Lessons From My First Craft Fair

Recently, my friend Maria and I ventured onto a new adventure - a craft show! Neither one of us had ever done this before, but we had received many compliments on our tie dyes at the company picnic this year. Many suggested we sell them. So when the opportunity to do just that at a charity craft fair, we jumped at it!

We started right away with building an inventory, but it wasn't until we signed up for a second craft fair next week that we decided maybe we should do some research. Um, can you say overwhelmed! Between a crash course in  pricing, booth design, business cards, packaging, and phew even starting the bare bones of an Etsy shop, we felt like our head's were spinning!

I think we did an amazing job with the time we had! The picture above shows our set-up today. Looks pretty good, except our measurements were a bit off and we should have brought two tables. Less clutter on the table and better use of space! 

Here are some lessons we learned:

A craft fair is not always busy. Actually this one was very slow. Not that many people came. It was not the fault of the coordinator. It was well advertised. It's just that we had a gorgeous day and there were more outdoor events going on in the area.

Bring something to do! Even better if it is in your power to work on some of what you sell to replace what might sell. Now we sure can't tie dye at a craft show, but a book would have been nice.

Do not take it personally if your items do not sell as well as another crafter's. For THIS fair, your items may not be what the majority are looking for, bu next time might be your opportunity! Kinda goes along with you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Do not wait until the last minute to prepare! This is pretty self explanatory. We were pretty exhausted today.

Get a brand. Make what you do stand out. OK, so tie dye pretty much stands out all on it's own, but everything else should go with what you are hoping to represent. Notice the table cover, sign, etc.

Socialize with the other crafters! We got so much encouragement from others there today. And we learned about their crafts, processes, and of upcoming fairs! We met some lovely folks and it made the event a bit more fun.

Did we do well today? Not really. We only made $36. We sold a baby onsie, 2 towels, a candle holder, and 2 child's shirts.  Traffic was slow, what can you do? The fact that items DID sell in a low traffic environment, when others around us did not make any sales was pretty encouraging.

Planning For An Upcoming Craft Fair - First Time!

My friend and I are participating in a craft fair for the first time ever. I am super excited and a little worried. Excited to have the possibility to earn a few extra bucks doing what I love, creating stuff. And worried because, well it is my first time and I want to make sure my overhead does not exceed the sales.

We will be offering a variety of handcrafted items, with a focus of tie dyed items. They are an item that seems timeless and so much fun to make! My friend is amazing at this and I can certainly hold my own.  I will also be doing some smaller crocheted items, such as washcloths, coasters, and cup coozies.

We do not have a "business" so I do not feel that limiting my offerings by sticking to a "branding" attitude is needed here. I just want to spotlight the various things I love to create.

I have quite a few ideas and some time to work on them as the fair is a bit over a month away.  I was thinking of offering handmade gel air fresheners, sewn kitchen towels, and I may just leave it at that.

We have an 8'X8' booth with a table and I am bringing a clothing rack for the tie dye clothing.

Has anyone had experience with this? Any ideas?

But I Am Just A Receptionist! Planning A Company Outing

My current job is a receptionist for a very large company. At my location alone there are 450 people! There are over 30 locations across the country and I am the "default operator" for all of them. By that, I mean if you call ANY of our locations and choose zero on the phone tree, you will end up speaking to me.

You would think I would be much busier than I feel. But the truth is, I do have downtime (most days, anyway). When that happens, I generally reach out for a project. I am a part of the Human Resources team, but my "projects" do come from varying departments.

Two weeks ago, I was tasked with redeveloping and implementing the 10 bulletin boards around the building. It was a huge undertaking, especially since I get limited time away from my desk. I have finished the redevelopment part of that, and implementation will take place soon.

This week I have been handed the task of planning all aspects of my location's company outing this Summer! Whoa!!!! I have never taken on anything like this before, so I am both excited and a bit over my head (I think) on this. Choosing a venue would be a natural first step. But, nope! I have chosen a theme first. I want a 1960's hippie theme.

Let me explain.  My company was founded off the back of a truck in the 60's by, you guessed it - a hippie! So, I think it is fitting. It goes to many of the core, crunchy granola loving, principals that are still in place in our work force.

I am hoping that we can use a State Park as I think this would be perfect! Again, nature as a backdrop. What is better than that?

I have decided on a few things I would love to have for our party:

• Company T Shirts that we can all Tie-Dye
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• Peace Sign Bean Bag toss
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• Face Painting station
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• Ring toss using mini daisy chains
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• BBQ and Vegetarian options for the food
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• Music from Woodstock and similar
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• Groovy Bingo using phrases of the era

If anyone has any other ideas for activities, that would be most helpful!
Also, any ideas on keeping a park setting "safe" in case it rains!!! Our outing would be in late July, early August.