Well, another year of craft shows is coming to an end. I have my last show this Friday and Saturday. It's a "Santa Shop" at an elementary school and geared towards kids. It runs for three hours on Friday night (6-9pm) and three hours on Saturday morning (9am-12pm). We set up starting at 4 on Friday. I've decided that I'm only going to take my low dollar things to this show since it's aimed at kids. I will, hopefully, maximize my sales that way. And believe me, in this economy, I have to do as much as possible to do that.
The past two years have not been good ones for craft show vendors. The recession hit us pretty hard. With so many people being out of work, there just aren't the buyers out there for our crafts. Last year, of the six shows that I did, I only made back my table fee at two of them. This year I've only done only four shows, but I've managed to make back table at each, so far. At my big show this past weekend, I actually made some money! Hopefully, I'll make some this weekend, too. At least it's a short show. And I only have to drive 20 miles!
My show last weekend was at my former parish in Chicago. It was my 19th year as a vendor at this particular Holiday Bazaar. The bazaar, itself, has been going on almost 25 years. I love going back as, besides being a good money-making show for me, it's also a chance to catch up with some old friends and neighbors. And, I get to see how much the kids have changed in the past year. Some of the youngsters that I know pretty well were just infants when I started attending this event. Now, they are in college and a couple are even married and parents already. Talk about feeling old!
The only bad thing about this show, however, is that now that I've retired and moved down home again, it is an hour plus drive each way to get there and back. And I have to do it two days in a row. I told the organizers that if I'm still able to do this show again next year, I'm going to get a hotel room up there so that I don't have to drive two days in a row. That way, I can arrange to have dinner with friends on Saturday night and not have to get up at 5:30am on Sunday to get to the show. Maybe then I won't be so worn out that it takes another full day to recuperate!
I've also decided that I'm going to work really hard this coming winter, designing and creating new things to sell. I have lots and lots of fabric, thread, and a new sewing machine to play with. I've been giving serious thought to going back to my doll making. I keep wanting to create something fantastical and beautiful, so I think that I'm going to try and do just that. Then I'll be all ready for next year's craft show season.
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