Bad Year for Craft Fairs

This year was the most dismal year for craft fairs that I have ever had. I barely made back the money I put out to rent my space. The attendance has been less than half that there has been in the past and most people aren't even stopping to look in the booth but just walking on by. It has been very discouraging to say the least. I am seriously thinking of not doing any shows next year and possibly for the next couple of years. Maybe when the economy picks back up again and people want to go to craft fairs and actually spend money in this area I will consider doing shows again. It is just too much work for so little return right now and i would rather put that energy into my online shops.

The Craft Fair That Wasn't

Well my only spring craft fair ended up being a major bust. Don't know exactly what doomed it because it was well advertised. It could have been that it was the first 60 degree day of the season or it could have been the Home Show that was happening only a couple of miles down the road (which had record breaking attendance). Whatever it was it made for a long day. I only had two sales that were made by other vendors. It was a good chance to network with the other vendors but still a major disappointment. I guess I won't be doing that fair again next year.

Spring Show

I am doing my very first Spring Craft Fair on April 9th. I'm really hoping that it is a good show and one that I will want to do again in the future. I would like to do more show throughout the year instead of having them all grouped in the fall.

I will be making some Easter cards and Mother's Day cards for the show but those will be the only newer items I will be adding.

So I am excited and am really hoping for a good day.

Craft Fair Season 2010

I have been doing shows since the beginning of October and my last one of the year is this Saturday. I have noticed a sharp decline in attendance this year at every show. I don't know if it is the economy or people just aren't getting excited about going to the shows. Even at my best shows I have made far less money this year over last year. It is very discouraging. I will be doing fewer shows next year because I have barely made my table money back at most of them.

I don't know what the answer is but I truly wish that I did. Hopefully my last show of the year will be more profitable even though it won't be able to make up all the lost income and time from the previous shows.

The New Tent

I know it has been awhile since I have written yet again. So much has been happening here on a personal level that it has been very difficult for me to keep up.

I wanted to share with you my experience with my EZ Up Dome tent. I really like it. It is very easy to put up and take down. At the craft fair it was raining all day and it did a good job keeping the water out and of course the domed top kept the water from pooling.

Because it was raining so much at the craft fair there wasn't a lot of customer so a lot of the other venders came by to talk about the tent. Most had never seen one like mine and were impressed by it. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn't get a picture but I hope to remember the next time it is set up.

Envelopes!

First I apologize for the absence from my blog. I had a period of illness that left me unable to do much of anything. I'm hoping that I'm on the mend enough to keep on top of things.

Another note is that the craft fair tent has arrived. Haven't done the trial set up yet but will be doing that soon to see how difficult and how long it actually takes to set up.

But this entry is actually about envelopes. Now I make and sell mostly cards as my business and it is something I really love. Now along with all the supplies needed to make the actual cards themselves I need to have envelopes.

So I have been making lots of cards and putting them up for sale on etsy and artfire and also making lots of cards for my upcoming craft fairs. I wasn't worried about envelopes because I had an unopened box of 250 sitting up on my shelf.

Today I decided I needed to start packaging some of my craft fair cards so I wasn't doing them all at the last minute. So I took the box of envelopes down from the shelf and opened it up only to find that there were no envelopes in the box at all. The horror of it all. So instead of packaging up my cards I had to spend time searching for a supplier to buy envelopes because my last one went out of business.

So I ordered 1000 envelopes today and that should last me quite some time. I guess the only real plus that came out of this was that I did decide to try to do this early and did discover the problem in enough time to get some shipped to me but it looks like I will be packaging everything at the last minute because I ran out. I will however be marking the boxes when they are empty so I know in advance if I have envelopes left in the future.

New Tent

Well I finally bought the EZ UP Dome tent and it should be here by the end of the week. I really hope it is a good one and will hold up for us for a few years. I hope that it is better in the wind and rain than the regular EZ Up tent that most crafters have.

