Craft Show Aftermath...

Ugh... it took me two days to work up the energy to get the remainders of my craft show display containers out of my car. I was just tired of dragging the bins and boxes from one place to another, so I took my jewelry inventory and cash box inside and left the rest covered up in my trunk. Good think I live in a safe neighborhood! I just keep reminding myself that I make probably the most portable crafted item possible - it could be much worse! I could make something heavy or breakable... like pottery or stained glass

Anyway, my latest craft show was a success. It was looking pretty dire about 15 minutes before the show was about to start when the power completely went out in the venue. Luckily it came back on in a minute
and only flickered a few times during the rest of the day. Saturday was unfortunately a super stormy day here in the Seattle area, so some of the surrounding towns completely lost power. I think that kept a lot of people home, so there weren't as many shoppers as there should have been. But it was still a good show overall.

Here's a picture of my table!

I added a sale section of older stock I would like to move and that seemed to be a big draw. And of course, rings. Everybody likes to touch rings! Every craft show I do is a little bit more I learn about what kind of stock I should bring and how I should set up my table. I'm still working my way into having enough inventory to be able to start planning on selling at larger outdoor summer craft fairs. Next year hopefully!

What To Bring To Your Craftshow - A Checklist

I'm working on getting ready for a craft show this upcoming weekend. Between making extra inventory, I have been checking my displays and making sure I have everything organized so I don't end up at the show missing something important (like my jewelry inventory!). Since I make lists to keep myself organized, I thought I would share what I bring with me to craft shows.

Inventory to sell- I keep all my jewelry inventory organized in trays in a gray travel bag

Display Components

• Table - if not supplied by the venue
• Tablecloths - I layer a few different colors to make the table look interesting and have my base black fitted tablecloths in 6 and 8 foot sizes so I'm ready for whatever size table the venue gives me.
• Display racks/components - Luckily jewelry displays are pretty small. I have a mix of store-bought and handmade displays. If you sell other types of items, you may need to get creative about how you make your display. Think vertically, too - everything laid out flat gets boring.
• Banner/Signs - make sure people know who you are! I haven't gotten a vinyl sign yet but I made a pretty nice one with a 11x14" sheet printed at Kinko's that I mounted to poster board and sealed with acrylic spray. It works just fine for smaller indoor shows but I'll have to upgrade when I graduate to larger shows.
• Clipboard with sign up sheet for mailing lists
• Business cards & holder
• (For outdoor shows) - Canopy & sidewalls

Packaging For Sales

• Boxes, bags, etc - make sure to put your branding on them! I use clear address labels with my logo and website printed on them.

Business Forms, etc

• Copy of business license - important, especially at bigger shows where there might be inspectors coming around to check that you have all of your paperwork in order with the state.
• Extra price tags
• Extra price stickers
• Spiral notebook
• Sales list - make a table that you can write what has sold, for how much, and how much sales tax you collected
• Custom order forms
• Extra paper for signs
• Photo album w/ pictures of past projects, behind the scenes
• Craft show information sheets - print out or gather up all the flyers and vendor info sheets the venue has sent you
• Receipt book
• Ball point pen

Office Supplies - because you never know when you are going to need to McGuyver a part of your display together...

• Phone charger 
• Pens (lots) 
• Pencil 
• Sales receipt book 
• Sharpie 
• Stapler 
• Twine 
• Binder clips & paper clips 
• Scissors 
• Tape 
• Glue stick 
• Box cutter 
• Lint roller 

Cashbox/Money Bag/Vendor Apron

• Enough cash for change. The amount varies depending on how much you think you will sell. I aim for $150-$200 in small bills and coins. I guarantee people will pay you with $20 bills, so make sure you have enough $1's. I'm pretty sure the teller at my bank thought I was going to a strip club the last time I got cash for a craft show... 
• Square and Paypal Here credit card readers - there are so many people who forget to carry cash (me!), or spend all their cash, then fall in love with one of your items and only have plastic to pay for it - so being able to take credit cards will bring you more sales. The transaction fees on both of these are pretty low and they are secure and easy to use. (I bring both because sometimes my Square reader malfunctions) 

Cleaning Supplies

• Small bag for trash 
• Wet wipes 
• Napkins/paper towels 
• Hand sanitizer 

Food

• Bottle of water 
• Granola bars 
• Other simple snacks/food - go for non-messy, non-staining, non-sticky foods... no meatball subs or Cheetos 
• Coffee in spill-proof mug

Personal Items

• Makeup for touch-ups
• "Feminine items" just in case of emergency
• A few band-aids
• Contact solution and case - I got dust under my contact in the first hour of one of my previous shows, and spent the whole day squinting with my eye watering because I didn't have my contact stuff with me. Now it goes everywhere with me.

Extras

• An in-progress project to work on during down time - I usually bring supplies to work on chains. It gives me something mindless to do, is portable, and people usually come over to my table just to see what I'm working on. It also displays that I really do handcraft all of my items.