What on earth does this mean?

Craft Talk
1

I contacted a close relatives school to apply for a craft table at her school summer fair. I added link to my Folksy shop to show what I made.

I saw a poster my relative was given, where it stated here would be craft stalls among other things.

The answer was a polite no, but has left me confused, what on earth does the following mean…

“I had a peak at your webpage and they look lovely. Normally we would say yes please but this year we made the decision not to have any commercial stalls at the summer fair.”

Also the phrase “not having outside crafts this year” was also used.(not outside as in outdoors)

I hate being dim but thought Id ask you guys what they meant instead of me asking them and looking like a nincompoop.(I dont mind looking silly infront of you)

2

We just had our Village fete and they always have a lot of stalls selling donated stuff, brick a brack, cakes, plants, wine and books, perhaps this is what they mean, rather than hand made what they call commercial work, maybe they don’t have enough space if it’s all indoors.

3

Ahh, they did mention donated cake stalls, tombolas etc so yes, that could be what they mean. Thanks

4

@GrimmExhibition I was going to say something similar, I think it is to maximise profits, our school does the same by having stalls that are all donated things ( donated by local businesses and parents) because they need to raise funds for some equipment or something and there is usually a big prize donated or few that becomes raffle ticket prizes. The school you mention might allow stalls next school year, esp Christmas time, when parents want to buy more gifts because it looks like they do sometimes change if they are having outside business or not, so just keep in touch with them.

5

Thanks for the reply. They said they have kept my details for the future.

6

Yep, by outside, they mean only crafts made by the school are being sold this year

7

A couple of schools near me do the same thing, they have craft fairs to help cover the funding for art classes because when funding gets cut, art is usually the first to lose out so the schools buy supplies for making things like jewellery, dream catchers, mosaic hot pads/ coasters etc then the kids still get to have an “art” class, learn a skill and make something which can be sold to cover the cost of the materials/classes. It’s quite clever really and raises more for the school than the craft fairs they used to have where outside crafters hired tables for £10 or £15 … and trust me when your kid is pointing and yelling “I made that one” you can bet mummy has her hand in pocket … at least I do:)

8

lol, Leanne, my daughter has already told me about the flower pots she has painted and asked if I am going to buy them…ofcourse :smile:

1 Like
9

I suppose they would make more from stalls with donated items rather than say charging £10-£20 for someone to sell their own items. But a mixture would possibly work, especially if the commercial stall holders gave something as a raffle prize. Marg.

10

I’ve been on my kids schools PTA organising fairs etc and yes, it can be more profitable for the school to run it’s own craft stalls than have outside businesses take part. The school stalls we ran made anything from £20 to £90+ in profit whereas with a stall fee usually being between £15-25 meant we could sometimes lose profits.

11

I sell my homemade jewellery on a stall at our local village school and church fetes, I’m always asked in advance and I always donate some of the takings.
One of the stalls is usually by a representative of a well known cruelty free beauty brand, another is a representative of a well known card company. (Not sure am allowed to name them on here).
Then there are small stalls by local folk like me. I certainly dont consider my stall “commercial”!!!
It seems to vary from school to school, doesnt it.