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An open house is one of the ways that you can earn money to offset your craft habit or earn some extra income for your household. Many crafters would like to sell items they make, but don’t want to make a commitment of “becoming” a business. An annual or seasonal open house is the perfect answer to the problem. Also referred to as a home show or craft party, an open house is a festive setting for holiday sales.

The winter holidays are coming up, but don’t rule out having an open house during the spring season of gift giving for Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or even Valentine’s Day. Christmas in July is also a very popular event celebrated by retailers. The second most decorated for holiday after Christmas is Halloween followed by Easter. What does it take to host an open house and what can you expect from your efforts? Let’s take a look at each step needed to have a successful home craft event!

Schedules And Other Timely Considerations.

I wish it was possible to just throw together an open house at the last minute, but that’s just not the case. You’ll need to sit down with a calendar and seriously look at all your personal activities and commitments. You’ll need to figure out how you can fit an open house into your schedule without adding too much anxiety and strain on your household. Especially for a holiday open house there is no need to add more stress to your life and activities. Planning and scheduling for this type of event will take a huge load off your mind. Here are some considerations and time lines.

• Check with your local government about any regulations they may have to you holding an open house. My own community treats this event like a garage sale. I’m not allowed to have more than 4 a year and each must be spaced about 2 months apart. I must not allow cars to block or interfere with my street’s traffic nor may I block any neighbor’s driveway. You should call your state’s Department of Revenue and find out if state sales tax must be collected. In the state of Florida, it is required that state sales tax forms be filled out and returned with proper payment even if you don’t hold a Sales Tax Certificate meaning that if I only have one open house I must collect sales tax on each item sold. If you aren’t discourage by the amount of paperwork you may need to fill out for your city or state, then answer the following questions:
  1. Do you want to hold your open house during the week or weekend?
  2. What dates are open on your calendar? Select one.
  3. Do you want your open house during the day or set evening hours? Or do you want an open house from an early morning hour through the evening? Set the hours of your event.
  4. Who can you invite? Start making a list.
  5. What will you sell? Do you want to invite other crafters to sell items?
  6. Where will you display the crafts for sale within your home? How will you display them?

Time Lines

• At least 6-8 weeks before the open house you should sit down and plan a time line.
• At least 3-4 weeks before the open house you need to get the word out by invitation or announcement.
• At least 1-2 weeks before the open house you need to have all the inventory (your handmade items) completed. Then you will have to price each item. You’ll need a list of all the items in your inventory.
• The week of the event you’ll need to get your home, especially any rooms needed for the open house cleaned and prepared for the guests.
• Day of the event you should have the home or rooms set up with all your handmade items with a receipt book and plenty of change ready. Post any directional signs on street to help guests find your home.

Inviting Your Guests

Design and prepare an invitation to the open house. This can be done by flyer tri-fold and staple, postcard or on blank greeting cards with envelopes. Postcards are the most economical way to invite family or friends, but if you plan on just inviting a small number of people you might consider giving each person a phone call to invite them. If you want a larger crowd you might want to post a flyer in your local craft store, a notice in a church bulletin or place a classified in your local newspaper. Who you invite is a matter of your own judgement and comfort. At my first open house I invited only a handful of family friends. With its success I felt confident enough to place a classified ad in the paper and posted signs (much like garage sale signs) along the road basically inviting the community to my open house.

Depending on whom you are planning to invite, you might want a morning open house or an evening open house. Weekdays tend to be better for people with families. Moms love a night out and families tend to plan weekend activities together. However, I’ve had very successful open houses that I held from Friday to Saturday. The smaller your inventory the shorter you may want your open house. If you choose to include other crafters who can help with the selling hours than a full day or two-day event is more logical and cost effective. Invitations need to be sent at least two weeks ahead of the event especially during any holiday season.

The Invitation

A good invitation needs to include:

What
Who
Contact phone number (if case someone gets lost or has questions)
Date
Hours of the open house.
Location with map if inviting anyone who hasn’t been to your home before
Items that will be for sale with the price range
Incentives

It’s important to give the people you are inviting a good reason to come to the open house. I call this an incentive. I’ve used many and a good incentive works! It’s a little extra that once you’ve established a customer base will keep those customers coming back year after year.

