I love craft fairs. I grew up on the East coast where lovely rural communities were just a short jaunt away. At any given time you could run into odd little craft fairs and just pop in to see all the interesting creations. Most, that I was aware of, were free of charge to enter.
I'd visited lots of craft fairs, so I felt that when I had a small amount of blankets and hand-poured soaps, I might be able to at least sell a few things. I was excited, and it was a great experience in many ways. I got a couple pity sales at the end of the weekend, thanks to friendly neighboring booth buddies. I haven't participated in another since, because I learned so many valuable lessons...like how much I DIDN'T actually know about craft fairs.
Now, I am by no means a craft fair expert, but I can share with you the things I learned by doing the one craft fair. If you are seriously considering doing a craft fair, do a good amount of research first.
Here's what I can tell you about craft fairs:
1. You have to pay to take up space at a craft fair. You may or may not also be responsible for purchasing your table or booth along with any other decorations to make it attractive and inviting.
2. Know your venue. I should have revisited the venue I signed up with, and asked a few questions about what kind of preparation would be done to make it suitable for the craft fair. It was an expo building used mainly by the 4H club during the summer fairs. Not really a great shopping experience for crafts. Concrete floors are not your friend. It wasn't really clean, and it was mostly a flea market with people either looking for rare collector items or super bargains on knickknacks. These were not the types of shoppers who were looking for average-priced quality handmade blankets.
3. Know how you will accept payments. Some shoppers come prepared with cash, but have a plan for what payments you accept and for giving receipts even if they are only handwritten. You may decide to use the Square service to accept payments through your cell phone, or a tablet. You may want an old-fashioned credit-card machine to take imprints for credit and debit cards. Will you take checks? Will you need internet access in order to process your payments? Will the venue provide internet for you, or is it something you have to figure out on your own? Make sure you have a secure place to keep your money as well.
4. Bring a buddy. While it's nice to have moral support, this buddy system is actually a necessity. Luckily my boyfriend took the weekend off for my craft fair, which turned out to be a lifesaver. He was able to make change in case I needed him to run to the bank, he could spell me so I could walk around a bit and take bathroom breaks. He brought me food, and watched my booth occasionally.
5. Bring a comfortable chair. Even if your venue swears up and down they provide chairs, bring one anyway. You do not want to be stuck standing for hours at a time if your venue overestimated the availability of seating. Folding chairs are ideal in case you don't have a lot of free space.
6. Be prepared to submit photographs of your work. Acceptance into a craft fair is not guaranteed. You may need to submit photographs of your work so the venue can ensure that your items are similar quality to other applicants. This also helps ensure that the crafts are actually handmade and not store-bought things being re-branded and resold. This is a good thing, and makes sure (usually) that your crafts will also be in good company. Don't assume, however, that this means the venue or event is a high-caliber event. They may just want to fill booths and accept almost anyone who applies.
7. Have a variety of products. This was one of my weakest areas. I had a very small collection of items and I knew it would be difficult to make my display interesting. I did have soap and blankets, but that's not a huge variety either. The fact that I had some cheaper items, and some more expensive ones was good. I needed to have smaller items such as scarves, hats, mittens, potholders and perhaps jewelry (something I sill need to learn to make). Lots of different items give people things to look at, and your booth is more interesting. You don't want it to look like an explosion, but you don't want it so sparse that no one needs to approach it to see what you have.
8. Think about lighting. I assumed that any venue touting a craft fair event would have good lighting. This wasn't the case, and if I had brought a tall booth, or had things with small details it would have been difficult for people with bad eyesight to see and appreciate what I had. Find out if there are outlets available or if you need battery-powered lighting. There may be a rule about how many outlets you can use, or whether or not you can use power strips. If you have an electric cash register or other things, you might have to get a bit creative with your booth setup. Make alternate plans for taking payments and lighting sources if the power happens to go out.
9. Packaging. This seems obvious, but in the excitement and hub-bub of going to your first craft fair, you might forget that people won't want to carry around their items in their hands. I was on a very tight budget, so I bought a small package of paper bags with handles for people who purchased soaps, and then I decided to reuse plastic bags for the larger blanket items. It definitely wasn't professional, but it was all I could do at the time. Plastic bags are also nice to have for when other people forget to provide bags, or twhen shoppers need to throw away tissues, candies, cups or other things they've been carrying around with them. If nothing else, they'll pretend to look at your stuff while they get a bag from you. Better yet, have a small trash can by your table to make it easier for people to throw away their trash, and get them closer to your crafts.
10. Know the entrance fee for shoppers. I would recommend paying the typically higher booth prices for craft fairs that won't charge an entry fee. Yes, the entry fee might mean that people are serious about shopping, but not necessarily. Free entry means that there will usually be more visitors, which gives your crafts a much wider audience.
11. Timing is everything. Pay attention to the time of year, and time of day of your craft fair. If it's before October, you probably won't sell much. There may be a few early holiday shoppers, but otherwise many people will be saving their money for the October-December shopping. Also, if there are limited hours for the craft fair, it doesn't allow a lot of casual shopping, especially if there are a lot of booths to see. Depending on where your booth is, you may not get many visitors. It won't be worth it if there is only a four-hour window and a hundred and fifty booths for people to see before they get to yours.
12. Leave the right lasting impression. It's difficult to strike the right balance between helpful and welcoming, or desperate and hawkish. All the impressions you make are important, but if possible have a well-crafted business card, pen or something that represents your business and will keep you at the forefront of a shopper's mind. Business cards tell them how they can contact you, and show that you are more serious, or more professional than they might assume at first interaction. It gives people a physical connection to help them remember you, and maybe they will seek you out at the next craft fair.
There are undoubtedly more tricks to having a successful craft fair. I may eventually learn more, but for now these are some of the most important things for new crafters to know. If you're a craft fair veteran, please feel free to share more tips and tricks! What do you always make sure to bring to your own craft fairs?
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