First Craft Show of the Season

This last Friday, Nov 21st, I was a first-time vendor at the Harvest Festival Boutique in Boonton Township, NJ. The week before I had many sleepless nights and worried about everything: having enough inventory, setting up by myself, using the credit card app, making change, having an interesting display and speaking to customers. I'm more of an introvert rather than an extrovert.

Finding the school was no problem thanks to GPS but setting up was very worrisome. Even though I arrived at the designated time, the parking lot was already full and I had to wait for a spot. That caused me angst and I wasn't certain I'd have enough time to set up my display. However, I finally found a parking spot and began to unload my supplies and display. I had a pleasant surprise when a few 8th grade students volunteered to carry everything in for me (and they were there again to bring my supplies back to my car at the end of the show). The kids were such a great help! Unfortunately, setting up was stressful too. I was asked to change my table location three times before the organizers were satisfied with the gym layout. But I think the display was good; simple yet interesting.

My simple table display

I'm happy to report I met and surpassed my personal sales goal even though I was told the turnout was minimal due to the district having a playoff game that night. I earned back the table fee AND the same amount again in profits. However, there was so much more that I gained from my first craft show of the season:

• great positive feedback from customers and other crafters
• watching the young girls checking out all my AG clothes, especially the fancy dresses
• great suggestions and hints from other vendors

I'll have to make more American Girl dresses before my next show but that's a good thing! There was great interest in the Blue Ice gown and cape. So, that's one dress design that I'll be  making multiples of.

Blue Ice gown with cape

All in all, my experience was good and I'm looking forward to my next show at the Flanders Firehouse on Dec 6th, especially since my daughter said she'd "hang" with me that show!