Holiday Booth Show Off + a tip for more business!

Holiday Bazaars are F-U-N and also a lot of work! Schlepping all your stuff inside and then setting up and meeting the public is all apart of the 'circuit' as I like to call it! I have completed two markets so far - both super close to my house to get a feel for what it's all about.
And so far I am really enjoying it! Can you tell by my smile? I got to take home cash that night! Woo-who! For a stay at home mom with a student loan payment each month - this makes me very happy!

Here's a look at my booth set up for a holiday sale at a local elementary school. (My super cute booth neighbor took these pictures for me.) Which is another perk for me - meeting lots and lots of wonderful people. Again being with Baby J all day doesn't give me much adult chit chat time but I more than make up for it with the people shopping and the other vendors. 

And that is what my little business tip is about - market yourself to the other vendors at the show. At the end of set-up time before the crowds came I went around to a bunch of the vendors and gave each one a business card and the offer of 10% if they came to shop with me. And it worked! I had one very nice lady buy a couple of items  - we were both happy :)

These pictures aren't the best, I'm sorry! But it gives you an idea of all the things I had for sale! To much variety if you ask me...but like I said I'm still getting a feel for the market experience and I think I am making progress on what my future both is going to be stocked with.
-------
Since I wrote this post there was one more sale I participated in at the Jack London Bar in beautiful, but very rainy down town Portland. For this show I was able to give the table a bit more pulled together look. The handmade goods got organized at bit differently into sections and pared down.

The new layout makes more sense to my customer. They can now see all crayon/drawing related goods all in a row and my house wares section off to the side in the trunk where I used to put my larger quilts.  Shows off the items better and people enjoyed looking through the colorful fabrics. I still brought quilts but only baby and lap size and hung them on a rack with the purses and baby onesies.

The scene was quite different than the elementary schools and I was able to relax more and just let people browse and chit chat leisurely.  The other vendors had fun indie crafts all around. The most memorable was Aurora with her hand sewn, individualized, mis-understood monster ties. So awesome, so original I didn't even want to take a picture of the them and put them up on the blog!

The holiday market season was kind to me this year! I did well in my sales and I know where to focus my energies for next year. I think the time is sooner rather than later to start sewing crayon rolls and pot holders! That was one thing that about broke me this month -- all the sewing to keep up the inventory! Not a bad problem to have though!

Have you done a bazaar this season? Are you thinking about it for next year? Do you have a tip to share too? Leave us a comment, would ya? 

Cheers,

Kelly