The gifted/talented school in our district has a Craft Bazaar every November. They've been doing this for over 15 years and have built it up over time as one of the best craft fairs in our area. This is their only fundraiser and it does quite well. They have 20 10'x10' booths inside that cost $75 a space. They have 100 10'x10' booths outside that are $60 a space. They sell out every year. They only provide 2 chairs. Tables cost $10 each extra if vendors don't bring their own. Electricity is an extra $5 a booth if needed. On booth rentals alone it's a minimum of $7500 that is made.
Then...they sell refreshments - typical sodas (donated by the students), water, popcorn, donuts, etc. Then...they've negotiated with area restaurants to come and set up booths and sell food - the good stuff - mexican, bbq, quiznos, starbucks. The school gets a percentage of what is sold.
There is also a raffle - each vendor donates a gift with at least a $10 value. Tickets are $1.00 each and they sell thousands of tickets.
And as a little extra fun treat - kids will be performing on stage this year - singing songs, etc. for entertainment. Also students can make their own crafts and sell at the student booth throughout the day and keep their profits.
The school makes well over $10,000 on this event. Their only cost is paper and copying for flyers and the little they spend on popcorn and donuts for refreshments. The rest is pure profit.
Anyway..it takes time to get really good vendors to come to your show - but eventually it really builds up and people are calling you to be there.
I am the chairperson for our schools Vendor Night. We charge $25 per table, which includes 2 chairs, a 6 foot table and the surrounding space, and then each Vendor needs to donate a door prize of at least $5's in value. Last year we had about 22 vendors. With that we also sold refreshments, tried the pizza adn it really didn't go to well. We also charged $1 addmission. We advertised in the community calendar sections of the local paper and on the schools cable channel. We made over $800 last year.
We called it our Spring Bazaar and the one in November will be the Holiday Bazaar (I know, not real creative but it works!) After I sent a letter out to parents and gave them a month to respond back, I went on recommendations of other parents and teachers, used a teacher's babysitter who also sells Party Lite for example. This way, I sort of felt they still had some kind of connection to the school, even if it was just through a parent or teacher. I did have to turn some vendors away if I already had another with their type of business but now I have a great base to build on for our November show! Most of them have said they would like to come back, although I will do the parent letter again first in case any parents have started a new career over the summer. Good luck with your show and let me know if you need any additional pointers.
Wow Deb you got me all excited now! I was thinking holidays would be great but we have so much going on between October and December in our little community. I still wonder if I can't squeeze it in on a Saturday in November. If not I am thinking right before Easter, about tax return time. Usually people are getting ready for Spring/Summer.
I would like a better name than just Vendor Day. What are some of the names you use for these events? Also after you contact your parents how do you go about approaching business? Do you pick and choose or just put out a flyer and say first come, first serve?
We did this for the first time in April and I was in charge of it, had no clue what I was doing and had a blast! It turned out to be a great event, we had 23 vendors, we charged a $10 table fee plus each vendor made a commitment to donate a percentage of their profits ( not their sales, but what they made on the night) to the school, plus each vendor donated a $15-20 door prize. We charged a $2 admission and had a bake sale, had babysitting provided by our local voc tech center and we made a little more than we expected on the evening. We did so well, we are having another one in November to get the holiday shopping crowd. I am planning more things for the kids to do this time, different crafts in rooms, including a company where they can make their own stuffed animals, I am the most excited about this! We are also trying to have some stuff to draw our dads into the event as well, some tools or fishing items for sale, etc. I asked for vendor moms from our student body first and then opened it up to other vendors in our community, we did it on a Wed night for three hours. I say go for it and let me know if you need more info.
We hosted a "McCaw Marketplace" during our school's annual spring carnival/silent auction. We charged $25 for the spot. That included a table and 2 chairs. We sent flyers home inviting parents and friends of the school to participate. We ended up with 15 tables rented and offered no charge to the police dept. as well as the boys & girls club. It was easy money for us and we asked each vendor to donate a raffle item. We had Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, a couple candle chics, Close to My Heart scrapbooking, Karate 4 Kids, Avon, some crafters, etc. Since we knew we have a nice crowd during our carnivals we thought a marketplace would be a good addition. We set the marketplace vendors up in a horseshoe shape, which worked out well. We are an outdoor school so the carnival games and such were set up on the backside of the school on the black top. Next year, I think we might lower the price and not provide the tables. We needed so many tables for that as well as games, food, etc. We'll see!!
