What does it cost to put on a good craft sale?

In my first few years in the craft sale scene, I participated solely as a vendor selling my handmade products. I honestly had no idea what went into running a sale. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop me from having opinions on how the ones I booked could have been better.

In 2018 I thought it might be fun to organize a craft sale as a fundraiser for a charity that I had co-founded. (Check out the charity here!) I was confident that my experience as a vendor would help me plan a craft sale that makers would enjoy. I vastly underestimated the amount of work, time, and money that would go into it.

Having organized our Handmade Holiday Sale three times now (2018, 2019, and then again this year, 2023), I have learned quite a bit about putting on a solid craft sale. In this post I want to provide a brief overview of my most recent craft sale budget—both for new organizers trying to figure out how to get started, and for crafters who want a little insight into some of the decisions that are made by organizers and why.

Craft Sale Must-Haves

In organizing a craft sale, I have typically started with a list of what is important to me. My craft sales have all been fundraisers, so making money for the charity is important. But to put on a good sale from year to year, vendors need to be happy and want to return. This means that vendor satisfaction is also a big priority.

Thinking about some of my must-haves, and keeping in mind feedback from past years, the main things I settled on for this year were:

• Volunteers to help crafters bring in their displays and products in the morning, along with volunteers to help them take things out at the end of the day. (I have done this for all three shows, and it has always been appreciated.)
• Volunteers throughout the day to watch tables if crafters need to step out to run to the bathroom, take a smoke break, or shop from other vendors. (I have done this for all three shows, and it has been something vendors mention in their feedback.)
• Free and accessible snacks, water, coffee, and tea for vendors throughout the day. (This is also something I’ve done from the very first market, and something people love.)
• Paid advertising to bring people to the show. (I have done this since the first market, but increased the advertising budget for the 2023 market.)
• Tables were provided for sellers (as opposed to having vendors bring their own tables) and already set up when the vendors arrived to get ready in the morning. (I didn’t do this in 2019, so this was in response to feedback.)

We also opted in 2023 to offer free admission, which was risky because it would cut into our revenue. However, our goal was to get traffic up—the more people through the door, the more people who might shop from vendors. In that regard, free admission proved a big success!

My 2023 Craft Sale Budget

One of the things that the charity board decided when we discussed the budget for this year was that the table fees (what a vendor pays to be there) should cover the cost of running the event. We had 56 vendors, and they each paid $55 to be there. This meant that in table fees we brought in $3,080.

Now, this might seem like a lot. Organizers looking to make a quick buck think they can rent out a cheap venue, and pack it with as many vendors as possible, and that’s all that goes into organizing a market. It’s not.

I’m going to give you a simplified version of the budget I was working off of to show you what I mean.

As you can see, the “profit” from the event before the other profit-generating activities was only about $85. Could we have done without advertising? A craft station? Food? Absolutely. There were lots of areas where we could have saved money. In the end, however, we opted to prioritize the vendor experience.

Expense Breakdown

Organizers need to remember that vendors trust that their table fees are going towards paying for a good event—one at which they can make money. Their table fee is an investment. It is not easy money for organizers. Even for events that are fundraisers, table fees are not donations. Table fees are payment for a well-run event.

Venue/Location

I opted to look into community centers because they tend to be less expensive than “event venues”. One of my charity colleagues found one that was available that charged about $88 per hour, plus a booking fee of $25. We ended up going a little over budget because we added an extra hour, the night before, to do some early set-up.

Now, because this was a charity event, our hourly rental rate of $88 was a discounted rate. The venue would have gone for over $200 per hour if it had been a “for-profit” event. This is something to keep in mind if you decide to go into organizing an event. If you’re looking to do it for profit, your rental fees might be higher.

Also, the rates for a venue will vary depending on where you’re located. This is simply what I was able to find where I am, in central Canada.

Food/Groceries

One thing that was important to me was providing coffee, tea, water, and snacks to vendors throughout the day. We provided muffins in the morning, and cookies in the afternoon.

Printed Materials

This included posters, business cards, etc. We honestly didn’t have a lot of printed materials, but I’m glad some of these budgetary areas were a little over-padded because it gave me room when other things went way over.

Advertising

Advertising is crucial. We paid about $600 (plus tax) for radio advertising and about $300 (plus tax) for social media advertising. I would have liked to do more, and we had budgeted for more, but other things were coming in more expensive than I anticipated.

Rentals

The venue we booked didn’t have enough tables for all the vendors, and we had told them we would provide tables. We had to book 25 tables from an outside source, along with two large coffee makers so we could make enough coffee for everyone.

Fees/Honorariums

Normally we don’t have honorariums, but this year we decided to have some students at the local massage college do chair massages for a fee. (This was one of our “profit” generating activities to try to offset the free admission.) Each of the three students was given a $25 honorarium as a thank-you.

Licenses

We needed three licenses (technically four, but two were grouped together), but only two had a price.

We needed a raffle license from the province for our 50/50 draws and silent auction. We also needed a license from the provincial health inspector because we had vendors selling food (and a tattoo artist doing tattoos on site!). Both of these licenses were free.

To play music, we needed an entandem license. This was split into two parts, but the total was about $90. I don’t see organizers talking about this very often, so I’m not sure if most people know they need a license to play music at an event. But you definitely do! The entandem license is specifically for playing music in Canada. I haven’t needed to get a license in the United States (or anywhere else!). If you’re in the US and don’t know where to get your license, this is a good place to start.

Miscellaneous

There were lots of other little things (and not so-little things!) that came up that we didn’t initially account for. For example, we’d had someone lined up to pick up the tables that we rented, but we found out the week before the event that their vehicle wouldn’t be big enough for them all. We ended up needing to rent a truck to transport them to the venue and back. There were other supplies we needed and things that couldn’t easily be grouped into the other categories.

Kids Craft Station

We didn’t initially intend to do this but thought it could be a fun addition to the day. We prepared enough crafts for 100 kids, and it cost about $130.

Notes about the budget

I had based this budget on the budget for my 2019 market and didn’t account for inflation when I came up with the numbers before doing the actual buying. I think this is largely why I had so many places where I was over, and places I was under. The goal for next year is to work off this budget to make something more realistic for 2024.

The Budget is just Part of the Event

Of course, there’s more to a stellar craft sale than just a solid budget. I’ll write more posts in the future about what goes into planning a good event.

Organizers, please remember that hosting a craft sale isn’t a way to make a quick dollar. You’re entering into an agreement with your vendors—there are expectations on both sides, and one of the expectations of vendors is that you will do everything within your power to put on an event at which they can make money.

Vendors, when you’re paying for a table there’s nothing wrong with trying to figure out where your money is going. Sometimes it’s obvious that a vendor has collected your fee with no intention of doing anything beyond booking a venue for you. However, it’s important to realize that most organizers are spending the majority of your fees on running the craft sale and that running an event is expensive particularly if they’re providing you with any “extras”—water bottles, coffee, snacks, etc. There are more good organizers out there than there are bad ones.

Let’s Chat!

Organizers, what is your experience with craft sale budgeting? What do venues cost in your part of the world? Crafters, what is important to you when doing a market? Do you value having water provided throughout the day? Coffee and snacks? Radio advertising for the craft sale? Let me know in the comments!

More Reading

Are you a craft sale vendor? Check out some of my other craft sale success posts:

• 15 Questions to Ask Before You Commit to a Craft Sale or Market
• 5 Rules for Craft Fairs and Markets to Optimize Your Sales
• 5 Things You Need to Bring to Your Craft Shows and Markets This Year