Christmas Market + Handicrafts

Is anyone here involved in one of the Christmas markets? If so, what does that involve? Demonstrations, selling finished crafts, or both?

Hi,

yes, I’ll be at an Advent market near us next weekend.
I was asked if I’d like to participate and decided to give it a try—it’s my first time ;-)
I also have two shops on Dawanda. In one, I sell the items I’ve made from my patterns and also take some custom orders.
In the other, I mainly sell cards, collages, and die-cut pieces.
I’ll be bringing my baby shoes to the Christmas market, though I’m not sure if there’s much demand for them—they’re not really very Christmassy. I’ll also have Christmas stockings and, of course, plenty of Christmas cards.
Especially for the Christmas market, I’ve made lots of felt die-cut pieces, as well as a few tea light jars with felt covers and sewn felt moose. Sewing is just faster than crocheting and knitting, and I wanted to offer at least a little something Christmassy. I’m also bringing my die-cutting machine and will be cutting out shapes right at the booth.
I won’t be offering any patterns, since I simply didn’t know how. Putting them on a CD feels too modern for the Christmas market (since the market is meant to feature only handmade items that are as natural as possible). Maybe I’ll manage to put out a book by next year ;-) I can still dream, right?
I’m really curious to see how it goes and how busy it’ll be.
For anyone who’s interested, lives nearby, and wants to visit me: it’s the Advent market at the Kulturgewächshaus Birkenried near Günzburg, Bavaria

(I hope this promotion is allowed—if not, please delete it)

Best regards

Nici

@Nici
It’s totally fine if you share info about your booth at the Christmas market. I think it’s nice to read about, and I wish you the best of luck with it. If you’d like to post a few photos, that would be great. I’d love to see them. I think this is a nice addition to the content here on the forum and on the portal.

If the Christmas market is at the Kulturgewächhaus, hopefully you won’t have to freeze?

That’s so nice :-)))
Hopefully I won’t have to freeze too much.
It’s not a greenhouse like the ones we’re used to, but a really old one—made of wood, with a wooden floor, old chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and things like that. Surrounding it is the “old nursery,” laid out almost like a park.  So it has real rustic charm—we even celebrated my eldest’s confirmation there this year. And it’s often used for concerts and exhibitions, too.
The Christmas market probably won’t be too big—maybe around 20 to 30 booths. But it’ll probably be very cozy. If I remember, I’ll take some photos too =))

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to read the forum all week because I was at a Christmas market here at our university hospital. It was a huge success. Nici—the baby booties sold especially well! It was also a small market, but there are many patients there, including some from abroad, and of course even more visitors.
When you write patterns, you have to make the items first. Just to be safe—to make sure no mistakes slipped in—I make them a second time. Like Nici, I have a shop on DaWanda where I sell the finished items. But I’ve removed all the stuffed animals and bookmarks because they require a CE mark. The customers were absolutely thrilled with the little animals and baby booties, and I didn’t put my crochet hook down all week as I kept making more.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos—what a shame!
I wouldn’t go to an outdoor market, though—it’s too cold for me.

Good morning, everyone,

So, I’m back from the Christmas market.
  It was really nice—the whole atmosphere there was very Christmassy and cozy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as busy as I’d hoped, but I was still super happy with the sales.
And Lucy, the baby shoes were the most popular items for me, too. I’d also made a lot of extra Christmas items—lots of cards… But I mostly sold shoes. I guess that’s something you don’t usually come across…
An outdoor market wouldn’t be my thing either, and I’m not really a “market person”—I know that now. Every weekend or a Christmas market that lasts four weeks—that wouldn’t be for me. But as a one-time thing, it was really nice.

Here are some pictures of my little booth before things got started:

and with my little helper—nothing could go wrong with him around ;-)))

Hi Nici, I’m glad your Christmas market was a success, too. Yeah, I guess I’m a market person, hehe—I would’ve loved to keep going. Too bad I didn’t take any pictures. My husband had made a display stand out of an old umbrella, and I decorated it with all the bookmarks—it went over really well. Now we know what we need to make for next year, so let’s get to work with our needles!
LG

Thanks for the pictures—you had some lovely things there.

Nice. Great that it went well. I want to do a market in 2015. Let’s see how it turns out for me.

Those are some pretty pictures. For those of you who sell there, what’s the main draw of selling at a Christmas market?

The atmosphere and the friendly interactions with people.

The atmosphere at the Christmas market—with mulled wine, cookies, other Christmas treats, and lots of pretty decorations to look at and buy—is truly one of a kind. As long as it’s not too cold, I really enjoy going to the Christmas market.
Sissela

Bratwurst is always a good choice, and it’s twice as nice as a change of pace after all those sweet treats. :)