Holiday Village Event

Hey, everyone!

I wanted to post some photos and share a little bit about how things went for me at the Holiday Village. First of all, it was a very cold day! Attendance was low at the event and I am not sure if it was just because of the weather, the economy affecting people's activities or something else altogether. The event was held in a very large building and many, many vendors were there. Inside the building it was warm and everything was set up well. I was neighbors with two very nice vendors, one selling jewelry and another doing caricature pictures. I will post the one he made for Kadesia later. It is so cute! They had good food and everything looked very festive. Many activities were going on and even though it was hard to see most of it from my booth, I could hear the auctioneer, and later the Christmas carolers loud and clear!

I met several really nice people! That was a fun part of my day! Thank you to those of you who stopped by my booth to redeem your free gift with your coupons! I hope you all enjoyed what you received!

The main thing I sold was nugget purses and peppermint patties pouches or holders. They were a big hit for gift-giving. Many booths were visited but most had the same outcome as I did: many who said how cute or nice the items were but left without buying anything. I did not make enough to break even so that was a disappointment but hopefully those who liked what they saw and took my business card and catalogs will make up for that later on!

The man to my right who was making caricatures (I wish I had thought to get his business card) gave me some really great marketing advice which I intend to try. I had tried to come up with an idea along those lines but he definitely had a great strategy! I thought that advice was definitely worth not getting a few sales at the event.

This photo is a picture I took of my booth. I have my catalogs for sale, some flower pens and in the Longaberger basket some beaded RSVP pens my friend, Christina made. There are also bookmarks I made and some mini sticky note holders. The jr. legal pad covers are from an Angel who sent them to me to raise money for the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. I sold one of them. Many people commented on how beautiful these are but people just weren't buying anything! You can see a better view of them on Angela's blog. She even shares how to make them on this post.
This photo is of the card display rack I had set up. I put red garland around the top for a festive look! I got a few compliments from that! LOL Although many of the cards were picked up, looked at and asked about, I didn't sell one single card! Not even the ones I was selling for the RFL. I did have signs saying that 100% of the proceeds would go to the American Cancer Society Relay For Life but still no one bought any. I had altered 3x5 notepads individually wrapped and again many said how cute they were and mentioned they knew someone would like them but sat them down again. The coaster sticky note holders were also individually wrapped. I sold 4 of those. The fiber optic tree had nugget purses on it and under it, as well as the peppermint patties. I sold several of the fall ones. One lady purchased 5 of them for Thanksgiving. She said they would be the "after dinner mint" and she chose all the ones that had a leaf brad on the front.
This is a wider view of the same table as above. The GWP stamps are on the left in the two-tiered wire baskets. Many looked through those, too. The altered clipboards are from my friend, Dawna. Nearly everyone that walked past my booth made a comment about the clipboards like: What a great idea!, Nifty!, How cute! but then they just kept on going! LOL One customer bought 2 but that is all that I sold!

This is one of the altered notebooks I made. I didn't add ribbon to all of them, especially the more boyish. My husband didn't think little boys would want ribbon on their notepads. (Good point! LOL) So I left them off. I had a large variety and may show you more later, since I still have them all to take a picture of! These have 2 peppermint patties inside. I had these under the tree with the nugget purses.

Here are the peppermint patties all decorated and a peek inside one of the holders.
My husband helped me set everything up and tear everything down. He helped make the altered notepads for me and did a lot of prepping things, and was very supportive even though I did not make enough money to even get the booth rent back. Kadesia was great about greeting customers and offering sacks. They liked our little festive gift sacks! I did enjoy the experience overall. I don't know what I could have done differently to make anyone want to buy more. Nothing in my booth was over $3 except the catalogs which were $5 and then my friend's clipboards were of course more. It was fun to try and even though I do not plan on doing this again, it was a learning experience for me!

Hugs,