Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Big Day

It was an absolutely beautiful day for a craft show on Saturday! We could not have special ordered more perfect weather. We arrived at about 7:00 to stock our booth. (We set up the tent and tables the night before.) Officially, the fair opened at 9:00, but people were already trolling at 7:30. Just kind of window shopping. They were ready to buy when the clock hit 8:00, though! By the time 9:00 came around, we'd already made enough sales to pay for our booth rental!!

The number of people was absolutely astonishing. We were a little concerned that we would end up spending all of our profits on shopping the fair. No chance of that, as we could barely leave the booth long enough to go to the bathroom and get lunch! A little before noon, I finally dashed out to get us each a couple of bierocks. (I totally meant to take pictures of those, so you'd know what I meant, but we were hungry. And we kind of inhaled them.)

I made Jessica run out of the booth for a few moments to take pictures of the crowds. It really is the best craft show in Kansas. I got a chance to sneak out for a few minutes in the afternoon to look around a bit. So much amazing talent comes to this show! If you're a shopper or an artist within driving distance, you need to be here!

So, what were the top sellers? My sister's mini tooth fairy pillows (we sold all of them), my crayon caddies, Jessica's baby bibs, our sister-in-law's burp cloths, and we sold all three of the crochet monkeys that my mom made for the show. All three monkeys went to very enthusiastic homes. It was so much fun to see the two little girls and one big girl carrying those away in their arms!

Another highlight, I got to meet Beki of Pampering Beki! Meeting other Etsians is so much fun! I also had a couple other customers who "admitted" to knowing Etsy. One even said, "Are you on Etsy? I thought I recognized your stuff." How cool is that??

Things I wish I would I have taken a picture of:

The lady with the shirt that said, "I love Jesus, but I drink a little."

The kids in the walking taco costume. Everytime they came by, it was a different kid. And they were yelling, "Walking Tacos!" (If you don't know, a walking taco is a small bag of corn chips with taco meet, cheese and lettuce added to it. Kind of like taco salad in a bag. It's actually really good and pretty ingenious!)

The guy with spiky salt and pepper hair wearing a visor. It took us a minute to realize that it wasn't actually his hair. It was a hat!!

I did end up buying a couple things yesterday. I bought two foam pirate swords. One for Lil' Kay and one for Mr. Kay to defend himself with. They were $1.50 each! Big spender, huh? I also bought myself a Hello Kitty bottlecap bracelet. By the time we had a lull in the sales, we were just too tired and it was too hot to walk around and shop. Not really a bad thing, since the goal was to make money, not spend it!

We've got a couple more shows in mind to do before the end of the year. Even though we sold a ton of stuff, we still had plenty leftover. Apparently, my fears of not having enough were unfounded.

Today, the day after, I'm exhausted! I took a four hour nap this afternoon. But, it was soooo worth it!

12 comments:

Tia Colleen said...

(I've checked your blog 3 times today, hoping to see an update on the craft show)

Wow it looks like you had so much fun!! I love all of the pictures. Yayy.

goodkarma said...

so glad you had such a successful show!
but, i think you may regret arming the menfolk in your house...

libu said...

I too "love Jesus, but I drink a little."... ha ha... just kidding.. very funny..that would be a great flikr photo to get alot of attention.

Beki - TheRustedChain said...

I'm glad you guys did so well!!

Maybe some day I'll get really brave and do that show. ;-) It's HUGE though. Scary.

It was great to meet you!!

Kim Caro said...

yay love pamperingbeki woooooo!

Chichiboulie said...

Looks like a great time. I haven't done a show in ages, but they are a lot of fun (and work)!

doggiemom said...

Congratulations to you both for the great show. It was great to see you and how busy you were.

Unknown said...

sounds like you had a ball!! congratulations on your success! There's nothing wrong with having stuff left over -- you're just alittle ahead in prepping for the next show !:)

Stacey said...

Congratulations on a successful craft show! I imagine the four hour nap was wonderful after working so hard.

genuinelygreen said...

Looks like you had a fantastic time! I would LOVE to have a hello kitty bottlecap bracelet! If you post a photo of it, drop me a line.

tangente said...

Glad it was a success :)

::::Lula Boutique:::: said...

That is so great!! I loved hearing about your experience selling at a craft fair and seeing these pictures. I am wanting to get into this soon so thanks for sharing. --Glad you sold a lot too! Your booth set up looks awesome! :)