So last week i had two craft fairs. One was the big village Christmas fair and one was a small affair around a friends house - a Christmas shopping lunch.
Setting up in the village hall was fun for the Christmas one. I had taken hints from Anna to have lots of stuff for a fiver. I hadn't had time to make the hair slides but had zippered pouches and carrier bag tubes. My friend Cath had a stall there as well selling hand made cards with photos she has taken on them, They are absolutely wonderful.
So table set up, bowl of chocolates as an enticement, even gift vouchers on table and i was ready.
Having never been to this fair before i had no idea of what to expect but early on i was told that it would be busy busy busy and as my stuff was of high quality (their words not mine although i chose to agree of course :) ) it should sell really well. So excited i was.
They were right, it was busy, shoulder to shoulder in fact, it seemed the whole village and its mother was there but not it would seem to buy anything over 25p. People had come for the warmth, mulled wine and free sausage rolls and mince pies.
I sold two hats and had some interest but that was it. the poor lady beside me who had knitted necklaces with jewellery wire (they were fantastic forgot to take photo) didn't sell a thing. even my friend with the cards had a poor night. there was one winner though. One stall was selling home made Christmas decorations for 5p each. She was cleaned out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So i packed up, grabbed a bottle of wine and my homemade chocolate and chili ice cream mentioned here and went off to our book group Christmas meeting and had a fantastic night although got a bit tiddly (which was all Liz's fault and not mine by the way). the ice cream was a huge success, really creamy and lovely. recipe to follow.
And so a few days later, complicated babysitting arrangements sorted (the fair was 12-2.30) I shipped my stuff round to Catherine's house. I was welcomed by the smell of home cooking - soup, mince pies and nibbles for all the guests and a table in prime position by the Pampered Chef demonstration. The atmosphere was great as i was surrounded by friends and it was fantastically successful. Sold 3 baskets, glasses cases, all of my hats plus carrier bag tubes not to mention the interest in holding handbag parties in the new year. Way hay. Just loads of work to do before Christmas now but hey, I love making basket bags. So happy days!!!
PS in between the two fairs i got poorly and mum got rushed into hospital for emergency surgery but that's life. !!!!!
5 comments:
Well done! It's a pain when people don't want to spend.
It's so disappointing when you've put a lot of work into your stall,but I've read several post this week about how poor craft fairs have been so you're not alone. I think people often just pop in for a browse and to spend not very much money...seems like the more intimate shopping lunch is the way to go, you've got a captive audience and no competition!
Hope you feel better now, got it out of the way before Christmas at least!
How great that you had a better timme at the second fair. Otherwise you might have thought it was you. And you never know. Sometimes people take flyers or cards with them and re-emerge months or years later.
I'm looking forward to the ice-cream recipe.
Bummer about the stall - some people just don't appreciate the hard work that goes into making stuff.
I'm incredibly curious about how on earth you would go about knitting jewellry wire! PLEASE take some pics if you see the woman's stall again. Sounds cool!
Hope your Mum is better soon.
Hello, Happy New Year.
Must have missed this post the first time round. I have a craft Fair that was as disappointing as yours, such a pity then people go and buy rubbish somewhere else. How do you organise a bag/Craft party?
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