10th Anniversary FINNPEZ...my report..

Before I started this post I asked myself if I should keep this report short and sweet or if it should be little more in detail. Since so much has happened I have ultimately decided to do a longer version and here we go - hope you will like it...

It was a date so many people had been looking forward to for long time.

The 10th Anniversary for FinnPez Gathering in Helsinki.

 

 On the 17th of March 2007 the first FinnPez Gathering took place with dozen participants (six collectors) at that time nobody suspected, that one day it would become the largest European PEZ event with 107 persons from 17 different countries!

http://www.finnpez.org/

With a lot of work, diligence and every time a super thoroughly organized event, Pirkka and Markku managed from year to year to attract more and more collectors from inland and abroad.

For me it was now the third time that I could participate, and it's been always fascinating to visit a great city, connected with people who share the same hobby, to see old and meet new friends, and of course to find one or other new PEZ dispenser for my collection.

My wife and I arrived on Wednesday around midnight with two full suitcases PEZ. Everyone who has attended the Finnpez Gathering once, knows how warmly you are welcomed and expected. From the first second you have arrived you get the feeling that you are a part of the FINNPez family. As it was very late and for Thursday full program was announced, we went to bed to get ready for the first official Finnpez day.

The first FinnPez day (Thursday)

started at 10am, a bus was waiting for us. We were able to choose in advance either a Helsinki shopping tour or a city sightseeing tour, and no matter which tour was chosen everyone was taken by bus into the town.
Marija, a Spanish-born woman, who grew up in England and due to the love moved to Finland was our tour guide. With joking and charm she gave us a lot of background info about the city, and the most beautiful sights.

It was a very nice and cozy city tour.

With Marija, Pirkka and Markku have booked for us a great and very professional tour guide. Against 14:00 the city tour was over, and everyone had enough time to explore the city on his own.

At this point I've to mention that also the return to the hotel was well thought-out, and we had three different pick-up times from the city center to the hotel.

After the dinner and although it was not announced as any official part of the gathering, some collectors opened their rooms for Room Hopping.

Many took advantage of the opportunity to stroll a little bit through the rooms and to take one or the other nice part.

I could buy a lot good stuff immediately in any room, but as I had only a certain budget I wanted rather to wait for Saturday.

On the second FINNPez day (Friday) we had again two organized tours.

The first tour was a visit of the famous finish sweets - company FAZER. We did not attend this tour as we went to the city to get a few gifts and to look for PEZ.

The second tour, I think all of us were very happy about, was about 3 pm to the toy museum at exhibition center in Espoo  Suomen Lelumuseo Hevosenkenkä. The toy museum hosts many old children toys. Every collector likes to see such a PEZ exhibition. Everything  moved in a good light, beautifully equipped with background information, and a lot of things inviting to make great photos.  I saw many nice things I still miss in my collection. :)

After the return from the museum, we went to work. We had the opportunity to prepare our sales table for Saturday. Most of us could not resist, to turn round and to have a first look on other sales tables. The evening ended in a relaxed atmosphere in the FinnPez lounge, with good music, and nice PEZ talks.

THE 10th FINNPEZ CONVENTION (Saturday)

the big day, the hall was full around 11 am.

Everyone waited anxiously for the opening speech of Pirrka and Marrkku and of course for the presentation of the new gathering dispenser. There were already some rumors about the dispenser but nobody knew exactly what it would be.

As the moment of revelation has arrived and the Finn-boys made it very exciting, as in the years before, we all knew it is going to be something great and special.

The FINNPez dispenser "Black Pearl"

 

At this point I want to say that I am very happy for the guys, and how important and cool it is, that PEZ International made an exception and supported the guys in celebrating the 10 year anniversary with this great dispenser.

After the presentation the sales were officially opened. There were really many sales tables and WOW a huge selection, from 50cent PEZ dispensers to a 2000 Euro PEZ owl,  different other Gathering dispensers, mini PEZ dispensers, vintage PEZ, promotional products, candies. For sure everyone could find some new pieces for his collectionIt went speedy ahead.

 

After the lunch the games started and the guys had a few cool ideas. The winnings of the FINNPEZ Lotto were as unique as on no Gathering in Europe before.

I hoped of course (like everyone else probably) on the Ring Master or Knight but also all the other prices were just awesome. Nevertheless I managed to get a great NE Gathering dispenser.

We continued with two estimating games and with the possibility to win some great Finnpez Gathering dispenser from the past.

Now was the time to announce the winner of the PIMP MY PEZ dispenser competition. There were really great and unusual creations. Kelle from the UK has obtained the grand prize with her great candies-tree-dispenser. Not a big surprise for everyone who knows her and her creativity. At least for me was clear from the beginning. (congrats again Kelle)

 

After all these games, enough time was left over for sales, trades or simply nice talks.

