My Dad used to complain about the same thing when I was kid. He would tell stories about when he was young and how he would have to walk to and from school every day “no matter what”, in the snow and rain, uphill both ways, with boiled eggs in each pocket to keep his hands warm, blah, blah, blah. It never made sense to me why snow days bothered him… until now.
My four kids had two days off last week because of the doom and gloom predicted by the local weather caster. They called the first day off the night before and I swear it was more dangerous walking through my kitchen with all of the snow boots and snow suits piled up than it was on any road within a 20 mile radius of my house by 10:00am. The second day they called off school there might have been 3 inches total of snow which in the school district’s mind is a blizzard. The only reason they feel this way is because every media outlet is “Live” on top of some overpass all day long talking about the perils of “Winter Storm 2010.”
Luckily with my job at Pro Motion I am able to work out of my house every now and then. On both of these days I was faced with several phone calls with clients and a webinar or two on Field Marketing and Event Management. The rest of the time was spent on making Mac n’ cheese and hot cocoa production for half the neighborhood while cycling gloves, scarves, and socks through the clothes dryer for maximum outdoor enjoyment.
I decided in the afternoon on both days to take a page out of our industry of experiential marketing and turn my house into a mini event. I was able to include several stations all of which were geared to the target consumer (the kids) and would represent the brands focus (How do I keep the kids busy so I can get some work done?) (O.k. no more shop talk- I promise). I had a coloring/art station where the kids were instructed to make either snowmen (my 6 year old daughter informed me that snowperson was the correct term) or snow flakes, a chill lounge in the basement where they could watch movies on the big screen with popcorn and drinks, an XBOX tournament for the older guys, and Nerf wars in the back bedrooms. They loved it! And they haven’t stopped talking about it.
My wife is already feeling the pressure… all the kids have informed her that Dad’s Snow Days rock!
I can’t wait for spring…