Special Saturday Post: The planning

How cute is this? I would definitely head over to this booth at a fair

Planning your own craft show should probably be done WELL ahead of time, you don't went to start making items right at the last minute (although knowing me I would probably do it anyway).

When planning, first thing you should do is figure out the date or at least the month you plan on having your show so that you can give yourself a deadline which will keep you motivated. I think the best time's to do it is right before a holiday like Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Christmas and it should be on a weekend at the very least. If you do well in one weekend and you have time before that holiday you could extend it to another weekend.

Okay, so you've got the date set. Now, where will you have it? To keep it on the cheap, you can hold the show inside of your house or the house of a friend. If the weather where you live is nice when you plan on having it you could have it in your backyard or your friend's. If you don't have a place to hold your show, you could try renting a place or ask some local shops that could benefit from your show to set up there. But make sure you choose a place that won't be competing with your products, but compliments it. For example if you make and sell jewelry don't go to a store that sells jewelry, find one that sells handbags. You get the idea.

Now you have a place set, wonderful! Now it's time to compile a list of supplies to collect before the big day:

Tables (You can rent these often from party places or you could borrow them from your church or friend)
Business Cards
Information sheet (ask customers to put their name and email so you can send them a newsletter. You can also use this information to tell them that you're going to extend your show)
Pens (for the information sheet)
*Something to display your items on to make them even prettier!
*Some way of pricing
*Cash box
Change for those with big bills (remember to keep track of how much change is yours so you can put it back once the show is done)
*Bags
*Wrapping paper/ tissue paper
*Flier
*A friend
*Refreshments

Not all of what's listed are must have's, some are just suggestions. The items marked with an asterisk will be talked about in detail in another article. So stay tuned!