Craft Fairs??

When I started getting a hang of making bows I finally gained enough confidence to start looking into doing craft fairs. I rarely went to craft fairs so I wasn't an expert on which fairs to focus on. I didn't really know how to choose between a good and a bad craft fair. All I knew was that I didn't have unlimited funds so I budgeted $50 the most for sitting at a booth. The cheaper the craft fair the better for my business or NOT! I learned very quickly that cheaper isn't always the best. By the 5th hour of sitting I was just hoping to break even. It was truly a terrible feeling. I felt discouraged of the bows I was selling, double thinking the prices I set, and just feeling like a failure. To be honest I felt ridiculous, staying up practically 3 nights in a row for what? I barely covered my fee. Although I didn't show it, my insides were in knots. Thank God I had my most loyal people with me, my best friend and my fiance at the time. They definitely tried to make me feel better and both commented how it just wasn't a good fair for your products. I guess I shouldn't have been so tough on myself being that my nearest booth neighbor was selling 300 thread count queen sheets for $15 bucks a pop!




That wasn't the one and only sad fair I had 2 more miserable fairs to look forward to that were already booked. The valuable lesson here was LOCATION LOCATION!! Even though they were the saddest fairs for me, I learned a lot from it and it was good practice. I got ideas on how to set my booth up better, learn from other vendors where my products would sell better, never went back to those fairs again.



After that, I didn't do fairs for another year, I was super busy from moving into my house and planning my wedding I still was determined to make this Hair Bow business work. I focused more on my product, learned more bow techniques, learned to make tutus, got into womens headbands, focused on my targeted audience, and built my website www.mygirlygirlbowtique.etsy.com.

So when this years list of fairs came out, I was ready. I knew what I needed to do. This past summer I did 3 fairs all ranging from $125-$150 sitting fees. I picked the best location where I would find moms and girls who I knew would be interested in my products. I made a variety of products for girls of all ages. I had my husband make me a display screen for my bows, my best friend make all my price signs, I sewed a hot pink table cloth with big white polka dots on them, I had a big banner made with my logo on it. When we set up our booth this time around, we were so proud.

How did I get into the hairbow craze?

Well, I needed to earn extra money, I was at the point of my life where I was getting married and moving into a house. My sister had a braniac idea for me to start making hair bows for little girls. Hmm, I though. Ok, I'll try it. How hard could it be? Well it was actually harder then I thought. I thought I could just buy ribbon and start making bows but it's a lot more involved than that. Before I knew it, I had already gained a cheer client before I actually made a single decent bow. My sister talked me up to the owner and the next thing I knew I was making 70 bows for an All Star Team. Whoops!! We got a good laugh out of it, but this was serious, I needed to make bows that looked professional. After all my sister had said I've done this for a while. I hate to say she lied but she did but it was all out of love and faith in me.

HMMM My first roll of ribbons.

Make shift ribbon prop.
Here we go.
This is a joke!
Tada!!! It's a start.


I wasn't going to fail. So I googled hairbow making, found a great website which sold ribbons and tutorials on how to make bows. I found Ribbon Retreat, and the book has been my bible for all the creations I've made. I practiced and practiced, burned my fingers, stuck my fingers with handneedles and had uneven loops. Joined a yahoo group for hairbows and tutus where women share ideas, vent, learn, share pics and this was also a great tool that helped me along the way.

Long story short, I ended up making great looking cheer bows and it was a success. I gained my first customer and my first high to making some money!!