Staging a Festival Booth - York SummerFest

Y'all probably saw all my talk about getting ready for my first ever festival last week. I had to prepare lots of new products, business materials, and just figure out how to put a booth together! I knew it was just going to be Reed and I setting up so I needed some guidance. I went to Pinterest and didn't find a single thing to help with staging a booth for a craft show or festival! So here it is Pinterest, your first staging post :) 

The first things to tackle are your business ends. 
I am no pro, but I did make sure I had these things: 

-Business cards (I took 300 but needed more so take LOTS!)

-Shop banner (I thought about making my own but then got this gorgeous 3ftx6ft banner from BuildASign.com and it was awesome! With 4 grommet corners it was easy to hang, beautiful colors, and great durability. Whatever you choose to do for your banner make sure it has your basic information listed, and is LEGIBLE!) 

-Receipt book (you can grab small ones from the Dollar Store)

-Inventory List (write down EVERYTHING you are taking and the price)

-Order forms (for those customers that didn't find the perfect thing right then)
-Bags/boxes for sold items

-Change! (I took $75 in change, mostly small bills. But because of the pricing of my items I never even touched the change and left the festival with all $75 un touched in my cash box).
-Cash box! (something to securely hold all of your money, we used a zipper pouch that could be tucked in my husbands belt). 

Like I said I'm no pro. But I did learn a good bit, but probably forgot a good bit too. But if you remember these things you will at least make it through the day :)

Now for the actual staging! 
This part was so fun to do, I LOVE staging everything, my home, party decorations, and finally my "shop"! Here is a quick step by step on how I chose what went where in my 10ft x 10ft tent.
1. I decided on a theme and chose the products that went a long with it. (I chose a whimsical living room theme.)
2. I did a pre run of the set up a couple of days before hand so I could see what I needed to prop pieces up with or hardware for hanging.
3. I used lots of furniture so that people could visualize where these items could go in their homes.
4. make sure to add LAYERS. Layers of texture, color, and products are more interesting to the eye and will draw people in and keep them longer!
5. Keep similar products together. I had all of my fall/winter items staged in the back center of my tent and all of the football themed goodies right off of that. This will create a flow for people to move around your tent.
6.  If you can add a 3D element to the front of your tent that will catch peoples attention as they walk past. I had countless people stop and look at the tree filled with signs and from there people ventured in to the tent.
7. Have a station with all your business needs. We dedicated one small corner at the front to hang my banner, display business cards, and even had cold water for patrons. This allowed people to grab my information with out having to totally stop.

I know there is so much more I could share but I'm gonna stop there. This first experience as a festival vendor was awesome! I hope to do it again soon and I will do a better write up with the more I learn.

Also, if you see anything you are interested in please visit my ETSY shop!

Weekly Review of the Boondocks

This week has been a roller coster! Let me tell ya being a stay at home wife is emotional and some times I get a little bit cray cray. This week was one of those cray cray times...

First I started off Monday with the totally rad party that Lori from A Bright And Beautiful Life helps me host each week. It is still going strong so PLEASSSEE go check it out, here :)
On Monday I also got a chance to talk with lots of my favorite people about my life. It is always so good to chat with friends about the future and our dreams for it.

Tuesday was a bit crazy, I mean it was good because I got to kick off the giveaway for February with Rachel from Like A Saturday! And man if I could enter I totally would, I need some girly fun pampering stuff :) But personally I was strugglin with my projects! I tried to dye my drop cloth to make some curtains annnnddd it took me about 3 hours. Yes 3 hours just to figure out how to freaking fill up our washer with hot water! I thought I broke the machine and then Reed walks in to tell me that our washer was never hooked up to hot water.... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. But! I got the drapes done and hung with a cool tin cornice board!

Wednesday, hump day. Boy was it a hump to get over for me! I was a bit emotional and needed to just vent. Luckily I have y'all sweet friends to vent to and a God who teaches me great things daily. Learning to not get frustrated with His plan when it isn't what I was expecting and how to not let my pride run my life. Yep all that was going through my head on Wednesday. Talk about heavy!!
But when I have that much going on in my head it often means I get super productive, sooooo I did loads of crafting!

Thursday, busy busy, AGAIN! Whats the deal, I mean I thought when you where a stay at home anything that you got to stay at home. Apparently not. I ran out to the store to get all kinds of goodies for some orders and a baby shower this weekend! Love hosting parties, and love finishing orders. So good! Check out all the work I've been getting done from crafting a table runner to my new ETSY Jewelry endeavor!

Friday is post office and cleaning day! Not super fun but feels so good to get it done! I love visiting the post office, I've gotten to know the sweet people there by name and they always ask about each item I'm shipping.  They even help drum  up business every once in a while. Sweeeetttt people :) We will be heading to good ole Clemson when Reed gets off to spend a weekend visiting friends and celebrating the growth of their sweet family!

It's been a good week I think :)
How was yours??