Would you be interested in this?

[christmasbirdsandchristmasherd]

I have an imaginary stall at the Christmas Market.
I set it up every Christmas in my head, I make all of the things but end up giving it all away as gifts because I'm too embarrassed to try to sell it all.
Would you be interested in buying any of this? If yes how much would you expect to pay? If not, what is putting you off?

There is-

-Jams and chutneys from home grown or locally forrgaged fruit and vegetables.
-Knitted ornaments
-Knitted hat, scarf and mittens
-Handmade pop up cards, with intricate mechanisms and moving parts.
-hand sewn gift bags
-Baked goods, cookies, cupcakes etc
-knitted or hand sewn dolls and teddies

Its a bit naff isn't it? Its all I can do and when I give out my gifts everyone says I should try selling them but I'm not sure anyone would buy it.
and I would know where to start with pricing.
What do you think? Would it be worth pursuing?

Background, I'm a sahm completely dependent on dh and I wouldn't mind having something to do other than child care and housework.

OP cards will be faster to produce and if it does take off easier to store!

Op there's a lot to be said for just making and selling so you can see people enjoying your work and so you can buy more craft stuff and have a couple of quid spare cash.

Your op doesn't hint at wanting to make £££ so don't get bogged down in that side of it

The crafty world is a shiny, happy place and the people I know who do stalls do it for fun as much as ££😀

I would buy all those things OP.
I buy from etsy often, have had some lovely things, and it is nice to support women with tiny businesses.

Capitalism teaches us that nothing has any value other than what monetary benefit can be gained from it. Therefore, under capitalism, mothering is effectively worthless (as we get no pay and pay no tax on these mothering “earnings”) and making things for pleasure and for gifts is trivial and silly.

I say, fight back. Don’t let people discourage your wonderful creativity! All of those things sound fantastic and you don’t need to sell them for money for them to be worth your time and effort. Your life is shaped by the making of them and other lives will be too, you just don’t realise. Go you!

OP even if it’s just a bit of pocket money to cover your crafting costs it is a HUGE happy buzz when actual strangers buy your stuff, leave good reviews, send gushy messages about how much the recipient loved it etc etc.

@christmasbirdsandchristmasherd

I don't really understand etsy, don't the people have to pay etsy to sell on there and then postage and packaging. So something I would sell for £1 at a stall would cost closer to £5 or £6 on etsy. I know I have looked on there before and a small knitted toy has been for sale for £10 and up. The prices put me off.

What would you be happy paying on etsy?

I know its just a dream but I am getting a little bit excited now

But if you do a stall, you have to pay rent, and there's no guarantee you'll cover costs. At least Etsy is a percentage of your sales, and you can anyone who is on Etsy, rather than anyone who has come to a Xmas market.

This all sounds so lovely!

Not interested in the knitted stuff - sorry but it always looks homemade

I bake myself & make chutneys jams etc
so that would be a no too

Cards - maybe depending on what they're like.

The problem with a lot of this sort of stuff is that people are not prepared to pay a price that accurately reflects the materials & time that went into making the item(s).

Can you put some pictures up so we can see?

If Mavis down the road makes jams and writes the labels and sells them at the WI stall they won't attract a premium. And I wouldn't want to buy anyway, not knowing Mavis or the state of her kitchen

This is me. I don't even eat the chutney neighbours give me free. Sil makes jam and hands it out but I bin it as she has four cats. Mil makes cucumber pickle stuff and I bin that too. I never ate stuff the kids brought home from cookery. I used to help in the classes so it was an open book. I know it's probably just me . . .

Make sure you keep proper costs and price accordingly! If you’re looking to run it as a business you need to make money from it. Sound obvious, but I’ll make you think about how you price your items.

I sell on Etsy and have done craft fairs as well. With Etsy, you do have fees to take into account. It’s also a crowded market place so can be hard to be seen.

I personally wouldn’t sell a range of items - better to stick to a product (ie cards or chutneys).

Craft fairs can be good fun. Not all are expensive to hire a table - school fairs are a good shout - but you may need (and probably should have anyway) public liability insurance which can up the price (though it’ll be valid for a year).

Once again, don’t undersell your items!! Factor in your time.

Being realistic, how good is your knitting? Do you think it is good enough to sell? If it is then I would really focus on this.Any goods involving food will need certain standards to be met.

You can't stockpile them and they go off.If you decided to use Etsy for example to sell knitted clothes then you could prepare a lot in advance.

Are you able to look at a sweater or hat in a magazine and replicate it?

Nothing about it sounds bad (except the use of 'foraged' If you're asking for my honest opinion, it's very typical of an Artisan pretentious Market stall. I think what makes the difference, is how it's presented. Maybe do samples of the Chutney etc on small crackers?
I went to our local Christmas Market today and was hugely disappointed. It was all the same stuff as always...

Hog Roast ()
Grass head animals
Samples of overpriced booze to try get you to buy a bottle
Crepes
Scarves
Hot chocolate & Baileys in the smallest cup possible
Wooden garden furniture (what's festive about that?!)
Hand made sausage rolls for a fiver a pop
Oh and the mobile phone case stall from the local weekly market

Totally uninspired.

The pop up cards sound very interesting and I'd maybe expect to pay £6-£7 (or more) each if they were reasonably intricate, handmade and decent quality. What would put me off would be a stunning card accompanied by a bog standard, ill fitting envelope.

The knitted teddies/dolls - it would depend on the quality and uniqueness - if you'd just used some random toy knitting pattern, then no, I wouldn't be interested because I can do that myself.

Knitted hat, scarf, mittens - would depend on quality and uniqueness. I'd be very interested if you made them from a premium wool and they had some level of intricacy. I say this because I could knock up a beanie style cabled/striped knitted hat in a couple of evenings myself, so to buy, I'd want something premium/special. About £25+ for each item.

Jams/chutneys. Yes I'd happily buy provided they looked professional - so all the batch looking identical with interesting flavours and great labelling. About £6-£7 each.

Basically, what I'm saying is to make me buy I want to see a level of professionalism, uniqueness and a quality item - it really is all in the detail.

The problem is you might cover the costs of your materials but it's unlikely you'll ever cover the cost of your time. If you're happy to make the items as 'something to keep yourself occupied in the evening' then it might be worth it.

@Almostmenopausal whats wrong with foraged? Berries and damsons and plums and yums 😋