Choosing the right Craft Fayres

Confused about which craft fayres you should attend? You are not alone.  There are so many to choose from.  

Crafting is trendy.  It is a popular pastime and people are getting involved in a wide range of craft interests.  In the past few years, more and more people are turning their crafting hobby into a way to make extra money, either to supplement an income or as a full or part time career path.  Enjoying your craftmaking and then selling your work is very popular, and there are numerous outlets that are available to help you do just that.

After attending many craft fayres over the years, both as a trader and customer I started to gain insight into what made a successful event for me.  I took this one step further and conducted research amongst craft fayre organisers and stall holders.  The dominating feature of my research is simply this -not all craft fayres are organised equally!

There are different types of events including (this list is not exhaustive)

• Local community events - i.e. Church halls, school fayres
• Charity events
• Annual Regional/National Fayres
• Large Multi Marque Country shows
• Trade Shows 

There are several factors to carefully consider before deciding if an event is right for you.   My top 3 tips are as follows:

1. Location:  Where will the event be.  Is it in an area that will attract passing customers?.  I once did an event that was billed as a Sales Extravaganza  but as I pulled up to the event to set up, my heart sank.  The venue was off the beaten tract, down a dark leafy lane that was poorly lit.  There was no banner or advertising on the road or entrance to the lane that the event was happening.  Sure enough - there was less than a handful of people that came through the door, and they were friends of the organiser.  If you are not familiar with the venue or area, do visit and check it out thoroughly before booking.
2. The experience of the organiser:  Organising events is a skill.  Contact the organiser and explore whether they are suitably skilled and experience to organise the craft fayre.  Ask questions about any previous event they have held,  and how successful it was satisfying yourself with their answers. Explore with the organiser how widely they have advertised - advertising on Facebook and leaflet drops are not sufficient
3. Manage your expectations.  In an ideal world, it would be wonderful to have hundreds, if not thousands of people walking through an event, with a good proportion of customers stopping by and purchasing from you.  Whilst it is not unknown for people to have "sell out" events, it is rare.  Do set yourself a realistic goal of what you would like to achieve.  It could be around a financial amount (i.e. how much turnover you want to achieve); or how many items you want to sell.  It could also be around how many contact details you can acquire.  If you set a goal, you will be more likely to work hard to achieve that goal.  

There are many more areas for consideration to ensure you are choosing the right craft fayres for you and your products.  We have detailed them in our latest book.  Click here for more details and to receive your signed copy in the next few days.

Please feel free to contact us for more information.

​Angela x