My Previous Craft Fair Experience

I recently had a discussion with someone who was considering doing their first craft fair. My response was starting to get a bit long, so I decided to post it here.

I have done a few craft shows before. Not all are worth the booth/table fee. It really depends on how much the fee is compared to the amount of foot traffic and the overall feel of the fair. Some fairs have better atmospheres, organization, and marketing than others. For example, fairs that play music while people shop (especially soft holiday music during the holiday season) seem to have a better overall atmosphere. Fairs that don't even bother to put out a cardboard sign out to announce the fair is going to happen the week before generally have very poor foot traffic and aren't worth the time to setup and man a booth.

As a general rule, the fairs that have been running each year, in a given location, for several years are better.  If you can, visit a fair or market in your area and ask some of the vendors what other fairs they will be going to. This is one of the best ways to find out which fairs in your area are good to vend at - or shop at.  It's also worthwhile to visit a fair one year, find out who's in charge, and then go talk to that person at the fair to find out about fees, logistics, and how you can sign up next year. Even if they ask for your contact info, they don't always follow up with you, so be sure that you get their email address. This also helps if you forget to (or unable to) ask them something.

Things to Find Out

This 8 x 10 foot pottery booth has enough
room for two side tables & two bookcases.

* How much space you'll have to work with (some give a 8-10 foot square booth, for others, you line up a single table). Will this be inside or outside? This will directly relate to how much stuff you can/should bring.

* Whether you need to provide your own table. Some provide tables for you; some will allow you to rent them if given enough notice; most require you to bring everything yourself. If you will be outside, this means you'll need a canopy too, as well as weights to keep it from blowing away.

* Cost. What are the fees? (both table fee and possibly an additional commission) Do they want you to donate an item so they can run a raffle during the fair? (demands for raffle donations are very common.)

* A brief history of the fair: How long the fair has been running, if it was set up for a particular reason, how many visitors they had last year, etc. If you cannot visit a fair personally, asking these types of questions may give you valuable information about whether you'll be a good fit for the fair. (Not all vendors work well at all fairs. If the fair is being held in conjunction with a musical festival, you will get a very different crowd than one that's at a retirement home. A vendor selling kids toys may not do well if the fair attracts a lot of single adults.) If you can visit a fair yourself, you can get an idea for these things visually, and you may not need to ask.

* How much time you have to set up before the fair. Some want you to get everything up an hour or two before they open the doors, others give you a couple of hours to set up everything the night before.  Break down time is usually a lot easier and requires less time. However, if the fair will run over more than one day, you'll want to know whether you'll need to set everything up more than once or if it will be sitting there overnight (in which case, you'll want to know if there's any security).

* Where things are in relation to the booths. For example, where do park your car? (you'll also want to know if you'll have to lug everything a really long distance.) Where are the bathrooms? Are there any booth-sitting services available so that you can use the facilities? Some of the really well organized fairs have thought about these things and provided for them. (Sadly, most don't have booth-sitting services, so you'll need to rely on your neighboring vendors if you need to use the toilet.)

What to Take
If the fee isn't bad, you can always just jump right in and see how it goes. You always learn a lot the first time you go. However, it's useful to know what to bring to your first fair.

* Change. Lots of small bills. I bring at least $40-60 in small bills as well as $10 in coins. Sometimes I bring more - a lot of vendors will underestimate how much they need and will ask their neighbors for help.   Decide beforehand whether you'll take checks or even credit cards. Propay and Square are services that can allow you to take cards at fairs using your cell phone.

* A waist apron. I keep all of my money in the apron so it does not leave my side, even if I need to use the restroom. The last thing I want is for a cash box to wander away. This gives me one less thing to watch. If you're starting out, I suspect a waist apron would be less expensive than a metal cash box if you don't have one already. I also use my apron to keep two pens, a calculator, a phone-based credit card reader, and a sales receipt book on my person so I don't have to fumble around for them.

* Small emergency kit. Is there a chance you may need to conduct a small repair or alter an item for a customer? Consider bringing scissors, jewelry pliers, or anything else you may need to fulfill basic requests. Also, be sure to bring emergency supplies for your display. This may include pins, zip ties, twine, or tape. I have found myself using a roll of electrical tape in a pinch (easier to remove at the end of the day than duct tape and stronger than scotch - though you may want to bring scotch tape as well).

* Business cards. I put some on my table for people to take. I also keep some in my apron for me to hand out. I also keep a couple of coupon codes in my head, so I can write them on the backs of the cards if I feel it's appropriate. For example, if someone purchases from me, I might give them a small discount toward a future purchase. (Tip: you can let your business cards double as price tags if you create some business cards in a vertical format.)

