My experience with "craft shows" has been with knitted Barbie doll clothes. There are some Barbie Doll Shows scattered around the U.S. - quite a few here in Southern California. The promoter had to think twice about allowing me to participate - after all, I wasn't displaying/selling AUTHENTIC Barbie "stuff" - I had hand knit fashions displayed on 60 Barbie dolls. They finally agreed to let me have a booth - but they put me in the far back corner!
At that time my son was 23 years old and was hesitant to help me with this project. "Aw, mom, I'm not going to go to a Barbie doll show - no way! no how!" He finally agreed to help me fetch and carry my boxes into the big auditorium. He also helped me spread the pink (Barbie's favorite color) sheet over the display table - with some Styrofoam round discs and square pieces underneath, at varying heights for display purposes. I also had a small table at the back of the display table for extra doll clothes, the cash box, and my business cards.
My son told me he was going to sit on the floor behind my display table and stay out of sight while I was "working".
We set up between 7:30 am and 9:00 am, when the doors opened and a crowd of people came pouring in the doors.
My dolls were all on metal doll stands, with the bride on the top pedestal stand, on either side of her were about 10 Barbies on the right, wearing ski and skating outfits, and on the left 10 more Barbie dolls wore prom gowns. On the lower levels of the table, 30 Barbies were modeling skirts and sweaters, party dresses, and Halloween costumes. I had 10 shoe boxes on the back table, each marked with the style of clothes: dresses, ski outfits, costumes, bridal party, etc. When an item was sold, I undressed the doll, put the item in a clear plastic bag and quickly dressed the doll in an outfit from one of the boxes. Every outfit had a price tag attached - a round disc with the price written in permanent ink markers. This way my customers could browse without asking the price all the time.
My son sat in a low beach chair on the floor and I stood SMILING by my table - 9:00 am, 10:00 am, ll:00 am - NO SALES! Lots of "looky-loos" though. Believe me, the people who come to these shows know their Barbies! They know the year, model and whether she had solid or hair eyelashes! They came to my table - looked for awhile - then slowly moved on to the other tables. I was getting very depressed.....then, around 11:30 am, when the people had made a complete circuit of the entire room displays - I was suddenly mobbed with customers! My selling point was "these clothes are meant to be played with - not put on a DON'T TOUCH display shelf". "All my fashions are made with machine washable yarns - just hold them under the kitchen faucet, use a tiny dollop of liquid soap, squish a few times, rinse out all the bubbles, lay flat to dry and the item will be as good as new."
I was so busy undressing dolls, making change, and totaling up sales of multiple items, that I was surprised when I looked up and saw my son standing behind the table with two naked Barbie dolls in his left hand, while he put their clothes in a plastic bag and made change with the other hand! He was smiling!
My Barbie clothes were priced from $8.00 for a party dress, hat and purse, $10.00 for a ski outfit or skating outfit WITH skates, up to $40.00 for a double-full-skirted bridal gown with flowing fingertip veil, including an artificial flower arrangement in her hand with a white knitted "purse" behind the flowers that held a tiny musical button that played "Here Comes the Bride".
At 4:00 pm, closing time, we packed our "leftovers" in the van, went out to dinner and counted our money. In 4-1/2 hours we had sold over $580.00! Mostly in $8.00 and $l0.00 items! Plus, I had put one of my business cards in each plastic baggie - "Hand Knit Barbie Clothes" with my name and e-mail address. I had many, many contacts after that first Barbie show, via e-mails. One woman wanted me to put on a Barbie fashion show in her dining room. I drove 10 miles from my home, set up my Barbie models on her dining room table, sat at one end of the table and answered questions from the 8 women who attended. One older woman was visiting from Las Vegas was excited because all the outfits were "originals" and she planned to display them in a special china cabinet in her living room. Of course, she now had to buy about 12 dolls to wear all the clothes she bought! She liked the "Witchee-Poo" sexy costume with deep cleavage and a slit skirt with the doll's leg peeking through. She also bought one of the bridal gowns with the music button, a skating costume, and many other items.
The nurses and doctors at work asked me to put on a display of Barbie dolls during lunch hour. One of the female doctors purchased about 25 outfits. She said she had a "Good Deeds" basket on her closet shelf and kept items in it for good grades, doing chores without prompting, and for a quickie birthday gift for her daughter's friends. She liked the idea that she could mail these clothes without fear of breaking. Periodically she would call me and order 5-6 more items to keep her basket filled. I put price tags on every item and she would send me a check via interoffice mail.
I have thought about craft shows, such as Swap Meets held in a large parking lot, but gave up on this. The weather is "iffy" and it gets windy and dusty, and the Barbie outfits must be on display for everyone to see, not hidden in boxes to keep the dirt and dust away. So, any outdoor event was taboo for Barbie clothes.