Holiday Boutique & Vendor Booth Tips!

This past weekend, I was a vendor at a fantastic two-day holiday boutique put on by one of our local schools. This particular school has been putting on a holiday gift boutique for several years, and it’s one of my favorites! The event is so well organized, and has a great variety of vendors with amazing products. Today, I’m sharing pictures from the event, and some of my best tips for running a successful vendor booth.

My Holiday Boutique Vendor Booth

Here are some pics and videos from my vendor booth this year. I just love that the school provided sign-posts with each vendor’s name on them! They also provided all of our tables and tablecloths, which not only creates a nice cohesive look for the event, but saves vendors the effort of having to lug our own tables to the event.

Here’s a short video showing my products and display, just after setup.

I typically need to decide on and purchase products for my holiday boutiques by September, at the latest. It can take a few weeks to get the items from the wholesalers, and popular products tend to sell out, if you wait too long to order. 

I like to plan ahead and create “collections” for my seasonal products each year. I copy all of the products that I want in my collections onto a mood board, so I can see everything together, and use the board to make my final decisions. This year, I decided to go with three collections.

The first collection was “Buffalo Check and Burlap,” because I’m totally in love with buffalo check for the holidays. Here is my product mood board, and then you can see pictures of the display below.

I called the next collection, “Cozy Christmas” because of all the neutral colors, soft materials, wood tones, and sparkle. I kept one lighted birch grove all for myself!

My third collection was a red & white theme (with a little green sprinkled in). It was a fun, playful collection and sold very well.

I also sold my handmade, wood wick candles featuring two holiday scents: our bestselling Balsam Fir and new arrival Christmas Hearth. Andrew made me that fabulous candle display stand!

This was a really successful event for WDS, and we came away with great sales! 

Tips for Running a Successful Booth

I’ve learned a LOT over the past couple of years from participating in various holiday festivals and boutiques. Read on for my holiday vendor booth tips and advice for having a successful event.

Tip #1 – Decide on Products Early

As I mentioned earlier, it’s important to select products early if you will be ordering wholesale. And, if you will be making products (which we do), you need to decide early on what you’re going to make. You need to allow enough time to get your supplies and make your products, and it always seems to take longer than you think it will.

Tip #2 – Plan Your Display

A good display of products is essential to having great sales! Think through what you will need to display your products at the event.

Varying the heights of your products is the best way to create a dynamic and professional looking booth, and boxes and crates are great for creating varying height levels! I often use plain-old cardboard boxes, covered with white fabric and/or burlap on top of my tables. I also love using a set of crates that I stained a few years back, stacking them on top of each other for a great, rustic display.

Be sure to do a practice set up of your products and your display in your home before the event. I’ve found this exercise to be super helpful, and always discover things I need to tweak for my display (e.g., more boxes, frame stands, or hooks to hang products). Take pictures of your practice setup so you’ll have something to refer back to when you’re setting up on the actual day of the event.  

Group items together with similar colors or patterns, or create collections of products. Research shows that customers love looking at products that are part of a collection (I know I do!). Not only does it enhance your customer’s experience, but grouping items together can increase your sales! Once a customer is drawn to a certain color or pattern, they are more likely to buy other products nearby with that same color/pattern.

Tip #3 – Checkout & Money Matters

Cash is fine, but you need to accept credit card payments! Customers today expect to be able to pay with a credit card, and the fact is, that they are more likely to purchase more products if they can pay with a credit card. Be sure to research options for card readers because they all charge a processing fee, and some fees are higher than others. There are also several different types of card readers out there – simple ones that require swiping, and more sophisticated readers that read chips and can take ApplePay. 

Customers love the convenience of paying by credit card, but you should still provide a cash payment option. Be sure to have change handy before your event. I typically bring $80 in change – one $20, two $10’s, four $5’s and twenty $1’s. 

Tip #4 – Make a Checklist of What to Bring

I use a handy checklist to be sure I bring all of the things I will need to the event. Here’s my checklist, if you’d like to use it for your next event.

Tip #5 – Get Help!

I made the mistake at my first event of trying to do everything myself. It was rough, and I was exhausted! Do yourself a favor, and ask for help from your friends and/or family. My friends were amazing and essential during last weekend’s event! They helped me with set up, checking out customers, wrapping and bagging products, and manning my booth so I could eat and use the bathroom!  Not only that, but we had a great time chatting and catching up.

Tip #6 – Network with Other Vendors

Even though these events keep you really busy (all day long), it’s a good idea to make time to visit other booths, and engage with other vendors! Ask them about other events they sell at, and which ones they like the best. Ask your questions about what card reader they use, or where they found their display stand, and look for vendors you might be able to collaborate with in the future. It’s a great networking opportunity!

Hopefully, these holiday vendor booth tips will help make your next event a huge success!