• Refreshments. No need to be extravagant. Punch and cookies are just fine.
• Babysitting. Hire a neighborhood teenager to watch young children as mom shops.
• Discounts. The first 10 guests get 10-15% off the first item they purchase. One spring open house I had a basket of plastic eggs that each guest could pick one. Inside was a coupon for 5% or 10% off the total purchase. Get creative!
• Door prizes. Have an hourly door prize of small items. Or make a gift basket and have a drawing for it.
• Bring A Friend. Any guest who brings a friend along gets a prize or discount. I would make a special ornament basket letting both the guest and friend pick one.
• Free gift tags. Especially great for a Christmas open house. I would create gift tags using my computer and address labels. Each guest who purchased $25+ would get a sheet of the gift tags. One year I designed my business card so it could be folded. The front of the folded card was a doll graphic, inside was blank and the back had my name and phone number. I got lots of calls from people who had been given one of my items as a gift and wanted to order more of the item.
• Sneak Peak. This is something I started after hosting several open houses. For special and loyal customers, I would offer several hours of shopping the day before the actual open house. This way my loyal customers got first pick at the items up for sale.
• Guest book. Anyone who signs the guest book for future open houses is given a small item as a thank you. This is one of the best forms of advertising. Word of mouth can help grow an open house. Always remember to ask your guests to sign in with mailing address and phone number so they will be notified of your next open house.

Handmade Items to Sell

You can have an open house displaying only your craft items or you may want to invite a few of your friends to help you host the party. It’s best that each person involved have different work from each of the other members. It’s too difficult to compete for sales with the same type of items. If your circle of friends all sew, then have each one sew a different type of item. For example: one might sew quilted throws while another concentrated on pillows while a third makes pot holders and cloth coasters. The items all complement each other, but don’t directly compete against each other. I like sharing the responsibilities with at least one other crafter. Work shared makes it less time consuming and let’s be honest…it’s more fun with a friend.

Depending on the timing of you open house you may want to concentrate on items that fit the season. The winter holidays are easy. Christmas ornaments, tree skirts, children’s toys, stockings, and other home decorations. Keep in mind that items you can sell in the price range of $5-10 are usually hot sellers especially for folks who need to buy many small gifts for acquaintances. Higher ticket items do sell especially home décor items like centerpieces and door or wall wreaths. The open house is an excellent market for higher ticket items because you can add value and your own salesmanship to the sale in the cozy setting of a decorated home environment.

Don’t limit yourself to seasonal or holiday motif items only. Have a selection of items that can be given year round or displayed year round in a home. Items like candles, bath salts, baskets, clothing or framed art pieces don’t need to be limited to a theme like a Christmas stocking or Easter wreath are. Do your homework on what colors, techniques and motifs are currently popular in your area and region. Colors like blue or rose are classics that fit into most homes. Techniques like decorative painting or cross-stitch samplers are always popular. The consumer favors motifs of the garden or relaxed country in general. Consider all these points. You can make the most wonderful eye glass cases, but if you use only bright orange or pea soup green you will not sell as many as you would using more contemporary colors. The first lesson I learned when I began to sell my own crafts is that my taste is not necessarily the taste of the public. Look outside of your own home and take a trip to a local JC Penny, Hallmark or Wal-Mart. What colors and textures are these trend-setting retailers stocking? Take advantage of the extensive research of the popular department and discount stores.

Pricing Your Work

Even after about 15 years of selling my work at an annual open house and art and craft shows in my home state of Florida, the pricing of my work is still often the most difficult part of my job! It’s hard to be objective when you’ve put your heart and soul into creating a handmade craft to sell. If we were all truly paid our worth for such items we would be living on easy street! However, we all do need to price objectively and without personal investment. The most basic of pricing formulas is to simply 2X, 3X or even 6X the cost of materials/supplies used in making the item. A refrigerator magnet that cost .50 in materials could be sold at $1, $1.50, $2 or even $3. How do you know what price to place on such an item? Look for a similar item in stores, catalogs or on the web. Compare and price to the similar item. Your magnet is ceramic apple and you find ceramic magnets priced at $3 in a catalog. Go for it. Or you could decide to place that catalog beside your own magnets and price your magnets at $2.50 emphasizing that your magnets are handmade, not machine generated. That’s called, value added!

Another pricing formula is to add your material cost and labor. You’ll decide on an hourly wage for your work and figure out how much time is spent on each item. Let’s say you make lap quilt (machine quilted) that costs you on average $6.00 in materials and takes on average 3 hours to make. I’m considering that you will not want to make one quilt at a time, but several tops at a time, then machine quilting them, then finishing each. This type of work is called, ‘production’ style. In the long run each quilt will take you less time than if you did create one lap quilt at a time. Be reasonable in your hourly rate. I’d like to always earn $35.00 an hour, but it is not a realistic wage. I consider $7 per hour a fair wage for production work for myself. So my lap quilt would be priced at $27. I would check out similar items and compare my price. I’d also consider the economy of my local area. I live in a high tech, service-oriented community that in general has extra money to spend. My area has lots of professionals whom are starting families and decorating homes. I know that if I display my lap quilt right, my potential customers will pay my price.

