My Holiday, My Delight

Holiday Hoopla

Gahanna Lincoln High School: December 10, 2022

I hadn't planned on writing about yesterday's Holiday Hoopla craft show at the Gahanna High School, but the memories are just too precious to not be verbalized.

A $1 TIP

For the first time, I received a $1 tip from a young boy. With a smile on his face, when he handed me his $10 bill to pay for his little toy, he said, Keep the change. Wowie!

SHE LIKED MY BRAND?

One of the high school girls came with a camera and asked me if I had a business card. Maybe she wanted to promote my table? She said, I like your brand.

A BARGAINING SENORA: AY-YAY-YAY!

A mature Colombian lady came back. She wanted another flor keychain. Unfortunately that item was sold out. She settled for three other keychains. Wanted a discount. No puede, Senora. I did scoop candy canes to add to each of her three bags of purchases.

NO CALORIE PLATE SETS

I'd never forget the squeals of delight and gushing of two Hispanic ladies. They would point to each item on the table and say, So cute! Apparently, they were convinced that the plate sets had no calories at all (my promotion sale line) and picked up several. The sushi and ramen plate were best-sellers.

BAO IS IN!

A girl from the Gahanna high school who had come to the St. Matthew's craft sale in the past month (?) told me that she had crocheted a large bao. When I realized that bao was an in thing, I decided to crochet a smaller bao and copy her lead. She did come - and bought my bao keychain and other stuff.

STAR WARS and POKEMON

Star Wars was still popular, I realized. The Ewoks were in demand. One of the vendors came and told me, You have another Ewok? I saw someone carrying one. Yes, I had several! Even "old" BB8 who never got sold in the past was bought. Time to make more Star Wars thingies! Ditto on Pikachu, Eevie, and company.

DEMON SLAYERS, VERY CURRENT!

And yes, Nezuko and Tanjiro were a big seller! I had only one of each and am planning on making several for next time. Hopefully, they'd still be in vogue.

BONNET BABIES

I'm realizing that the best promotion for my stuff had been the kids who had bought items from me and were carrying their dollies around. Folks saw them and had come to ask for the same exact item. One lady (I think she was a vendor) said, I saw a kid clutching to her chest a little baby in a bassinet. You have some of that left? 

Yes, I did. All sold out at the end of the show.

NATIVITY SET

And yes, my farmhouse style full Nativity set was bought by one of the members of the Peace church. Another lady who came and saw it told me that she had bought a Nativity set from me at a past Creekside show.

SUNDRY BUYERS

The high school photographer came earlier to take a picture of my table. When he came back later, he said, I'm here to buy something for myself. He got a Minion and a keychain. I think he was the one who tried to help your Pa with our finicky Square card reader (turned out, as your Pa discovered later, that it was my phone that had been at fault?)

At least two women came back toward the closing of the sale to pick up three items each. They knew exactly which ones they wanted. 

A vendor to the right and left of me each bought an item, too! One wanted a mermaid that I had to search for in my box supply.

ADORABLE LITTLE CROSBY

And my most-favorite customer of all? 

Little Crosby, son of one of the teachers in charge of the show. When he saw my Nativity Set, he said, They have one of those for the waffle (raffle). As it turned out, he was the one for whom the Spiderman character was reserved in their past show in the spring. He came back again and again to either just look, get candy cane, or buy. 

I remember he got the Zombie plant eater, sleeping dog, keychain, hamburger plate, maybe another one. I gave him a Star Wars character for free (for being my Number One fan, as I had discerned from the number of times he had come by). At the end, he said, he wanted to buy one more, but it was packing time.

Best of all? I love the smiles of those who came to just look, buy, or just passed by. 

So, of course, I'd like to continue to do the shows. Always, the delight I get back is far more precious than my dollar loot.  

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

My special thanks to Jach, my partner, steady companion in all my craft endeavors, and runner. 

Also to Iris who gave me the tip on keychains (best sellers, as well), lent me her Square and who, with Ali had always given me encouraging words. 

And how about Isela and Alek who had given me tips on "in" things? (Demon Slayers, of course!) By the way, they each have asked for a cut if the characters got sold, they told me. He-he.