It’s beginning to look a lot like Craft-mas: Craft Fair Season is upon us

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and you know what that means- it is officially craft fair season.

As other crafters can relate- I have been super busy the last two weeks with getting ready for craft fairs. I do craft fairs every winter with a friend of mine but this year has been especially stressful because I’ve had way less time to prepare (due to my mom’s wedding).

So, I have been sewing every spare minute I get (between work, making dinner, etc). I literally have not had a minute to relax. Don’t get me wrong- I’m not complaining. I love sewing and doing craft fairs. It just takes on a more stressful quality when pressure increases.

Finally, the day arrived for our first craft fair this year. There was a lot of expectation for this fair because it was put on by a private school. Vendors (myself included) took for granted that, being a private school, it would be well done.

This assumption was a mistake. It soon became clear that the only people who knew about the fair were students and their families. It seemed they came to the fair simply as a show of support because no one was buying anything. At first, I thought it would pick up around noon.

Nope.

I asked some other vendors if it seemed slow to them. No surprise- it did. I sold nothing! (something I’ve never experienced at a craft fair). Luckily, my friend made some sales.

Lesson learned: do not do craft fairs put on by private schools. While they’re good at certain things, marketing craft fairs apparently isn’t one of them.

I hope the next craft fair is a lot more successful!