Craft Show advice for stationery shops....

[PaperLoveStationery]

Anyone who has an etsy shop that sells stationery and paper goods that attends craft shows, please share any advice you have in regards to attending/participating is craft shows.

I make all my items to order, and I'm wondering what other stationery designers who attend shows do as far as how much product you bring and how much time in advance you need to prepare for a show...

Thanks!!

[Former_Member]

Hi Ardiana,

I started off with just bringing my cards & tags to shows, then branched out into other areas as I found more things to do with paper.

For cards, I bring everything I have. Birthdays, seasonal holidays, thank yous, everyday cards...I try to have a few of each print and type so that people will be able to find what they're looking for. At this point I pretty much make inventory year-round, but I really ramp up production about a month out from the show. Of course, I'm still up until the wee hours of the morning finishing SOMETHING the night before! LOL

The only items I currently offer custom are my wedding invitations. For those I bring my sample binder with me and send people off with my card to sit down another time. Let's face it, no one is going to buy wedding invitations at a craft show and I don't have the time to devote to them there.

Hope this helps!

[rocksandsalt]

Don't let this scare you away from doing shows but have a plan in place to combat wind and rain. I don't know if I'm just getting old, but it feels like every year it gets windier at the outdoor shows we do - our hats turn into kites in the wind and I imagine paper could be extra tricky. I think that I've seen stationers use a system with taut invisible thread stretched across their display to keep cards and such from flying away.