Bachelor Party Tickets

Q: Hi there! You have been so helpful in the past and I was hoping you could help me again regarding my fiancé's bachelor party. I am in charge of making and printing up the tickets for him to sell for his bachelor party. A few of my fiancé's friends will be in charge of selling these tickets and collecting the money for them. I need to somehow come up with a way to keep track of the tickets and the number of tickets that are sold and I'm not sure how to do this. Maybe if I numbered the tickets, or something? I'm really not good at stuff like this. How can I keep it organized, so we can keep track of what is sold? Is there a way to have some kind of record of the tickets, so when people show up at the door and show their ticket, he'll know it's legit?

A: As far as tickets are concerned, this is what I suggest:

If you can get to a party shop, you'll find this to be quite easy and unique at the same time! Go and buy a roll of ticket stubs. These are generic tickets that are about 2 inches big and come in various colours. Sometimes they say cheesie things on them like "beer" or "ticket", etc. Choose a colour, and grab the roll. Then, (and this is the cool part) go to your local business depot, or equivalent store. This may sound ridiculous, but it's sooo cool! Go to the photocopy section and browse through the various catalogues they have on the counter. You should find a catalogue or binder that has a price list for custom-made stamps. Then, create a stamp that has a meaning to you but is not common...not a common word, etc. Ask the lady to create the stamp for you. You'll have to fill in a form, stating how you'd like your stamp to look, and it usually takes 5 business days or so for them to create it and send it to you. This is really neat because you can then stamp the back of each ticket, in order to ensure that copies have not been made and duplicated. You can create anything to go on the stamp. If you create something elegant, like your names, and a small symbol or something like that, then you can also find other uses for the stamp, like the front of your thank-you cards or something like that! Just remember that the smaller the ticket the smaller the stamp must be. You may decide to make your own ticket altogether by making a big stamp, stamping a large piece of paper, and having it laminated. You can go all out and cut these large stamps in the shape of hearts, bells, or something fun and unique! This will help you keep track of the tickets and ensure that nobody "sneaks in". Make sure the tickets are numbered, and keep a running list. Cross of the numbers as people walk in and hand in their tickets.