As a conclusion we had all together a dinner. Great after-FinnPez party followed with Fun & Karaoke in the foreground.

And this is how my report ends as there is a special slogan regarding

 the Finnpez after party 

At the end I’d like to thank Pirkka and Markku and their family, friends and helpers for bringing so many PEZ people together from all around the world. You guys did an amazing job! Thank you so much for a wonderful PEZ Time in Helsinki. <3

Thank you Paul, Momo, Kelle, and Robert for the pictures :)

Sweets and Snacks 2016 Special PEZ

If you were lucky enough to go the the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago happening May 24-26, 2016, then you may get one of these!!! These were being given away at the 2016 Expo to lucky visitors!! 1000 of these Lovey Emojis were made with the text I (Heart) Pez. Only 1 per person were handed out. Surely collectors will be going crazy for these like the 2015 Red Boy that was given to attendees at the Pez booth.

Photo: Eddie PezHead Santiago :) 

2015 Sweets & Snacks 

Photo: MoMo Pez

And the official Finnish PEZ is...

We have been waiting a long time to see what the FinnPEZ brothers had for the 10th FinnPEZ Gathering and now we see... 

Crystal Emoji with smoky black head. FinnPez 2016.

The official 10th anniversary Finnish Pez Gathering 260 pieces.

Be sure to check back for Ghosty's report of all the happenings at Finn Pez 2016!! 

We would like to say Thank You to Pirkka & Markku for all the Love they put into the event each year!!! Thanks guys for all you do.

Years Past..

Wonderful Week of FinnPEZ

We are totally excited here at Pez Palz!!  

Many Pez Heads from around the world are heading to Helsinki, Finland for the 10th Anniversary. FinnPez is happening from May 18th- 21st 2016.

We wish Pirkka & Markku the FinnPEZ (Brothers) Organizers a wonderful gathering.  

This will the the biggest FinnPEZ in history! With 112 registered guests, FinnPez will reclaim the prize of being the largest gathering in Europe. Ghosty will be sending us a full report from the convention also pictures of the official FinnPEZ dispenser!! So Stay Tuned to PezPalz :)

FinnPez dispensers from years past.

counting the days till FINNPEZ...

ohhhhh dang I´m feeling like a small child :D counting the days like for christmas till the 2016 FINNPEZ it´s the 10th Anniversary this year for the Finnpezbro´s Pirkka and Markku, and they put so much love, and hard work to organize again a special PEZ Event for us.

The 2016 FINNPEZ Gathering is again the biggest European PEZ Gathering 

(V.I.P Gathering in Vienna broke the record last summer

but FINNPEZ is now back at the top) ;D

and there will be so many great PEZ Collectors and PEZ friends from around the world there.

Like allways, I´m too late again with everything 

(yeah sometimes I´m super chaotic)

 I need to sort my extra PEZ, need to start to pimp a special PEZ dispenser and and and :D 

If you have time and chance to be a part of the
biggest 2016 European PEZ Gathering,

 it's still time to register till 2nd may at www.finnpez.org

Stay tuned, we will share and report and lots of pictures will come on our blog :)

for more Info please visit
http://www.finnpez.org
or
http://www.facebook.com/finnpez
**********

Michigan Pez Convention Fun Pictorial

Our friend Jim Blaine has been very busy creating a very unique experience for the first ever Michigan Pez Convention. The Convention will be running from Thursday August 25th thru Sunday August 29th 2016 in Troy, Michigan at the Embassy Suites. We love seeing the pictures for all the fun games & souvenirs that are being lovingly created for the Convention. You can visit the Michigan Pez Convention official website 

HERE
and you can find MI Pez Convention Facebook page HERE.
Also if you are unable to make the convention you can still get a piece of history. Absentee packs are still available HERE 

Below are some of the Fun things that will be at the Convention.

Photos: MI Pez Convention Facebook 

Official Website http://www.mipezcon.com/

Pez on Display at Perot Museum Dallas, TX

We came across pictures on Instagram and we got curious so we called and spoke to Mike at the Perot Museum of Nature & Science and learned the these are on display. The Museum is hosting several curated collections as part of an exhibition running from April 16 through Sept 5 2016 titled Eye of the Collector at the Museum. Carla Hartman's Pez are on display at the Museum she has over 900 Pez.

Photo: Perot Museum Staff

These really sparked our interest, Giant Pez, Especially the dinosaur, the company that made the display really wanted to create a dinosaur and we think he is simply grand!

