St. Joseph's Craft Show Debut

Wow, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity! Several months ago, I got wind of the annual craft show at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Using a few networking resourses I have, I got an application to register for a vendor spot. This is my first venture into any type of farmers market/craft show event! I was beyond excited, thinking about what tasty treats I would offer to visitors of the show.

I finally managed to narrow down my list of cakes to four flavors. I settled on my biggest sellers and most requested flavors: Butter Vanilla, Chocolate Heaven, Red Velvet and a seasonal favorite, Pumpkin. Next I narrowed down the corresponding icings. A classic Vanilla Buttercream, Rich Chocolate Buttercream, Caramel Buttercream and, to be paired with the pumpkin cake, a Cinnamon Maple Cream Cheese Icing. I decided to offer one 6 inch round cake, of each flavor, along with a plethora of cupcakes. I based this decision on thinking that most people would not want to commit to purchasing a whole cake, or would prefer a small collection of flavors. Normally, my buttercream iced cakes sell by the number of servings at $2.25 a serving, and cupcakes are $2.25 each. But I figured I would offer a discounted pricing for the show of $2.00 a cupcake and $16 for a 6 inch round cake (normally at $18).

About 2 weeks before the show, I started to check things off my to-do list. Final menu? Check. Eye-catching sign for the booth? Check. Extra business cards printed? Check. The weekend before the show I knocked out most of my baking. Wrapped and frozen, the cakes were ready and waiting. Throughout the rest of the week, I whipped up batches of icing in my spare time and stored them in the fridge. By the Thursday before the event (to be held that following Saturday, on October 12) I was in my final countdown. I had the decorations for my tables, 2 giant coolers in which the store my sensitive-to-heat cream cheese icing and pretty much everything except the completed cakes and cupcakes. Those I saved for completion on Friday night.

I started with the 2 no-brainers; pumpkin cake with cinnamon maple cream cheese icing and the red velvet would get vanilla buttercream. Then I asked for my husband's opinion on whether to use the caramel icing on the vanilla or chocolate cake. The chocolate won. That left the chocolate buttercream for the vanilla cake. The pumpkin cupcakes also got their signature cinnamon maple icing and the red velvet the vanilla buttercream. I decided to do the vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with a choice of either vanilla, caramel or choclate buttercream. The final decorations were completed and last cupcakes were packed up and ready to roll by about 12:30 am that night.

The next morning was a blur, as I packed up cakes into their boxes for transport and stuck everthing into coolers for the ride over to the show venue. My mother very graciously offered to help me out during the day of the event. She met me there, coffee in hand, at 8am on Saturday morning. We quickly set about putting up a display table with cake stands and cupcake stand. Signs were hung and cards within visitor reach. The cakes were displayed and cupcake plates filled up and ready for hungry shoppers. I lucked out as my table was located almost directly in front of the entrance to the show!

The crowd started trickling in around 9am and by the time 11am hit, we were in full swing. I passed out samples to passing shoppers and offered my card, should they need my services in the future. By the time we wrapped up around 4pm, I had sold all but 6 cupcakes and 1 cake(starting the day with somewhere in the ballpark of 60 cupcakes and four 6 inch cakes). I passed out every single card that I came supplied with along with a few brochures advertising the Wilton Cake Decorating classes that I teach as well.

All in all, I think it was very successful day and I hope that I have generated a few future orders! I also want to mention a note of thanks to my mom for helping me by not only by giving up her Saturday to help, but in loaning me some decor supplies and coffee. Also a big kiss for my wonderful husband who watched the kids the day of the show, but who supports me in every other crazy scheme of mine. Thank you bunches!