The Board Chronicles: Congregation Beth Shalom Holiday Boutique 2017

The Board Chronicles is an ongoing series of articles about the adventures of Mrs M’s Handmade as a vendor at community festivals & craft fairs. Mrs M’s subsidiary, Mr M’s Woodshop, has been approved to create this chronicle for the good of vendorkind.

Congregation Beth Shalom is a Jewish synagogue and preschool here in Santa Clarita. They do a holiday boutique and book fair each year as a fundraiser for their preschool. There are about 20 vendors; we last did this event in 2015; read about that here.

They also do a spring boutique, but none of their events have fit on the calendar since 2 years ago.

New Ideas

• Nothing new here … but it’s now unusual for us to do a table top event. We have pretty much left church boutiques behind, so this is an unusual Mrs M event in 2017.

Observations

• Event # 13 of 15 in our 4th quarter. I need a nap.
• Got one, after I finished sanding 9 more boards. And many more miles to go in the coming week, I assure you.
• This is a family event. Elementary age children go to classes (“Sunday School?”) and the boutique happens for the parents – and kids – to shop as they go to & fro.
• Lots of kids. And because it’s a safe, family environment, there are a lot of small children with limited supervision.
• Small children love ZooSoapia. A little too much, in this case. On the other hand, ZooSoapia was our # 1 seller today, so whachagonnado?
• He was about a 5th grader, I think. He wanted to buy a present for someone, but he didn’t have his credit card. He just had his smartphone … so he paid using Samsung Pay. He held his smartphone next to my reader, and they did an electronic handshake. Technology. Who knew?
• This is a nice little event, and I really like the volunteer organizer that runs the event. On the other hand, we are trying to avoid one day events. If we actually follow our rule, “Go Big Or Stay Home,” there will be no repeat in 2018.

The Food

Sunday Breakfast: Peanut butter sandwich on the road.

Sunday Lunch: Grabbed a burger on the road home after the event.

The Facts

• Total miles driven: 11
• Booth cost: $100
• Food cost: $10
• Travel cost: $6
• Total sales: $596
• Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $480
• # of people we met during the event from the producer: 1
• Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: Several
• Sunday alarm: 5:45a
• # transactions: 30
• # soap & lotion vendors: One other, doing melt & pour … “Vegan All-natural.”
• # woodworking vendors: just me
• Edge grain vs. end grain: 4:0
• Returning next year? Doubtful.

Boards sold: 4

Large Cheese & Cracker Servers: 2

Magic Bottle Opener: 1

Custom Order: 1

Cheese & Cracker Server 17 – 10. Padauk, Hard Maple, Jatoba & Purpleheart. Sold in its first showing.

Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 921. Black Walnut, Sapele & Cherry. Single Magic.

Cheese & Cracker Server 17 – 04. Jatoba, Hard Maple & Purpleheart.