lbosma

I am so sorry your results were below your expectations. I have given the craft fairs a few tries and not had good luck either. I think the pendulum will swing again at some point, but the waiting is frustrating. From 1987 to 1999 I was involved in our CA church craft fair where we did better each year, though the new ideas for crafts were getting scarcer and scarcer. I tried on my own here in GA a couple of times in 2005 and 2006 and the results were poor. What I did hit on is a potential idea for sales. My daughter's elementary school always had a Secret Santa Shop. I helped every year and along with the volunteers and staff was always frustrated with the quality of the items being sold. The company operated similar to the school book fair. Sending inventory (you got what they sent) that was sold at their suggested prices with the PTO earning 30%. One year we had a crafter with her wares supplement and her stuff was fantastic. I learned later that the school only earned 10% of her sales ($800 that year) which seemed unfair. (She set up her goods and picked up remaining inventory after the sale with our volunteers staffing the store.) The year I chaired the store I had a $1500 budget to buy at the end of year Christmas sales the previous year (we already knew the concept worked at other local elementary schools). I also ran a mini crafting group of parent volunteers from September to November. We took in $4600 in sales that year, minus the original budget PTO allowed the profit was $3100! We were able to put nearly all of our successful profit into the next year's inventory. I love the idea of making the goods way more than the actual sale for my own profit. The school has continued with our "Secret Santa Shop" concept for the last five years. Our prices range from $6 to 25 cents. So what sells...simple fleece scarfs, angel ornaments, anything marked Mom, Dad, Grandma or Grandpa, pet items, guy and boy stuff and Claire's cr_p (we try to pick it up when it is ten items for $5, though it has been more like ten for $10 in the last couple of years). We didn't sell candy or food items. What didn't sell...teacher gifts because I think parents bought those and the children focused their purchases on immediate family members and grandparent stuff. Another idea is to provide an opportunity for educationally handicapped students (high school age 14-21) to shop. A local warehouse opened their doors seasonally for these student's to shop as part of a holiday field trip that included shopping and simple refreshments. The students in both of these examples come to spend! At the elementary school the children spent between $5-$20 each and the teacher's spent too. Maybe a similar concept would work in your community.