the opportunity to organize the racks. At this time, we also take the opportunity to keep our inventory up to date and remove any dresses that are damaged beyond repair, or we think might be a bit too dated for a 2015 Princess Graduate to wear to her high school graduation. This year, the inventory process took the entire team 6 hours together, plus an extra 5 hours put in by one of our awesome volunteers (thanks, Lizanne!).

What does The Princess Shop do with the dresses that have been removed from inventory? 

We make an effort to keep our collection of dresses up to date and exciting for our Princess Graduates selecting their dresses. Some dresses that have become a bit dated over the years have a limited liklihood of being selected for graduation. Rather than tossing these dresses, we take the oppotunity to give them another life! We sell donated dresses at a very reasonable price at flea/thrift markets and comic-themed festivals. We have had a lot of people purchase dresses to be re-purposed in sewing projects or costumes. We like the idea that these dresses have been worn to a special occasion, donated to our organization and worn by Princess Graduates, and now can continue to be re-used in another way! 

How can you get involved with the dress donation or removed inventory process?

We love to accept dress donations! It keeps our inventory fresh and interesting for each year's Princess Graduates. Please consider donating a dress that you think a 2015 graduate would wear (less than 5 years old, preferably). If you provide your contact information, we will send you a photo of a Princess Graduate in your dress when it is selected for a graduation ceremony.

Interested in picking up one of our dresses that has been recently removed from inventory? Stop by the Saskatoon Lions Club Super Duper Flea Market - this Saturday, November 15 at Prairieland Park from 9:00AM-5:00PM. We will be there in Hall D! 

Thanks for your donations and support! 
The Princess Shop

 

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The Princess Shop
our location
12 - 1622 Ontario Avenue
Saskatoon, SK S7K 1S8
t: 306-222-3311

Store Hours for Dress Returns & Donations:
Monday: 12:00pm - 3:00pm
Wednesday: 10:00am - 1:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am - 3:00pm

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