Craft Fairs - advice please!

[Flubba]

I've just been accepted to have a stall at separate craft fairs this week. I think I know what I'm going to do for them, but would love to have your advice (whether you've done them yourself before or whether you're a crafty buyer!).

I plan to have an order form thingamy for personalised things, but do I make a mock-up of what the end product will look like (and any suggestions for 'safe' names that could well sell rather than have a product go to waste?) too?

I currently have a repertoire of about 10 different things I can do well. Should I try and expand this list, or stick to what I know? And how many of each thing should I be trying to make?

some of the things I've made so far

pricing is tricky too - but that's a whole other thread I think

Your stuff is gorgeous. Beautiful fabrics. Not a clue on how much to make, but take notes if you are asked "Do you make such and such....."

(BTW Do you make personalised laundry bags? DD1 heading off to Uni in Sept and I'm getting her a pile of useful things to take.)

Safe Names - just going on DS Reception class

Thomas
Harry
Dylan

Rose
Olivia
Jessica

As for pricing - presumably charging by the letter for bunting?

I make examples of personalised stuff for my kids or friends kids so I can palm it off as b'day/Xmas pressies if required

Not sure on safe names, maybe just look at your age group's top 10 list and pick a couple from that?

I would stick to the 10 things. I don't think you want too many different things on the stall or it looks overwhelming.

Thank you all - good advice (and I need people to give me advice like that angel so no worries about sounding like I should know it already!)

Good idea RueDe - always a birthday party coming up in the mad world of kids!

Thanks Soup I think you're right (although I keep thinking "ooh, what about..." :o

go online and get list of last years most top ten names ---your itemaas are lovely

I'd agree about keeping to your ten or so items, that way you can make quantities of those, rather than making two or three of a lot of different things.

I was recently looking at pricing up bunting, as I was asked to make some for a lady. It looks like on Etsy people are charging £15 - £20, so I charged £1 a flag for plain flags and £2 for letter flags.

I love your elephant keyring :)

Thank you curly and donkey (still loving the name! :o).

I'm still struggling with pricing but price per plain and then price per lettered flag for bunting makes sense.

Anyone got any idea how many of each thing I should be making? I'm kind of going for 6 or so of each for the first fair, and then I can see how well (or not) those things sell, and have a month between the first and the second fair to stock up if needs be.

Check this
out that I made for myself for the stalls... :o

I've decided to go for Matilda and Alex for the two names I'll use as examples - friends both have one of these and they've been in the top 50 in 2008/2009/2010 so that covers me for 4, 3 and 2 year olds.

Right, panic's set in again - best be off, tooth fairy cushion pocket thingamies to make too :) :)

The £20 notes look almost real!

I remember that Overmydeadbody made herself a money apron when she did her first craft fair :)

No idea about numbers but maybe you could print some order forms so people can order stuff you've not got in stock?

You can buy order books in Smiths or somewhere, they're carbon copy ones so then you've got a copy of it and you give the original to your customer (with your business card stapled to the top!). Works really well for me, anyway :)

Flubba, have you thought about doing an applique tooth on your tooth fairy wossnames? I've just uploaded a pic of the tooth fairy purses I make, to show you what I mean :o

For pricing, try using this formula:
cost of materials + (time to make * your wage) + profit % = sale price. If you don't think people would pay those prices, then you need to think seriously about doing this!

Over's blog was the one that inspired me to start blogging when I did although I haven't seen her apron thing. I don't dare look as I'm sure hers is way more perfect than mine :o :o

I've made order forms, but I like the idea of carbon copies - looks professional I reckon and leaves the customer with something too!

I've done a tooth fairy cushion which is more detailed and had thought about a tooth appliqué on the small tooth fairy pocket, but the ones I made just looked like a really bad white ghost blob thing. Might have another go at it.

What kind of profit % do you use?

I had been thinking I'd do cost of materials + labour (working at about £5 an hour??) + a smidgen (technical term, that!) to come up with the price, but had read you should be looking at least doubling your material + labour costs but those prices are too much IMHO - bunting for example would end up being over £20 .

Ahh RueDe see, now your tooth looks like a tooth. Mine, not so much! :o

% profit I use varies - it's probably closer to your "a smidgen" tbh :o but I do work on labour being at least minimum wage level, normally about £7/hr. The local boutique that's talking about buying some stuff from me to sell in their shop was happy to buy at my standard retail price and then mark it up by about 65% to sell on, so clearly I could add more...but I'd rather sell more stuff for slightly less £££ at this stage.

It's easier to reduce prices than it is to put them up once you start selling stuff though!

Regarding bunting, my friend made one string of bunting for the school fair and left the pricing of it up to those running the stall. They priced it at £20 and she thought nobody would buy it at those prices. Wrong! It sold really quickly and they could have sold more. It was a boy themed one too, pirates and stuff.

I do think crafters undervalue their goods sometimes.

Sorry to hijack, Flubber but what are you doing about public liability insurance?

I've signed up for a craft fair at the end of May and they've just sent me the acceptance form and it says I need PLI - I've checked it out and can get it through an artists' organisation when I sign up for the year with them.

BUT! It's £36 for the year (+£20 for a stall starts to eat into profits a bit much) and I'm not even sure if I'm eligible - don't have a qualification, haven't held an exhibition of my work (), haven't received a bursary, etc, etc...

If anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated.

I've got it from here although it's £48 for the year, so I think yours is quite a good deal. I'm definitely doing these two fairs, and possibly another couple in the summer, and maybe a couple of Christmas fairs too (I did one Christmas fair last year, but they didn't require PLI ), so I'm seeing it as an investment and as you say, most organisers require it (and rightly so).
As a one-off it seems a lot, but if you're planning on doing more than one fair, it'll even itself out. CMTIA were hassle-free and quick.

I think you're right deux but lots of customers compare prices to supermarket prices - if they appreciate the work and effort that's gone into handmade crafts, then they'll happily pay more, but many don't.

I think I'm going to stick to my earlier formula of labour (@7/hr) + materials + a 'smidgen'. At least until I'm better at this and some of the things don't have wonky seams :o

RueDe I've now made a tooth that looks vaguely like a tooth. Hurrah! (and thank you) :)

Thanks Flubba (sorry for spelling your name wrongly before!) - I'd found this organisation after posting and have emailed them to check they'd be OK with handmade stuff, just to be on the safe side. I'm assuming they are if you're using them.

They seem a lot easier than the artists' lot as I don't qualify.

My DH also says I should look at it as an investment for future fairs and if I just write it off against it being my hobby then that's not so bad!

Thanks again.

I hope they are!! :o :o - although I did have to describe what I would be selling/making on the form I filled in, so I imagine they'll cover it! :o

Hadn't even noticed the spelling. I'll cope

Hi OP, late on the thread but I'd suggest putting together your stall a week beforehand to make sure you're happy with the presentation. Products at eye level are always good so you might need some shelving building.

I have a little company at www.babydubois.co.uk/ and do a dozen craft fairs a year selling baby clothes and nappies. I really look forward to getting out and meeting customers now.