Am I nuts!!!???? How many bars?

[mandolyn]

I'm doing a rather large craft fair in mid-August. It looks like this fair gets between 5,000 & 10,000 people for the 2 day event.

How many bars of soap should I take? Gaaawwwd, I'm sooooooo nervous!!!! It's my first soap-selling fair. The organizer was so happy to hear from a soapmaker. She's been wanting one for ages. I have a lot of soap-making to do. I'm planning on having my batches all done during the month of June. That gives me a nice window for cure time. Oh, I'll be doing CP only. M & P would not survive the temps!!!

Sooooooooo, I have Mar-Jun to perfect an excellent, basic CP recipe & learn how to scent & color it well. Is that possible? Am I nuts??!!:shock:

I'm packaging my bars in individual boxes with an oval cut-out. Is there anything special I should do to keep them from being damaged by heat & humidity, besides the obvious, no direct sun? The organizer promised me a place in the shade - yippeeee!!! I'll still have a canopy with moveable sides, just in case.

Again, am I nuts???!!!! :shock: Well, yeah, I know I am, but have I gone too far off the edge?

Mandy

 

[Neil]

Mandy, let me first say, There are few things in life that are as clean as soap making as a hobby or business. No pun intended. Secondly Its wonderful that you have excitement about something so clean. your enthusiasm is great. My only advice to you is enjoy this time and have fun with it.

 

[Lane]

Have you ever done CP before or are you completely new to it??

 

[Tabitha]

I have seen a fomula somehwre that for every x amount of attendants you should expect sell x amount of items. I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it. It's just a guestamation anyway.

I *feel* like a good goal is to sell 3x the cost of your booth. The cost of your booth is directly related to the amount of paid advertising the show *should* do which is directly related to how many people *should* show up. If I pay $100.00 for a show I expect to sell $300.00 + in soap/bath/body @ an average of $5.00 per item, that is 60 items & I want to take 3-4x that number so I don't get picked over. So for a $100.00 show I would *like* to take 200-240 items.

 

[brian0523]

Well good luck to you! I keep dreaming about doing a show, but sadly, they don't seem very popular here where I live.

How are you going to choose you scents? I think that's the hardest part. Once you get a recipe down, there are so many scents, it makes my head spin!

Good luck - and much success!

 

[mandolyn]

Have you ever done CP before or are you completely new to it??

Nope! That's where the panic comes in. I know I can do it, it's just going to take a lot of practice batches between now & then to get a soap I'll be happy selling. I'm not leaving anything to dumb luck, so I'm doing tons of research & have 2 books. I posted a recipe I want to try to use as my basic one. I won't be doing goats milk or anything that fancy.

I think the problem I'll run into is getting a feel for how the different scents behave. I'm trying to steer clear of scents I know have caused problems for other soapers.

This forum has been a HUGE resource. I know all the knowledge in the world isn't going to make it without lots of hours of just making soap, though. I'm prepared for that & some bad batches as I experiment.

Thanks for the encouragement you guys!!

I'll post my progress. It ought to be verrrrry entertaining!

Yes, choosing scents will be a challenge!! This is an annual apple festival, so I'm going to try an apple scent of some kind for sure. The rest will be based on what family & friends prefer, since they're a pretty good representation of the population here.

Mandy

 

[mandolyn]

I have seen a fomula somehwre that for every x amount of attendants you should expect sell x amount of items. I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it. It's just a guestamation anyway.

I *feel* like a good goal is to sell 3x the cost of your booth. The cost of your booth is directly related to the amount of paid advertising the show *should* do which is directly related to how many people *should* show up. If I pay $100.00 for a show I expect to sell $300.00 + in soap/bath/body @ an average of $5.00 per item, that is 60 items & I want to take 3-4x that number so I don't get picked over. So for a $100.00 show I would *like* to take 200-240 items.

Thanks Tabitha! I thought I read something about it, too & couldn't find what I'd read. Based on what I remembered (danger, danger) I came up with 200. My table fee is $60, so that's about 135.

Thanks again!