One-of-a-kind idea: Rocky Topee Teepees

Sleepover biz launched by Bearden moms

Bearden friends and mothers, Lisa Krajewski and Sarah Rump, have teamed up to make sleepovers profitable.

They have launched a new home-based business, Rocky Topee Teepees.

“(I’m) extremely excited and somewhat humbled at the amount of support and excitement the community has embraced us with,” Krajewski said. “We’re always thinking up what’s next, and at the root of who we are, we just want to provide an extraordinary customer service.”

“And it’s just fun,” Rump said. “We enjoy it. We have fun doing the set-ups, creating new themes and playing around on social media.”

With the business, “We created sleepover experiences for mostly children’s celebrations inside their homes,” Krajewski said. “We also have an outdoor ‘glamping’ experience for the whole family.

“It’s like camping but glamorous,” she added. “We set up (16-feet in diameter), weatherproof canvas teepee in a backyard or some other location they designated, and it allows them to camp outside, but it’s got a lot of other comforts available, so you’re not really roughing it.”

With every sleepover set-up, clients get an A-frame-structured teepee, an airbed, a protective mattress cover, a fitted sheet, a blanket, breakfast tray, a rug, an assortment of decorative pillows to go along with their theme and a party favor for each guest attending.

“We try to create something that would inspire children, so we usually include a notebook, a pen, just to kind of get their creative juices flowing,” Krajewski said.

Rump added there are seven themes from which to choose, such as Mindcraft, Rainbow, Under the Stars and Mermaid.

The women started gearing up to start the home-based business in August 2020.

“We had our first party in November ...,” Krajewski said.

To book an event, go online: www.rockytopeeteepees.com, Instagram and Facebook; e-mail to inquiries@rockytopeeteepees.com or call Krajewski at 1-901-218-6534 or Rump at 865-386-3928.

Rump said they both worked together as event planners for Blackberry Farms for 10 years before starting their own business.

“We always wanted to start some sort of business like this,” she said. “Now, we’re both moms, and we just decided to do it,” Krajewski said.

“We were so busy in December because the kids were out of school on winter break and we booked a lot of parties celebrating the holidays.”

Krajewski added the business continues to do well.

“What we created was great because it’s pandemic friendly but it’s also timeless,” she said. “A birthday sleepover party is something we did when we were kids, that we do for our kids now and our kids will probably plan for their kids.

“Something we didn’t anticipate was all the sibling sleepovers,” Krawjewski said. “In the time of the pandemic, when you can’t have your six of your best friends come over for a sleepover, we find that families are doing sleepovers for just the siblings.

As they both have a little bit of a background in healthcare fundraising, “we took the pandemic very seriously,” Krajewski said. “We clean and sanitize all of our products between each use.

“We also wear masks every time we go inside (a home) to set up,” she added. “We’ve made it a point to take all of the precautions necessary to keep our clients safe.”

Krajewski got the idea for the business after seeing a similar business in Nashville on social media.

“I screen-shot a picture of (the post) and sent it to Sarah, and I said, ‘I think I have our business idea.’

“We just knew that was something Knoxville didn’t have yet, but (it was) something that would probably be a pretty popular idea,” Krajewski added.

“And, our kids help, too,” Rump said. “When we show a picture and ask, ‘Is this cute?’ and they’re very good at giving feedback.”