Displaying Your Crafts

Displaying your crafts is where all your creative juices can really start flowing. You need to decide which rooms in your house you will use to display the crafts for sale. I’ve used literally every room in my house (except the master bedroom) in different combinations including my garage! One year I used only my living room with a huge 12’ real Christmas tree. The smell was heavenly. What better way to display Christmas ornaments than to have them sparkling on a lighted Christmas tree? One year I used only the kitchen and second bathroom. What better way to display items that can be used to decorate the bathroom than to put these items in a bathroom for display? Items for the kitchen have much more appeal when displayed in a real kitchen. That’s the plus of having an open house as your selling marketplace.

It is important to have a few rules when displaying items in your home. Because first and foremost, it is YOUR home.

• Never display items in the master bedroom. This can be the room where all your own treasures can be safely stored during the open house. I had to laugh one year when a customer was adamant that she wanted to purchase the wreath over my fireplace. My mom had made the wreath and it wasn’t for sale at any price. This customer was rather frustrated that I was “displaying” an item that wasn’t for sale. It’s best to remove personal items from any room you are using and place them in the “safe” room. The day of the open house I place a neatly printed sign that says, “Private. Please do not open this door,” on any room I do not wish customers to enter. Think twice before using a family member’s bedroom. A child’s room with the child’s permission is acceptable, but most teenagers’ really don’t like the idea of having others invade his/her space.
• Have enough help so that no room is left unattended or out of eye range. It is important that your home is protected from small children who might be tagging along with mom or customers who you may not be familiar with. Plus having help in each room to answer questions or help re-stock will keep your customers happy.
• Keep the check out area away from high traffic areas. You need an area where you can tally a customer’s orders, write out a receipt and bag the items sold. You should have a change box. You’ll need a good supply of change including small bills because you can’t just run out to the bank when you run out of singles or quarters. Never leave large sums of money in the change box at any one time. Take breaks and remove all but about $35 dollar from the change box. Place this money in an envelope and tuck it away in the master bedroom.
• If more than one crafter is selling items in the open house, color-code the price tags/stickers. Have a sheet of paper at the check out with each crafter’s name on it. Remove the price tag/sticker and adhere it to this sheet. It’s important that you have a way of knowing what was sold so that each crafter will get the total amount due to them at the end of the open house. Color-coded price tag/stickers is one of the easiest methods to keep track. Or assign a number or letter to each crafter. One individual should be responsible to keep an accurate record of all items sold. Have each member selling at the open house keep a record with receipts of any expenses. Each member should be reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred.

Get creative in your displays. Place items that can be mixed and matched together. Give your customers an idea of how they can use your handmade crafts in their own homes. Hang wreaths or wall decorations on the wall. Place collectibles on shelves or a fireplace mantel. Group dolls or pillows on a chair or sofa. Use props. I’ve seen crafters display plant sticks in pretty pots of ivy, display teddy bears in an antique traveling trunk and display fabric pumpkins on a bale of hay. Have fun! Make each display eye catching. Take a few moments to step back from each display and view it, as your customer will. Make it welcoming and inviting. If you need more ideas for fun displays visit a few gift shops and make some notes to yourself when you see any display that catches your eye. Was it a color that got your attention? Was it a prop or the setting as a whole? Add some soft background music to the mix of your open house and make your customer’s shopping experience even more pleasant and relaxed. Scent plays a role too! Simmer some vanilla or spray a soft powder scent in the house. Never use an overwhelming scent; rather use a subtle pleasant aroma in the house to make it more enticing to your customer. The idea is to make your open house an event that your customers will remember and look forward to being invited to again in the future.

Final Thoughts

An open house can be a small cozy event with just a handful of family and friends or it can be a huge extravaganza with hundreds walking through your home. You decide what type of event you feel comfortable in organizing. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time and don’t stay up half the night before the open house with last minute crafting. You are far better off with a good night’s rest than making a few more items to sell.

An open house is not an event for wimps! You will need to get organized. And you need to prepare for “emergencies” that might pop up like a crafter backing out two days before the event or running out of fruit punch to serve your guests. Don’t let the small things bother you and try to look at the big picture. Your first open house should be considered a learning experience and a trial run. One year I almost sold out at my “preview sale” for my most loyal customers. I panicked. I had about 100 guests arriving the next morning prepared to buy crafts and I had less than 50 items on display. I was sure I’d have some angry folks on my hands! But, the revolt never took place. When a guest asked where all my inventory was I simply explained what had happened. Everyone was happy for me and wanted only success for the open house. No one even grumbled.

