Hillary Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 I had my first craft show this weekend. It was great! I was really anxious about it but thanks to all the info here I was really prepared. Man, getting that first show over with is really a relief! Everyone was so nice, and the crowd was slow but steady. I didn't really know what to expect as far as sales, but I think I did pretty well. Table fee was only $15, it was a six hour sale and I sold 30 candles. For my first go I'm pretty happy with that. But it was a huge amount of prep work. Next time will be much easier.Here's my question: For those of you that do a lot of shows- How do you measure if it was a good show for you? Do you look at the length of the show and how much $ you made? Or do you base it on your booth fee? I guess I just wonder what your expectations are for a "successful" show. Just curious... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barncat Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 If the show is within a 10min drive, I'm happy with $500. Anything over that I need to have at least a $1000 show, of which the fee needs to be under $75/booth, Any thing over $75 I calcualte different, based on location and quality of buyers. i dont do any churches, fire co, only larger festivals. I only do about 5 shows now, i used to be 25-35 shows a year, but over time I was able to weed out the nuisance shows and do the ones that make me $ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillary Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 Wow, that's awesome. That's exactly the kind of thing I was curious about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I find any show that is successful me, is one that I make money at. I can only wish to make 500.00 at a show. The area that I live in people can be very cheap, they would rather buy a Wally world, or a dollar instead of on quality. But I keep on doing shows, I do have to drive some distances to do shows because it is very hard to find shows in my immediate area. The farthest that I have driven is an hour away, and this was the best show that I had every done, people were willing to pay for quality.Pam F Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hometowncandles Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 If I had fun then I'd call it a success. Don't get me wrong, I also like to make money, but even if I didn't make a fortune but had a good time and was around good people, then I'll do a show again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carol k Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 around here if you make a dollar over your space rent you are doing good. lol.i always think of it this way so i'm not disappointed if i make a dollar over the space rent it's more then if i had stayed at home & made nothing. just have fun & enjoy yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillary Posted October 31, 2007 Author Share Posted October 31, 2007 Yeah, that is what I kept telling myself, it was a good time and I did make some money. I just don't know how much lifting and hauling I want to do for a show that might be a dud. Those jar candles are heavy! Like Barncat was saying- the distance and fee are definite factors. I suppose you just have to find out the history of the show and then maybe do it once to guage if it's worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k0mptec Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 Remember too that you are making contacts while you are there promoting your candles and or b&b stuff! I had my first show a week ago and passed out fliers to anyone who remotly slowed down in dfront of my booth, and now I am getting emails and calls with orders!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillary Posted November 1, 2007 Author Share Posted November 1, 2007 That's a great point. I do really enjoy making candles and the show was a lot of fun. Any future opportunities that come from that are just icing on the cake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AAngels Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 A good show to me is having fun, promoting your business with brochures and samples, and making the money back that u put into your show.I have a show coming up Dec. 1st, looking forward to it.The shows in the past I have done pretty good. Did not loose anything made some money back.This show I am not going to bring a ton of stuff. Mainly getting the word out and hopefully orders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkymonkey66 Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 You should make 10 times what you paid for the table or more. So if you paid 15 for the table, a good show would have been $150.00 or more for the day.When I did shows I always did the bigger ones like the Apple or Harvest fests, my table fees were between $250-300 for the 2 days. I would walk away with $4,000 for two days of work. Over the years I've seen less and less so I stopped all together. Turn outs are not as good as they once were and people just are not spending like they used to. Regardless of how much you bring home you will have fun, get your name out there and meet alot of really nice people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scented Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 I suppose you just have to find out the history of the show and then maybe do it once to guage if it's worth it.You can scope out a show and see what's there for competition and get an idea about the crowds, especially if vendors are just sitting around. You can also get an idea of what interests the crowd by checking out where the traffic is. We were told give a show two years before you drop it. There's a lot of fluctuating going on in the economy right now and sometimes show hosts change something that has adverse affects. We were at an outdoor show where crafts were separated from food vendors and other activities in hopes of boosting downtown shopping. Turned out it wasn't a good idea. There wasn't much foot traffic. I think the next year they put everyone in the same vicinity. We didn't go back as we had a conflict with the weekend, but we may go check out next year and see how things are. We've scoped towns before, looking to see if the downtown is prosperous, if there's a lot of building or has been a population boost in the area as well as the history of the show. We try to keep an eye on what's happening within that community as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillary Posted November 2, 2007 Author Share Posted November 2, 2007 You should make 10 times what you paid for the table or more. So if you paid 15 for the table, a good show would have been $150.00 or more for the day.That's a good rule. By that standard I did pretty well. My friends kept asking how I was doing -as far as sales. I really didn't know if my sales were good or slow or what....I came home with money, but all through the day I just wondered if I was selling enough....Scented-those are great tips. Thanks. It's really a lot of work to get the stuff to the place and set up and all. I think doing a little homework would go a long way in choosing the better shows. I'm sure there will always be duds as far as sales go, and even with those it can still be a good time. But if you can know going into it that it has the potential to be a profitable day, well, that's a plus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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