Creating a Craft Fair or Trade Show Booth Part 1 building the booth

So many of you ask me "how" do I decide on my booth, what do I put in it etc.. In this post I am going to share how we put together the booth.

I had my first "bazaar"  in 1980 of handmade sewn items.  I have had a table or booth nearly every year since with various items from unfinished wood products to sewn items, herbal items, plants and handmade baskets to papercrafts. Some years or venues are more profitable than others and some are not profitable at all. We never know what will happen!

This year, we decided that since I have a space that is always aminimum of 10'x10' (crops, craft fairs etc) we started with that measurement in our planning. Knowing our space at this craft fair would be 10' x 15' we went ahead and built it for that.

Using 1 inch PVC my hubby Kay cut the pipes and added the fittings to create the corners and the feet.  They are NOT glued together because we need to put it up and take it down each time.

Here I am holding up the wall until he could get the next one hooked to it.

Here is Kay figuring out what he will do for this corner

While he was assembling the pipes, I serged the muslin panels for the walls and created the table cloths for 2 tables.


I wanted to use 2 red cupboards from my kitchen in the display so we set it up in the garage just as we would set it up  in the Craft Fair to get a feel for what was needed, how the arrangement would flow and how it all looked.

I love the garland and lights around the top. I chose Christmas for the theme, but I could have just as easily used leaves or flowers. I added in an antique book shelf from my bedroom (the bad thing was that I had to empty all these shelves into tubs to use them and them put it all back in the house this last week!)   

I added my recruiting board and TV for showing MDS dvd's plus our videos that we have created and some of the workshop wow dvds by Stampin Up. I cannot begin to express HOW important it is to set up your display at home before you take it on the road to the show.

I chose NOT to use the center barn board table in the display and you will see what I did use in my part 2 post. (where it's all set up at the craft fair)

I have been wanting to use this type of display for the last 3 years but we just didnt get around to doing it and this year I said that's it, I want to set my booth apart from the others and so it went!

I was thrilled with the amount of compliments from people about how professional the booth looked and that it looked like a booth from a trade show.

BAZINGA! Score..........  ;o)  YAY!!!

My next post will be more photos and descriptions from the craft fair, I hope you are inspired to create a craft fair booth too.  Please note that the PVC was not the most expensive part- the muslin was. I used the 108 inch wide muslin from Walmart for $8.00 a yard.  I told Kay whenever we are done with using it in this format it will become backs to quilt tops I have made!

Later this week I will post my new Blessings Book Kit. So Stay Tuned for more fun and thanks for stopping by!

 

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Comments

[Beverley]

you two are so talented......congrats and best of luck with your trade show.

[Michelle Stamps]

great job on your craft booth. looks awesome wait to see the other photos.

[Leslie Esterl]

I just want to let everyone know that Gwen and Kay's booth looked amazing at the craft fair. These two awesome friends know what they are doing! Love you guys!