Merch & more: 20 awesome ideas for event upsells & add-ons

Toying with the idea of selling merch at your next event? Excellent idea, we say – but did you know there is so much more you can do when it comes to incorporating event extras and add-ons into your offering? Branded T-shirts are cool, that’s just a fact. But this type of merch only skims the surface of what’s possible in the world of event add-ons and upsells. We’re talking deck chair and blanket hire. We’re talking awesome VIP experiences, drinks packages, audience participation, reindeer poo chocolate drops! (More on this below).

Event creators across our platform have shown us just how powerful selling fun and creative event add-ons can be. And that the sky’s the limit when it comes to what you choose to sell. This isn’t only about improving your bottom line, either – although upselling is certainly one great way to boost profits. It’s about enriching your attendees' experience of your events by offering them all sorts of extras – from those based around practicality and comfort, to creative offerings designed to delight, excite, and enthrall your attendees.

👀Tip: Ticket Tailor’s Products feature makes it super easy to sell all manner of add-ons at the point of checkout on your box office page – or from your very own year-round store, meaning you don't even need to have a live event to keep the cash rolling in. You can sort it all in just a few clicks 😌.

20 brilliant event add-on ideas to delight & excite your attendees

Without further ado – here are some awesome event add-on ideas to take your events to the next level. Let’s go 😎.

🚘 Add-ons for practicality and comfort

1. Parking passes and valet services: Great for a whole host of event types from conferences to festivals and fundraisers. If people are traveling by car, it’s likely at least some would like the option of paying for a guaranteed spot or, better yet, a snazzy valet service.
2. Deck chair & blanket hire: A tempting add-on for outdoor events spanning festivals through to outdoor theaters, food markets, and events at stately homes & gardens.
3. Weather essentials: Think fun branded ponchos and umbrellas for outdoor events in rain-prone regions. 
4. Better view or premium seating: Some people will always prefer to pay extra or a guaranteed front-stage spot or premium seating, whether at a concert, comedy gig, or another type of live performance. Tip: Ticket Tailor’s seating chart feature makes it really easy to sell allocated seating 🙌– but you don’t have to stop at basic seating reservations when it comes to upsells. Case in point: check out how Cultus Lake used Ticket Tailor’s Add-ons feature to upsell VIP cabanas at their water park 💦.
5. Queue-jumping: From NYE events to concerts, festivals, tourist attractions and theme parks, some eager (impatient?) attendees will be happy to splash the cash if it means they can skip those pesky, fun-delaying queues.

🍴Add-ons for the hungry & thirsty

1. Pre-booked interval drinks and snacks: Think pantos, stand-up shows and other theatre-based events, whereby interval ice cream/wine/chocolate/popcorn is almost as essential as watching the thing itself. (Allowing attendees to pre-book these essentials helps streamline queues and makes for a better event experience all-round!)
2. Meal and/or drinks packages: Guided tours, day trips, tourist attractions; there are a whole host of events that could be enhanced by the inclusion of a delicious meal, either at a local eatery, or catered. 
3. Creative sweet treats: Just because! Case in point: the Ticket Tailor event creator that sold reindeer poo chocolate drops as an add-on for their winter wonderland event. Heroic!
4. Kids’ snack packs: From museum tours to theme parks, activity days and Halloween trails – snacks always come in handy. Why not give the grown-ups a day off from prepping by offering nutritious and delicious kids’ snack packs?
5. Luxe picnic: Festivals, food markets, outdoor cinemas, sports tournaments… we can’t think of many outdoor events that wouldn’t be enhanced by a basket of delicious food and a bottle of fizz. 

🙌 Add-ons for the big fans (merch, merch, merch!)

1. Branded t-shirts: Festivals, conferences, yoga retreats – branded or slogan tees can work with so many different types of event. It’s all about instilling a sense of community and belonging in your attendees; that proud feeling of “I was part of something” (or, you know, been there, bought the…”).
2. Signed goodies: Comic cons, concerts, conferences, festivals, comedy nights, book readings – if there’s someone notable at your event, chances are people will be up for buying something that’s been signed by them.
3. Posters & prints: if your event has any cool artwork, graphics, or is known for tongue-in-cheek slogans, adding posters or prints to your merch roster can be a nice touch.
4. Branded mugs or [insert any random household object here!]: it doesn’t matter what type of event you run, if it has super-loyal fans, there’s always room for more branded merch.
5. Collectible lanyards: When your event is so cool that even its lanyards have become kind of a thing, it's officially time to make snazzy collectible additions for the super fans.

👏 Add-ons that enhance the experience

1. Audience participation: Take heed from Chris Hester of Chris Hester’s Theatre of Magic and guarantee attendees the chance to get involved with your live show by selling “audience participation” as an add-on. Nice ✨. 
2. Animal feed: Help your petting zoo visitors get organised by letting them book their animal feed in advance.
3. Photo shoot: The perfect pumpkin-scape, twinkling Christmas scenes, iconic landmarks; whether you run seasonal events, city tours or something else, selling professional photo opps is a meaningful way to enhance your attendees' experience.
4. Backstage passes: Festivals, concerts, conferences; if you run an event with inspirational performers or speakers, there’ll always be people who are keen to mingle with them! Backstage passes give attendees the chance to turn their experience of your event from amazing to once-in-a-lifetime.
5. Meet & greets: In the same vein, there are always those who’d do anything to meet a hero of theirs – not least, pay a little extra than the standard ticket price 😉.

🎟️ Don’t forget about season passes & memberships!

Not an add-on per se, but season passes and memberships are another great way to reward your loyal customers while boosting your bottom line. Doing so is a strong move for event types that are likely to get repeat customers across a season or the whole year. Think theme parks, museums, petting zoos, kids’ activity centres, and even comedy clubs. Giving your attendees the chance to bulk-buy attendance at a discounted rate gives them more motivation to return regularly to your event. And it helps you maintain a healthy cash flow 🙌.

👀Tip: Find out how easy to it to sell season passes and memberships with Ticket Tailor >

🚀 Sky-rocket your ticketing strategy with Ticket Tailor

Ultimately, selling merch and other add-ons is all about creating a win-win situation between you and your attendees. They get the chance to buy extras that will enhance their experience of your event – but don’t have to pay for these things if they’d rather stick to the base ticket price. The key here is that they have a choice; you’re not simply hiking your ticket prices and including a load of extras that not everyone wants. Meanwhile, you get to enjoy enhanced profits and a more engaged, satisfied customer-base.

Ticket Tailor makes it easy to achieve all this 👆with user-friendly features that fully streamline the process of selling products and add-ons at your box office checkout. It only takes a few minutes to set everything up, and we’ve made sure the checkout process is super easy for your customer to navigate, too. (This is crucial – if it’s too fiddly or complicated for ticket buyers to purchase extras, they’re less likely to do so.)

💫 Ready to see how creative you can get with your merch, add-ons and upsells?

Get started with your free Ticket Tailor account >