I attended my
first Craft Fair as a seller last Thursday and it was a great success! Yes I made a modest profit after expenses but
the main enjoyment was meeting the public and other sellers.
It was a
Craft and Gift Fair and held in an old wooden Scout Hut which was rather
charming. It had a good mix of sellers ranging
from wildlife photography, vintage jewellery to knitting plus a very nice cake
stall (at last someone that does proper Tiffin)!
I was given a
corner with two tables which threw me a little as I had planned my layout on only
having one; thank goodness I had taken along plenty of tablecloths with me. Luckily I had plenty of time to rethink my
display so it all worked out in the end.
I was also given a chair (which was comfy thank goodness) and had a nice
little corner at the end of my table that allowed me to sit and do my crochet
during the quiet times.
The Fair was
in held in Bakewell a beautiful historic town in Derbyshire that is on the
tourist trail. So a lot of the people that
attended were holidaymakers (with children) who had not planned to come along
and nor were they looking for anything specific. Luckily I had lower price items such as my
Hedgehog Pin Cushions which proved popular to browsers, adult and children
alike. This highlighted that if I am
going to attend further fairs in the future I need to have a wider range of
lower priced items, some being attractive to children.
I also got a
lot of positive feedback, as people remembered their grandmother’s embroidered tablecloths
and thought it lovely that someone was doing something with them rather than
leaving them in a cupboard. This gave
me the opportunity to explain how I had got started and although they often did
not buy anything they did take away leaflets and business cards and will
hopefully pass these on to friends and family.
However........
It was hard
work and the preparation for such an event must not be underestimated and although
I thought I was organised everything took twice as long as expected. For
example I normally only print out labels etc as and when I make an online sale
but suddenly I had to do this for 30 or so items plus I needed additional
material such as price tickets and carrier bags.
Also you have
to have a thick skin! Some people stood
talking about my stall as if I was not there and a couple of times when someone
was admiring my stall their friend said they thought my items were too
expensive or they had seen something better!
Still I would
highly recommend it but you need to be prepared so I have added a check list to My Pages which
will hopefully be of help to any Craft Fair novices like me!
