skyjewels: August 2010

Sunday 15 August 2010

The Hucknall Handmade Craft Fair......

Well it's been and gone and i'm still recovering!!
Thought i'd got everything organised the night before...packed all my treasures away.........had my list of people attending ready to sort tables out so that i didn't have cardmakers next to each other etc! Guess what forgot it!! Luckily i only live2 mins away so my lovely hubby ran back for it (he did do a lot of running about all day). I wanted to try to get the hall and outside eye catching but with everything else (sorting teas/coffee/hook a duck/tombola/my table) but it didn't work out as planned.
My mum was supposed to be sharing a table with me so she could man it while ikept the other stallholders happy, but she was late and realised she needed a table for all her things so i'm afraid to say my table was bare til the very last min (and after wasn't manned very much either).
After alot of running up and down we opened to the public........no mad rush but a nice steady flow of people in and out in the morning. My daughter, her friend and my best friend were manning the tombola and hook a duck, and they did a great job. I must let you know that the stallholders generously donated one of the items to the tombola which we ran in aid of 'When you wish upon a star'. I think i went with this charity in the end because my daughter has a couple of friends who have benefited from this and to give children who are ill a dream come true is AMAZING. We raised £60 for them which i have to send a cheque to them.

By 1pm the 'steady flow' had dried up, i felt very responsible, so got my daughter to go into town to give flyers out, but is was very quiet. I facebooked it to everyone to no avail.
The stallholders were very good but some did start to pack away around 2 ish.
A lady that worked in the John Godber centre had given me some info on a fun day that is happening in September, which is good as they are not charging for, so this was a good.
As a 'organiser' it was very stressful and at the end of the day i wasn't sure i wanted to do it again, especially as one stallholder came up to tell me that she had not made her stall fee back and i think she wanted me to give it her back.
But when i got my evaluation forms back from the stallholders i felt a bit better as they were all pretty good plus got some great ideas and advice about how to make it a better event! Plus quite a few put their emails where i'd asked if they would want to know if i did another event, so it couldn't have been all bad.
A few stalls had made quite a bit of money too so at least the customers were buying.
I sold 1 item and got a order for 1 too plus alot of my cards were taken.
My mum that was selling cupcakes and had wedding/b'day cakes on show and tasters did very well, she had taken quite a few orders.
After talking ALOT about it with my hubby and susiej who had helped too i think i may just be a glutton for punishment and do it again!!!!!!!!!
One very good part of the day was meeting fellow Folksy people and all the other lovely stallholders (which i promoted folksy to) and buying Waldo the Worm (well my mum did)and my youngest loves it.(and it's signed :0)
Anyway i hope you have enjoyed reading the trials of organising a event and realise you need to be thick skinned (which i'm not, but trying too)
I will get all folksy people who attended on here too asap, gonna find all the links now!
Sam xx

Wednesday 11 August 2010

Only 3 more days til the Craft Fair!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all, well only 3 more days...........don't know whether i'm nervous or excited. We have 21 stalls at the moment, some have cancelled and then we got some late enquiries. I have hopefully got everything sorted! I have asked all the stallholders if they would donate a item to a tombola with the proceeds going to 'when you wish upon a star' charity. I have been in touch with the charity and they have been very kind and are sending us some t shirts/balloons/leaflets which is great!
I'm kinda panicking that we do not have enough hands to help out but luckily my mum is sharing my table so i can leave her to tend to that while i do the important things like make the stallholders a cup of tea! I think the most worrying thing is that we don't get people through the door, but i suppose i can't drag people in off the street (tempting idea though).
One nice thing is that some of the stall holders are Folksy people so it will be nice to meet them.
I went to pick up the leaflets i had printed yesterday and i know it's sad but i was really excited and i have already had my oldest out delivering them!
Got to go fetch some kiddies toys for the hook a duck stall that i have got my oldest to run for me and still got to get some balloons and tea/coffee etc, so no time to sit still!
I had a big pub that has conference rooms email asking if i would hold a craft fair there! I was gobsmacked and a bit overwhelmed but i am considering it, just gonna see how this one turns out first.
Better go get some tea ready before the kids eat the dog.

The next update will probably be after the event now.