Top 10 Ideas To Boost Your Stall at Craft Fairs

Well, had a busy day on Saturday with the Craft Fair in Frome.  It was quite well attended despite the torrential downpour that was threatening!  Luckily that didn't arrive until I'd packed the car up to go home.

I had lots of interest and some sales but I really need to work on my stall.  It wasn't quite dramatic enough and I think got a little lost.

So I've been scouring the internet for the Top 10 tips on having a stall at a Craft Fair and I thought I would share them with you...

1. Time - make sure arrive early enough to set up your stall.  I had nearly ninety minutes to get mine right, which was very helpful when my banner wouldn't attach to the front of the stall, so despite spending some time trying to rectify this, I still had plenty of time to spare.

2. Height - gain extra height using display cabinets, boxes, I've even seen someone using trellis which worked really well.  Tables are often quite small, especially if you have large amounts of stock, so height can be very useful.

3. Theme - keep your colour scheme within two or three colours, I have mainly used neutrals with a little red or blue, in line with my Blog.

4. Be creative.  This Blog from Craft Show Designs has some really interesting ideas for displaying your crafts and standing out from the crowd.

5. Make everything accessible.  People want to smell, touch, taste and try goods out before buying.  At one Craft Fair I attended recently there were two stalls opposite eachother selling beautifully handcrafted wooden objects.  One was open and friendly, the other had 'DO NOT TOUCH' signs all over the stall.  Needless to say, one was busy another was not!!

6. Props - can be very useful to highlight to customers what your product does and how it may look in their house / life.  It's all down to producing aspirational goods which people need rather than want.

7. Branding - ideally make something in your own craft with your stall / business name.  I'm looking into various options for this including bunting or crocheted letters.

8. Effective lighting can be really useful, especially in darker venues.  Some crafts will really benefit from it (such as jewellery, especially when combined with mirrors).

9. Don't spend a fortune on your display - see what you can find secondhand / in markets or charity shops or as I did, using a bedsheet as a tablecloth, as most of it is covered anyway with my branding and my products!

10. Clear labelling and pricing - people do not feel comfortable asking how much something is.

This Flickr list of groups has some really great ideas.  One discussion which often comes up is to go to some Craft Fairs and see what works and what doesn't on others' stalls, when you are not under pressure to consider your own!

Above all, I think it is important to have fun and be relaxed, so I am going to follow all of this advice and see where it takes me...

Happy crafting!


Lou x