Fall Festival 2011

This year we participated in our first craft fair booth for ONE little BELT. I am so glad we went in with a few other women because I couldn’t have pulled it off alone! I shared a booth with Mandy Beyeler and Holly Jacobs, two gals from my ward. Mandy does all things crafty and sells a Jewelry line and Holly makes American Girl doll clothes. Mandy also put in feather hair extensions and tinsel for girls and gals as an extra draw. The three of us was a great combination for a booth.

We started planning about a month ahead of time and for the next month that is all my brain could think about. I held down the fort in all other arenas of my life, but most of my brain power was going toward our booth. I had half of the booth to fill and really felt like if I wanted to sell product, my booth needed to look top notch. I made tissue paper flower poms, pennant banners, painted furniture, bought mannequins, dressed mannequins and created displays. It was so much fun and took a lot of creative power to make it all happen. Soren did a lot of hard work making over 100 leather belts to fill our rack with.

I wasn’t expecting tons of sales because in the past, in person sales have not been very high. I know we have a unique product for a unique customer, so finding those people is hard, but I wanted to put my best foot forward.

Here is our booth from the street view.

Soren was so great and made set up and tear down possible. We were all so grateful he was there!

Mandy made this cute duct tape rug. It turned out awesome and got tons of compliments. She also made us all the utility aprons we have on below. We each picked out fabrics and she made them happen. I loved having them!

Me and Holly and Mandy in our booth. They were great company and totally helped me sell. We each had an easier time selling the other’s products than our own!

This is an amazing rack we found at a barn sale. (Like an antique sale in a barn) It couldn’t be more perfect for our belts. I just painted it and put a vinyl decal of our logo on it. What a find!

Here are a shot of my mannequins and other displays. People couldn’t keep their hands off that yellow dress. It was just TOO cute. Next time I’ll be picking a dress that draws less attention so the belt really shines!

It was my first time making these tissue poms- they were so easy and created a great ceiling décor.

Loved this rack for my girl’s fashion belts. We had a whole rainbow of colors to choose from and they were a hit.

Mandy and her hubby made this fun sign to draw customers in. We all had credit card swipers for our iphones too. We had a lot more sales because we could take credit cards and we all felt more professional too.

The festival weekend went pretty well. The weather couldn’t have been better. There were LOTs of people that came by and we all did pretty well. I sold over 20 belts which felt okay and what really felt great was having a nearly kid-free weekend. Owning a booth and talking with people was really fun. I handed out tons of business cards and recently put our belts in a children’s boutique near where the festival was held.

I would do it again, but maybe not for another year. It was a lot of work- still recovering.