How many scents do you have on hand for a 1 day 6 hour show?

[lpoitras]

I am small, small business here, no big profits from shows yet so don't have hundreds of bucks to shell out on tons of scents. On the average, for a show that costs anywhere from 40-85 bucks a table and lasts 6-7 hours and attracts anywhere between 500-1,500 people, how many scents do you have on hand for the show?? My last show I had 15 and that was the most I have ever had. Any opinions on this? I know more is better but when you don't have big bucks to shell out, isn't an assortment of say food smells, seasonal smells, etc. okay too??

[Georgia]

When you start out, you are usually limited. I would suggest a balance of food, floral, clean, fruit. You are always going to have someone ask for something you don't have, but if you have a balance you can suggest something from the same family. If you only have 15 scents make sure they are balanced - not 12 food and 3 floral. Good luck.

[Scented]

Take it all. That is take all you're comfy and sure about. We lug around more than 100 scents to shows. The combination of smells is wonderful, but sometimes it ain't ever enough.

[Crafty1_AJ]

I take around 50 but I organize scents by category so it breaks it down for customers and makes it seem less overwhelming. I have one group for florals, one for fruity, one for bakery, etc.

I think you can do fine with 15 or so if they are GOOD ones! Just do your homework about popular best-sellers, and as was mentioned before, have a good mix of floral, fruity, bakery, fresh & clean, etc.

[Twoscentsworth]

Agree with AJ AND I have found that taking 15 to 20 scents is better than taking 100. People here don't seem to be able to choose from that large of an assortment and having a limited amount of scents in different categories works really well. Also, at a craft show you don't want someone spending 30 minutes trying to decide on a scent:) Here I do a larger amount of food scents because that is what sells the best....I know it is different in other places.

[Sherl]

I bring 66 scents to a show. Most are seasonal but I do keep a variety. Like now, I will bring the standby florals of Lavender, Gardenia and Lilac along with my Fall/Winter favorites. Seems these florals are good any time of year... rest are the more spicy and holiday scents. The 'off' season scents I do not stock real deep on, maybe only one or two, just to have them represented. The rest may be 3, 4 or 8 deep depending on how well I think they might sell. That way my shelf looks full and people have a lot to choose from. Most will find something that appeals to them.

If you have 15, make sure they are good ones.. they have strong cold throw. Package them nice and display them well and you should be ok. You might bring 6-12 of each to have the quantity to sell at the show. As your line grows you can give the 'illusion' of lots of inventory just by adjusting the quantity of each scent that you bring.

[Crafty1]

I take between 15 to 25 scents to a show. but like AJ mentioned, it is best to have a good mixture of fruits, florals, etc.

[lpoitras]

Thanks guys. I will have 15 for my next show with a good variety of foods and flowers and seasonal scents and about 70 candles total. that should be fine for 6 hours. haha.