Planning For Christmas Craft Shows
Christmas Craft Shows and Markets are fun and festive for vendors and shoppers. For many folks, the Christmas season is the best time of year and fairs, and craft shows provide opportunities for endless gift shopping. However, for artisans wishing to sell their creations successfully at a craft fair, some serious planning is in order.
Download and Print Our Planning Checklist
Use this handy list to check off all the items you’ll need to take to the venue.
Christmas Craft Show Planning Checklist
Whether you’re an experienced seller or just starting in the craft fair world, this checklist could help you make more sales. In addition, some of these suggestions will be useful for planning shows throughout the year.
- Find a venue and book it early.
Community centres, schools, churches, and hospitals often host Christmas craft shows. Check your local community calendar and Facebook group pages for upcoming fairs. Also, look at the following websites: craftshowyellowpages.com, festivalnet.com, and fairsandfestivals.net.
If you’re an experienced Christmas craft show seller, you will have your booth space booked by the end of September. However, if you are new to craft fair selling, there is still time to source and book smaller fairs, markets, and venues, especially if they don’t require a “juried” application beforehand. Juried applications take time to process, but they ensure the craft show has a good mix of products and price points.
- Are you planning for the following year?
Long-term planning gives you time to visit a venue before renting a stall to see who is shopping and what they are buying. - How much are shoppers typically spending?
Ask non-competing vendors about a typical shopper’s average spend and price your pieces accordingly to attract more buyers. - Decide which items you will focus on selling and make sure you have enough of each item.
What sells best at Christmas craft shows?
People expect to see some holiday-themed creations, but they also look for simple gifts for family and friends. Tree-shaped earrings and candy-cane striped bracelets are fun and will sell well if they are inexpensive. Such whimsical pieces are favourite Christmas holiday party jewelry – but delicate silver pendants or chunky stainless steel wrist bands have a market as Christmas gifts too.
Items that sell well at Christmas craft shows include:
- Christmas tree ornaments. Choose a theme – nature is always admired – and create simple decorations with small circular woodcuts from tree branches. Hang them with rattan ribbon and decorate them with sprigs of artificial cedar, pine, and even tiny pinecones. Your imagination will help! Try to keep to one or two themes for your ornaments, so they stand out.
- Almost anything made with polymer clay! Polymer clay is a material made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), plasticizer and pigment. It is available in many colours and brands, with each brand offering its own colour palette and properties. Polymer clay is versatile; you can make anything from tiny flowers, birthday cake fridge magnets, and Christmas tree ornaments to whimsical earrings! The material is affordable, so it can be an inexpensive addition to your craft display that will easily turn a profit at the end of each fair.
- Inexpensive jewelry. Pendants made with low-cost materials are a good choice. Try simple earrings, anklets, or delicate or chunky bead bracelets.
- Have some of your more expensive pieces on hand. If you’ve brought your lookbook with good photos of your designs, a buyer could be interested in what you have at the show or in a future purchase from your online store. Make sure you have business cards and an email sign-up sheet.
- Bring smaller, less expensive replicas of your usual best sellers so a buyer can still own a piece of your collection and support you as an artist.
- Replenish Your Inventory. Have multiples of your best sellers on hand and replenish them as they sell.
Christmas Craft Show Jewelry Best Sellers
A gift of hand-made jewelry is a treasure and is always appreciated by the person lucky enough to receive it. Jewelry that sells best at a Christmas craft fair includes earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings, and all their variations!
- Necklaces: Chokers, lockets, chain link necklaces, pendants with a gemstone pop of colour, charms in the shape of an initial – bring the alphabet and personalize the necklaces on-site – anything celestial; moons, stars, suns.
- Earrings: These may be the very best sellers on your table. Dangling statement earrings, tiny studs, non-pierced ear cuffs, clip-ons, and little “earrings” suitable for a belly button piercing.
- Bracelets: Stacking bracelets are trendy, as are cuffs, armlets, and upper arm bands. Wrist jewelry (leather, chain, chrome precious stones and silver) can be a thoughtful gift for a special partner.
- Rings: Stacking rings are popular, as are chunky statement rings, delicate minimalist styles, and whimsical rings made with polymer clay
Christmas Vendor Booth Ideas
Your booth and display table are what attracts customers. So, you’ll want to make it eye-catching and easy to navigate. Table covering designs and colours should not compete with your jewelry, so keep to simple fabrics and patterns. Make sure your table covering hides everything you have stored beneath the table. Cloths should be any shade except white and drape across the tables right down to the floor. Avoid plastic cloths.
At a Christmas fair, choose a colour scheme and stay with it. Here are some suggestions:
- Love a Christmas Theme? Reds, golds, and greens are festive and fun colours. Do you have room for a full-size tree? No? What about a little tabletop tree? Hang some garlands or boughs around your booth and wrap twinkling battery-operated fairy lights along the lengths. The dollar store or Michael’s Craft shops are good sources for inexpensive décor.
- Do you prefer the gold and white esthetic? Keep your overall décor neutral but add highlights with gold and white metallic snowflakes. Some lush velvet (gold and white) ribbons would add texture and elegance. Add a pop of colour with a sprig of holly or small containers of cedar sprigs and real cranberries. Battery-operated candle pillars would be a nice touch.
- Are you leaning toward a nature-inspired theme? Try a tiny evergreen tree with its base wrapped in burlap. Add some fairy lights to your tree. You can also use cedar sprigs or boughs, pine branches, natural holly, wood display racks, and rattan ribbons to hang up your jewelry cards and other creations. Wide burlap ribbons and bows are rustic. And remember the mistletoe!
Goodness, what if you end up with a Christmas Kissing Booth!
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