Pre-Advent Christmas Market....

Categories: cat-comments, life-in-general

Date: 20 November 2010 16:46:32

I love our Very Bad Kittens, truly I do, but George is being a particular pain at the moment, as I try to eat bread and jam (homemade blackberry), he is exploring my desk and trying to eat/chase anything he can - hands, bread-and-jam, camera straps, bits of wrapping paper, the cursor on the screen - and the Little Bugger has just knocked the last bit of bread and jam out of my hand and onto the floor where he pounced on it with alacrity! Anyone would think we didn't feed them from the heart rending yowls at supper time, and the speed at which they fall on any unconsidered trifle or morsel of food.

I now have a little moments' respite as he has found the warm stream of air from the fan heater and is stretched out to catch the maximum warmth possible.

Last Sunday I spent all day at a Christmas Market, trying to sell my home made Stuff. Here are some photos of my stall

After taking the photos, I decided to add a piece of blue table cloth as a "front" to the stall, to make it look a bit more appealing, and so that I could stash boxes etc underneath. Unfortunately the stall next to mine (you can see a little on the right) was also selling Christmas cards, at a cheaper price than mine. It was rather disconcerting and disappointing to see people buying 10 at a time from her. Of course, mine were nicer, (;-) ) and I suspect, may have taken longer to make, but still... I'm not sure whether I should lower prices, or stick to my guns at 2€ (reduced price) a card.

I reckon I made approximately 50€ profit, which isn't too bad, I suppose. Most of that was actually from the cards, and from bookmarks. These I made "on the spot" using calligraphy felt tip pens and tiny stickers. They were free of charge, but I welcomed donations. Usually people who got two or three for all their children tossed in a 1€ coin, or the kids gave me 10 or 20 cents. As they cost less than 5 cents a bookmark, I made a tidy profit on those. And people usually looked at the stall while they were there.

On my other side was the stall from the local school selling handmade stuff - painted jamjars with tealights, cardboard wreaths etc. Some people looked at my stall, and were going to buy some cards. They had a good 15€ worth n their grubby little paws when they said "This is for the school, yes?" "No," I replied."The school stall stops here". "Oh," they said, tossing the cards back onto the table and moving on. Oh well...

So, I've learned a few things, in preparation for the St Just Christmas Market which is in 4 weeks time.

Request more table space - I couldn't display everything I had

Have boxes ready covered in paper to create different heights for display - I was trying to drape fabric artfully, when I should have been sorting other stuff out

Cover the front of the table BEFORE putting on the tablecloth

Display cards better - people didn't flick through the baskets to see my stock. It was when I laid them out, even at the expense of removing other stuff, that they sold. I had planned on using a hat stand with ribbon hanging down & the cards attached, but the layout of the table didn't allow that. I've requested a space for a displaty stand at St Just, but that might not happen.

Decorate some more little boxes to sell. They were succcesful...though I note sadly that the special offer, that meant I could buy the boxes at 30 cents each has now finished. They're 50 cents now, which cuts the profit a little.

Actually, is anyone really interested in this...?!