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In November of last year my husband mentioned that his co-workers wanted to purchase some of my knitted and locker hooked items as Christmas gifts.
I racked my head for a while trying to figure out the most convenient way to get my handmade products to them.
I came up with an idea for a portable craft sale of sorts. I grabbed a basket that had a long handle, a large flat base and short sides. I lined the bottom of it with a piece of material.
I then bundled up my various handmade items into gift type sets, tied them with ribbon and placed price tags on everything. I placed an envelope in the basket for people to place their money.
My husband took it to work with him and left it in his staff room for 2 days. At the end of the two days he came home with just 2 things left in the basket, however the envelope was around $30 short.
Knowing the environment my husband works in pretty well, I figured that someone must have grabbed the items and then had to rush out to deal with a patient before they had a moment to place the money in the envelope and then got so busy they forgot about the money.
Sure enough all it took was a note on the staff room table asking politely “did someone perhaps forget to place their money inside the envelope” and within a week or so my husband received the rest of the money for my items.
Will I do the “Craft Sale In A Basket” again this year?
Yes I will and here is why:
It did not require much of my time.
It took me around 1 hour to bundle and tag all my crafts, and then my job was done. If I had done a open house for my husbands co-workers I would have had to invest 4 to 8 hours of my time during the open house and several hours more getting my home prepared for it.
It was an easy way to hit all those interested in my product
By bringing the basket to them and leaving it there for a 48 hour period I hit all the various shifts my husband co-workers work.
However, I would love readers suggestions on how to collect the money better next year. One thought a friend gave me was to include a clip board where the customers write down what they bought and how they paid. What would you suggest?
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Victoria, I was cruising through and the sell your crafts in a basket caught my eye. Collecting the money may be easier than you think. At my school we had a company called Books Are Fun. They brought a display about once every nine weeks and left them in the breakroom. A form was taped on the table next to the display and all we had to do was fill out our names and what we wanted and put a total amount. We gave our money to a designated person who could easily get away when they came back to distribute the purchases and collect the money. Perhaps your husband could designate someone to be the money holder.
Thanks. I haven’t done this idea again since he changed departments but if I do I will consider doing it this way.