I'm not really sure where to put this...

Last yr my mom and I did a baked goods booth at a local craft show. Mom was thinking of doing a simple craft project to sell at our booth this yr, and was telling me that she has some extra sheets and heavier material, all of fun, unique prints, that she's thinking of making grocery bags out of. You know, the kind of tote bags that every grocery store is now selling for $1-$3.

If she made up a dozen or two of these--and I thought she should individualize each one with a patch or a little something nice--do you think they'd sell well for a few bucks apiece?

I think they probably would. I bet they would work great as tote bags for those who visit the library alot.

__________________
"Go on, get outside, get the stink blown off ya!!"

I have a question about the baked goods...
Did you make them at home, then package & sell them?
If you made them at home, did you do them 'legally'? As in tune with code/health inspection standards?
I have been wanting to make cupcakes, cookies & other baked goods, but am afraid of charging a set fee. I've pretty much just charging for supplies.
How well did you do at your sale? And what type of items did you sell?

__________________

Great idea! I've also been thinking about making wine bag totes. I know, in my area, a lot of people are making tote bags but I've yet to see wine bag totes. And of course I don't have a pattern.

It sounds like a good idea to me.

I think the tote bags and wine totes are a great idea.

I would love a grocery tote bag that has a platic lining inside, fwiw.

I made all my stuff at home, and my mom made her stuff in her home. We didn't have it inspected or anything, and we didn't put up warning signs for the goods that contained nuts, eggs, etc. We do have clean kitchens, tho, so I'm certain no one was made sick b/c of us!

The craft show we went to was in rural Missouri, and nobody really cared about the technicalities. I had read up on how you're supposed to make food items to sell to the public, and for that reason my mom didn't make fudge (the raw eggs). And when we got there, everyone was asking for fudge b/c the fudge lady didn't come that yr! So, what little attn we did pay to the rules we're throwing out this yr!

We made muffins, rice crispy treats, 5" and 9" pies (I used a spring form pan for the 5" pies), cookies, cakes, quick breads, and I made tiny little "pie bites" which all sold immediately. Basically, I cut out tiny pie crusts using a small glass and tucked them into my mini muffin pan and filled them with pecan, apple, and pumpkin pie fillings and baked them. Those were the most popular thing of mine that sold, and my mom's muffins were the most popular thing of hers. However, they were a lot of work and I was only able to do it b/c that was before dd was crawling! I'd recommend pre-made phyllo pastries! lol

I made all my stuff from scratch, but my mom used mixes for her muffins. The blueberry sold the best. We only had a few things left when we went home, but not much at all. All my pies sold (I think I made 15 altogether; 8-9" and 7-5", or something like that) except one that had gotten a little overdone. Mom's cookies were a real hit--oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, I think, and she made cake cookies that did well, too. I made these beautiful, ornate lemon-filled sandwich cookies topped with chocolate and nuts--they were amazing!--but they didn't sell at all. So, I'd recommend keeping it fairly simple and sticking with what people think of as their favorites. Banana bread, cookies, muffins, pies. We didn't make cupcakes, so I don't know how well they'd do.

Go to a bakery and charge at least what they do. You can always come down at the end of the day if you've got leftovers that you can't get rid of. Oh yeah, and I made dozens of cut-out shortbread cookies, and NONE of them sold, so at the end of the day I gave away cookies to everyone at the show. That was actually fun!

Hmmm..Tote bags/grocery bags out of new fabric would be fine, but I would not buy anything made from a stranger's used sheets, or any used fabric. Just me.

__________________
Make someone's heart smile today.

Would you like to join our Mommysavers' Holiday Ornament/Decoration Swap? Details and signup:
http://mommysavers.com/boards/chit-c...p-sign-up.html

Hurry! Deadline is Near way before Santa comes!

I think that is a cool idea too.

as far as the baking goes, as long as you are not a commecial business with a tax id # and all that jazz, I highly doubt you have to have your kitchen inspected to bake cupcakes for a bake sale. But that is a great idea too. Totally something to think about!

__________________
~Missy~Mommy
Meghan8.Samantha7,Cameron4

Yeah, I think it depends on how much business you do, and that was the only show we went to, so there was no chance of us making enough $$ that we had to be "legal".

Desertmom, good pt about the bedsheets, but what if you couldn't tell they're used? It think my mom got them from an auction and they'd never been used. (?)