We will have to set it up and take it down in the yard a few times to get used to doing it. I want it to only take a few minutes so we can spend most of our time setting up our products.

I am uploading Halloween cards today and Thanksgiving cards tomorrow so check them out!

Craft Show Tent Shopping

I am currently in the market for a good craft fair tent. I have looked at a ton of tents it seems. I want to spend around $400 on the tent in the hopes that it will last for several years without replacing it. I know that Trimline has probably got the best tent but with shipping the tent would end up costing $1000 which is way out of my budget.

So it looks like I'm pretty much stuck getting an EZ Up tent. I have looked at a bunch of their tents and I am thinking of going with their dome tent which looks very similar to the Trimline tent and is within my budget of $400. I will probably be buying the tent this coming week because of how soon my outdoor fair is coming up.

Do any of my readers have any experience with this tent or do you know of a better tent that will fit within in my budget. Any comments or suggestions would be welcome. Thanks

Craft Show Story

Craft show season is again upon us. I love doing craft shows because you get to meet and interact with so many great people. Plus you get a feel for your customer base. You usually sell a lot at a craft fair compared to online sales which gives you a much needed boost in income. I have had my share of low sale craft fairs either because of location or lack of advertising. Most of me experiences have been good. But one show stands out as my worse show ever.

Our town has an annual street fair that takes place in October. The year that I decided to set up a booth was the year that the festival was thrown together at the last minute. Don't know if it was a new group that took it over and that was why there was a delay. They normally have an antique car show that sets up at one end of the fair and that draws a lot of people. Well the year I did the show there wasn't enough time to plan the car show so they were not there.

I was optimistic that the show would do ok anyway because it had been run for a few years and people pretty much knew when it was. I had gone to the fair for a few years before I decided to sell there and there was a pretty good mix of crafters there.

So I go to the fair bright and early to get my spot. I find out that I am across from the food vendors. Ok I thought I could still do ok. So I went about setting up my tent and putting out my things. It was getting later and my two neighbors hadn't yet been there to set up. There fair was almost ready to open when they finally arrived. So on one side of me I have the high school bake sale fundraiser and the other side of me was a financial firm that had a money tree that was going to be raffled off just for filling out your information. Next to the financial firm was someone who set up a flea market booth and accross form them was a vendor selling candy and cheap trinkets. No other crafters in my area at all. I was still optimistic because I had been to the other shows and knew there had to be other crafters down the other side where I just couldn't see them.

So I was ready to sell. The weather was bright and sunny so I figured lots of people would be out enjoying the fair. Everything was fine until I see this motorized train come down the narrow walk area and people had to scurry out of the way. People ducked into my booth but never stopped to look at my things because they were more worried about getting run over. Plus they were far more interested in the money tree next door. I did get a few sales in the morning. The train ran all day and went by my booth about every 10 to 15 minutes which was super annoying. It became more annoying when the food vendors had longer lines because it was lunch time. I had a friend come by to watch my booth while I went out to check out the other parts of the fair. To my horror and surprise there wasn't a single other craft person there. It was all kinds of fundraiser groups, real estate people, banks and people selling flea market type items. Not at all like it had been the previous years when I had attended the fair. My heart sunk and I went back to my booth. I never even made enough money to cover the table.

It was time to break down the tent and pack up to go back home. My friend brought her car around to help load up. In the process she ran over my three tables and broke them. I was so upset. Now I was definitely out all my money because I had to replace the tables. My friend did pay for one of them because it was already brand new and this was the first time I had used it.

Needless to say I have never been a vendor at the festival again. They didn't run the train any more after that year because I am sure they got a ton of complaints about it. Also the crafters have yet to return. it is still all fundraisers, cheap junk and businesses. The antique cars have been back every year since as well. I guess I just picked the wrong time to go. I haven't done another outdoor show since but I am looking to find some to do maybe soon. I hope my experience is better than that one.