Along with business cards, consider bringing other marketing materials, such as email sign-up sheets if you run a regular email newsletter. If you do a lot of custom work after the show is over, consider bringing order forms.

* Business license. I've heard of fairs where inspectors have come asking to see each vendor's business and sales tax license. If you're required to show it wherever you do business, don't forget to leave it at home.

* Creature comforts. Namely, a water bottle, a snack (or lunch if it's an all day fair), and a director's chair to sit. I prefer a director's chair because it puts you at closer to eye level with your customers, which makes it easier to interact with them. Sometimes customers see vendors slumped down in a collapsible camp chair and assume they don't want to be bothered to get up. If you will be outside, this includes shade or other forms of protection from the weather. If you bring a canopy, make sure you have enough weight to tie it down so it doesn't become a giant, rolling 12' kite.

* Bags. If someone buys stuff from you, it's nice to be able to offer them a bag to carry it in. A lot of first time vendors forget them. I have a cloth tube that I stuff with my plastic shopping grocery bags when I come home from the store. I've noticed that customers at school-based craft fairs don't seem to mind re-using bags. However, if you go on to do more fairs, you may want to consider investing in some nicer packaging (gift boxes or bags) - especially if you sell valuable items or go to higher-end fairs.

Successful booths incorporate height into their display.
Even the table is up on risers in this booth to bring items
to a more comfortable height for the customer.

* Display materials. This depends on what you sell. Clothing vendors will want to display their wares on racks with hangers. I've seen people construct their own racks out of PVC pipe, but Walmart actually has some decent clothing storage racks for reasonable prices (but they'll need some reinforcement and weight to keep them from tipping) . Jewelry vendors might have neck forms or they might build a display out of an old picture frame and cloth-covered cork board to pin items to. If you use tables, you're probably going to want to get items at different heights, which might mean a variety of small boxes to use as risers as well as cloth to cover them. Unless you're going to use the area under any tables for display bins, you don't want to forget tablecloths.

For me, display materials also includes a binder with photos of previous work as an idea guide, a binder of available designs, and stitched samples of a selection of font types and thread colors. I don't take samples of every font and color that I have available - that would be overwhelming for both me and my customers. I also keep a price list handy so I can provide custom quotes if needed.  I display most items on two folding tables that I bought at Costco (they fold up and have handles, so that I can fit them in the trunk of a standard car).  However, it requires some creativity to display items at different heights.

BTW, I keep a pinterest board on craft fair and retail display ideas, if you're looking for some display ideas.

For some fairs, I will bring my embroidery machine, which allows me to monogram items while I'm there. It also attracts a lot of attention to my booth. However, bringing it along is a hassle. I only do this where it's an all-day fair and when I can setup everything else the night before. I never leave my machine at a fair overnight so I always set it up in the morning before the doors open.

* Signage. For both your shop name/what you sell and your prices. A lot of established vendors have banners made with their shop name on it. If you're just starting out, you can skip the expense for your first fair. However, you may still want to hand paint a little wooden board, or print out your shop name or what you do on a piece of paper to go in a cheap 8x10 photo frame that can stand on your table.

More important will be labeling your prices so your customers don't need to ask you what something costs.(A lot will ask anyway, even if it's clearly posted, but most like to be able to look on their own.) One tool that I've invested in is a hang-tag gun, so I can put prices on all of my sewn items easily. It makes my life much easier. However one thing that hang tags aren't good at doing is advertising potential deals. At craft fairs especially, people like to feel like they're getting a deal - like Item A is $12. Get two for $20!

I also bring a sign in a cheap 8x10 frame advertising that I do custom orders. I get more sales off that sign than I do off my table, but that's not uncommon for custom embroidery.

* Merchandise. Wait, I forgot to mention this earlier? How much of it to bring depends on what you sell and how much space you have available to display. Sometimes having fewer items that are prominently displayed is better. Other times, you just want to fill your table. I know of some vendors who will keep additional items in boxes under their table in case what's on the table starts to sell. If the fair is just in the morning, you can afford bringing less.

If you were to set up a kiosk or cart at a mall for the holidays, I know that you would want to have $1000-$2000 worth of merchandise minimum before you start. (That price reflects the wholesale cost to you, BTW.)  However, a mall kiosk is so you'll have stuff available to sell all day, every day for 3 months straight. A craft fair is only a few hours, so I tried to have a couple hundred bucks worth of raw materials that I worked into finished products for my first fair.

Note: this article originally appeared in another one of my blogs, which I am no longer using for business management topics. I have edited it and reposted it here so it will still be accessible.