Much success to each of you who will try your hand at an open house in the future. Please drop us a line or send in a photo of your open house. We’d love to hear both your successes and any obstacles you might have had to handle.

The holiday season provides many opportunities for the professional crafter to market their products. Many PC’s report that the bulk of their income is earned during the last four months of the year. Most retailers will report the same fact. Consumers have a reason to buy during the fall and winter holiday. They need gifts to give. Take advantage of the holiday buying season by investigating all the market places. Some options are unique to the season; other markets are available through out the year.

Store On The Move

There is probably at least one craft show each week somewhere in the United States. The holidays, however, is a time when many promoters or groups schedule their annual shows. The number of art and craft shows has grown tremendously in the last few years. There are plenty of “show guides” published to help you locate shows. You can call your local chamber of commerce to find out about annual events in your area. Word of mouth and networking with other PCs is one of the best sources of the profitable shows. To participate in a show, you need to apply to the show, which is generally filling out an application and paying a show fee. Some shows do jury. Jurying requires a photo or set of slides of your work and display be included with your application. Some shows charge an additional fee to jury your work. A show juries to limit the number of exhibitors with a specific craft or to keep the highest quality of work exhibited.

The plus side of the craft shows is that you are selling retail, rarely is a commission taken from your sales. It is also a chance to meet and learn from your customers. Your customers can be a great source of information when you ask them what they are looking for, what colors appeal to them, and what they would like to see on your shelves and tables. Thirteen years ago, a customer came to me asking me to make rag dolls. I hesitated at first because I didn’t make dolls at the time, nor did I want to. The customer persisted and the dolls were finally made for her. Not only did I enjoy making dolls, this craft became my best seller at shows. Many times since then, I have added different items to my production because of customer interest.

The down side to shows, especially outdoor shows, can be the weather. Shelters or canopies are a must for the outdoor market place. Wind, sun, and rain can take a toll on the best of us. Displays must be designed for compactness, travel, set-up, and breakdown. All the concerns of travel need to be considered here. You’re a store on wheels. Money for change, folding chairs, tables, table coverings, and a good attitude need to be packed for the show. Security needs to be kept in mind, especially for those specializing in jewelry or high-ticket crafts. Add it all up and for many of us, the art and craft shows are a great holiday marketplace.

Your Store Within Their Store

Craft Malls dot the country. A mall gives you the opportunity to have a mini store within the structure of a larger storefront. Most malls ask you to sign a contract. You are agreeing to rent a specific amount of space for a specific amount of time. A contract of six months or a year is norm. Craft Malls do not require you to spend any time in the mall, other than the time you spend stocking your space or changing your display. The mall provides employees to sell the goods, collect the sales tax, and prepare a statement for the vendor of goods sold on a weekly or monthly basis. Some craft malls have programs for out of state/off-site vendors. The mall will receive your goods and set up a display of your work. The program varies little from a local craft mall except that there is a fee for set up and you have little control over the display. Record keeping is important to keep track of what work was placed in a craft mall display and what has been sold. Keeping track of what is selling, however, gives you a better idea of what crafts to focus on in production.

A craft co-op is slightly different from a craft mall. By appearances the two may seem the same, however in a true co-op, every member shares responsibility in the store operations. Co-op members often put in an agreed upon number of work hours/days per month or quarter. Every member is contributing to the overhead costs of operation. Co-ops usually “approve” or jury new member’s work. Co-ops will not have competing work or craft styles within the shop. This form of selling can give great insights to the process of running a shop. Membership means you are part of a team. Co-ops often offer addition services to members like rental of credit card systems to use, group purchasing from distributors of raw goods, or group health insurance options.

Consignment is a third alternative. This form of selling is hotly debated. Most love consignment or hate it. Tread carefully. The shop owner (consignee) will usually take a percentage of the selling price of the item. In other cases, the PC (consignor) states how much they want for the item and the consignee will add their mark-up. The shop owner in a sense is acting as a sales representative. You still retain ownership of the goods placed in the shop. It is best if you control the selling price. Be aware that damage to the items is not the responsibility of the consignee. A draw back to consignment is that payment for goods is slow. Read all agreements and contracts carefully to fully understand both parties’ responsibilities. The shop may only sell consigned goods, but consignment may be an initial way to get into a gift or specialty shop. If an owner is unwilling to buy an unknown item outright, the owner may be more willing to take on a new product if for a short period the item is on the shelve with no financial risk to them. If the product sells, ask the owner to buy your goods when you go in to restock.