Photos: Perot Museum Staff

 Photo: Perot Museum Staff

http://www.perotmuseum.org/

Kelle's Story chapter 2... Organizing a PEZ Gathering....

Nothing was going to stop me hosting the 1st UK PEZ Gathering!

So that was it, I was actually doing it!

2016 would see the

1st Ever UK PEZ Gathering!

I couldn't contain my excitement, but very quickly that excitement

turned into nervousness!

I let my brain do that silly thing of overthinking things!

 "But what if this happens? Or that happens?"

 But what I should have really been thinking was 

"You can do this and you're going to make it the best you can"!

 I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work, and I also knew that it wasn't going to be an easy ride. So first things first. I needed a theme for the whole event. I wanted everything to tie in together and flow cohesively with the branding that I was going to do. I knew that I wanted to have something a little bit different to the norm as let's face it, I'm not exactly what people would class as normal! Lots of ideas ran through my head but none of them seemed to be what I was wanting. Then I looked up and Daryl, my husband, was watching a documentary on the punk music scene. Then I had it. It was completely perfect and exactly what I was after. I was going to have it as PEZ Anarchy In The UK!! 

Oi Oi So the theme was set and made way for me to get on with everything else!

Next thing on the list:

The Dispenser!

 I had to get the order in for these very quickly after determining that I was definitely going to be hosting the event.

I am very lucky to be in a position to be able to have a dispenser produced by PEZ International. 100 of these dispensers have been made and I must say,

 I love them!

They will be revealed at the event to the attendees first, as I wanted to keep that as a surprise for them! Bearing in mind that I had to order these a long time ago, I think I've done pretty well in not letting it slip so far!

So that was a big weight off my shoulders; the part that

everyone will want was complete!

Now, I couldn't host a gathering if I had nowhere to do it.

 I would have loved to be able to afford to do a whole 3 day event and really go full throttle, but alas, having a young family means that

funds would never allow for that.

It's probably a good thing in all honesty, it means we can use this year to test the water and see how it all goes before planning bigger and better

 things for the future.

I hummed and harred about where I should have the event take place. Of course people automatically think it should be in London, but with me not living near London, it would have been hard to organize everything for there. Plus I'm a country bumpkin, so getting lost in London is a very easy task for me!

After a lot of consideration, I decided on the "fine city" of Norwich and

quickly decided on the venue option too.

I booked a venue called

The Garage.

 No it's not a mechanics workshop, it's a lovely performing arts venue

for young people in the heart of Norwich.

 It doesn't usually host things like this, but the venue manager seemed really excited about it and told me tales of how he used to steal his sisters sweets! See PEZ is great for making people reminisce!

YES!! We had a venue and we had a date!

Saturday the 20th August 2016

was going to make a little bit of PEZ history.

https://www.facebook.com/PezCollectorsUK/

Did you miss Part 1 of Kelle's story? 

you can find it HERE

2016 French Soccerballs....

are you ready for the soccer season?

we can exclusive report, that our french PEZ Collectors will be very happy again, because they will have the chance to

found  just in time for the 
2016 UEFA European Championship
new PEZ Soccer Balls in the shops :)

At this point we don't know yet how they will look like (stem color, print?)
 we just like to inform you to be on the hunt for them:) and we would love it, if you can send us a picture when you have find them
to share them on our blog. :)

Enjoy your hunt, fingers crossed to find them soon.
  

maybe just a new stem print? like the 2012 French Edition PEZ Soccerballs
picture from www.momopez.com
 

FIRST LOOK: new book about PEZ by Shawn Peterson...

Exciting News!

We all have waited for a long time to hear this :)

A new book is coming from Shawn Peterson, 
and we are sure we all will want them :)

 

 

Shawn told us, the book

"PEZ from Austrian Invention to American Icon"

was his winter project, it is now done and in the process of being printed.

The book is slated for a August 9th release, in time for 

TerrifiCon, a Comic Book Convention being held at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT on August 19th, 20th, 21st 2016.

This event had over 20,000 people attend over the 3 day event last year and is a perfect way to introduce Shawn's new book about Pez.

Mitch Hallock from TerrifiCon says

TerrifiCon is saluting pop culture as part of its comic con this August 19-21 at Mohegan Sun with a subject that combines the fun of collecting with a tasty treat - PEZ!

Be there as our good friend, SHAWN PETERSON, long time supporter of the comic con's producer; Big Fedora Marketing, PEZ expert, historian and author as he talks about his new book coming out this August on the history of PEZ!   

 

THANK YOU SHAWN FOR ALL :)

http://www.terrificon.com/

https://mohegansun.com/