Home Front is the Storefront

If zoning allows, you can set up a shop right in your home or on your property. The city or county government should be contacted before you even think about this option. If you get the go ahead, you will have to set “shop” hours and be available to customers during this scheduled time. Simple Country Pleasures, a shop in Melbourne, Florida is off the beaten path. It is part of an orange grove business that has been in the family for generations. Carolyn, the owner of the shop wanted to get out of the groves and pursue her first love, decorative painting. After careful planning, a small shop/workshop was built on the property. Carolyn has a complete wood workshop upstairs with saws, sanders, and other tools of the trade. She cuts her own wood pieces for her crafts, takes orders for customers, plus pieces for classes that she teaches. Downstairs the shop in divided in half. One side is set-up for painting classes and the other has Carolyn’s creations. Carolyn also takes in consignment items from many of her students.

Jill Bunker, a doll maker, allows her customers to call and make an appointment to come over to her house to buy. “Normally, I only sell at outdoor shows, but people pick up my business card and call asking for items. If I don’t have a show coming up in the area, I will invite the customer over for weekend or evening hours. I do this so my husband is at home when a customer comes. I set up a few tables in the garage and let the customers go through the inventory boxes. Someday, I would like to have a permanent display of my work in my home.”

Have A Party or Open House

Home parties can be held in your own home or in the homes of friends. Tupperware is a great example of how well the home party system can be a tremendous success. It takes planning. All PC’s should keep a mailing list of customers. Have a place within your booth where customers can sign up. Names can be taken from checks. Decide on a location, date, and time. Invitations should include a map and contact number. The most successful home shows use the setting of a home to its full advantage. Place crafts in a kitchen or living room as if the items belonged there. This type of selling let’s you show how the crafts can be used, a mini course in home decor for your customers. If using someone’s home offer a percentage of total or credit towards purchasing your goods. The party can be formal with a small presentation or informal with the customer browsing.

Another version of the home selling concept is a block party or open house. The holiday season offers plenty of opportunities to invite the neighbor in for a chance to do some shopping without the hassles of going to an over crowded mall. Offer gift-wrapping service or free gift for the neighbor who brings in the most customers. Nancee McAteer, a PC who makes jewelry and personalized Christmas ornaments has had great success with a biannual open house. “I have two big open houses a year, one in the spring and one after my last scheduled fall show. It’s great. In the spring, it motivates me to get new work done for the outdoor shows I do. In the fall, I am really trying to move my holiday items out. I offer a discount on the Christmas ornaments. I’ve been having the open houses for over five years and my customers are always asking me when the event is and don’t forget to sent them an invitation.”

Odds and Ends

• Set-up a temporary holiday display in a beauty shop or restaurant. Most businesses decorate for the holidays and this is a chance for them to have a new look. Tag the decorations with a business card and leave plenty of cards for potential customers to take. Give the business a percentage of all sales.
• Other mini-marketplaces you might over look are doctors and dentist offices. A display in the waiting area will liven the place up. It might be best bother the staff with on sight selling of your crafts, but to leave business cards.
• Another option with businesses is to offer a discount to them if they purchase the decorations. Ask that a business card be displayed on the work.
• Many non-profit organizations have fundraisers at this time of year. Have a display of tree ornaments at a location that is selling Christmas trees. Give a percentage of sales from goods sold.
• Many different types of groups are looking for fundraisers. Contact PTAs, scouting troops, and others and offer a program of incentives for the goods they sell. Give them a percentage in cash of what the group sells. If they can sell candy bars by the case, they can sell your items too.
• School teachers, hospital administrators, and other managers often have to give out many “small” gifts to volunteers and staff on a limited budget. Offer a discount when a quantity of goods is purchased or offer to personalize the items at no additional cost.
• Malls often have carts or rent square footage to vendors. The holidays might be a time to investigate costs. Hours are long, but crowds are good.
• Pets get gifts during the holidays and are often overlooked as potential customers. OK, they may not have money, but their owners do. Veterinarians, pet stores, groomers, stables, and kennels are also great outlets for selling. Adapt or add a few items for man’s best friend and his relatives. Personalizing for pets is a plus.
• Conduct a workshop or teach a class. You will meet more potential customers and be paid for your networking effort. Contact local craft retailers, museums, toy stores, or gift shops.
• Volunteer. Networking and being out in the public gives you more contact with buyers.
• Develop and keep a mailing list of all you customers. This will give you a good base of contacts for any of the ideas mentioned in this article. Keep in touch with postcards and send out announcements when you have new items.