Phew - sorry for not posting earlier, but I spent 5 hours cleaning my house yesterday after the madness had finally ended and I was too tired afterwards. But the good thing is, all my soaping boxes are now sorted and labelled and the dining room no longer looks like a tip.

Oook, my first event and it was complete chaos. Without my daughter, it would have been a disaster. Stress causes my athritis to flare up and I didn't get all my packaging until Friday morning, so I didn't really start making stuff until Friday lunchtime for a Saturday evening event. I could have started on Thursday, but had a pretty bad day with shoulder pains and extreme tiredness, so left it until Friday. I started at 11:30h and finished at 5am the next morning, had 5 hours sleep and started on more stuff at 11am, thinking I'd be done by 2pm to do all the labels. Didn't finish until 3pm which gave me one hour to do all the labels, then have a shower and leave the house by 5pm. Haha, who was I fooling. Had half the labels done by 5pm. Daughter was at a friends house. Did a frantic phone call to her and asked her, if she could set up the stall for me, if I drop her off with all the stuff, so I cna go back home, have shower, finish labels and come back. Considering she is a teenager, I expected to have to plead and beg, but she said fine. Threw all my things in the car (unlabelled), picked her up and dropped her off at the event and drove back home. Every traffic light was red, every single bus in the area was in front of me and people who insist that the speed limit is 20 miles an hour.

Decided that I will never get all the labels done in time, printed what I had and was going to go to Staples on the way to pick up some black thick paper and Gel Pens to make table-display labels. Cash machine was broken, so couldn't get any cash out to get any change for the evening. Staples was closed. Had a quick shower, dropped into Tesco express, and they were out of all art-papers and pens. Picked up some felt tips and got some cash-back in change (£10.00 was all they were willing to give me). Got back to the event, opened the car-door and my handbag fell out, emptying itself all over the floor. I was ready to cry by then. Put everything back in (event started at 7pm and it was now 7:20pm), raced inside and my daughter set up the table absolutely beautifully. She made the most of the colours we had and did one half in bright in-your-face colours and the other in the muted tones. She put everything out there, even found the testers and had them arranged absolutley perfect.

We labelled what we could and I made some table signs out of the rest of the sticky paper (I print my labels on sheets of A4, rather than pre-cut labels) and people loved it. We didn't sell an awful lot, but considering I thought we would sell nothing, it was great. My daughter proved to be a natural and she wants to atted all events with me now and has loads of ideas reagrding table displays. She wants to learn more about all the things I make so she can answer questions in the future and run the stall by herself if I want a break, she absolutley loved it. I will leave table displays to her. I promised her, she can do it as she pleases and I will not interfere.

I never managed to take any pictures of the table, in my panic I forgot to take my camera and my phone is no good for things like that, there is a small pic from the organizer, you see my shelves in the background



The soap seller which was the reason that I wasn't allowed to bring soap was right opposite me, but I don't think she sold anything! She had a double table rather than a single one and there was no more than 20 soaps on there (not 20 batches, 20 pieces). All beautifully wrapped and some accesories like loofas and wash mitts and soap dishes, but I rarely saw anyone stop at her table. I think it looked too expensive, and it was kind of. I popped over to have a chat and 2 pieces of soap (90g each) were marked at £8.50 each (they were ribboned together). Maybe that was pushing it a bit. Or it was the colours. It looked lovely, but it was all muted, pastel colours and just didn't pop. My daughter put all my coloured sugar scrubs at the front and loads of people came over to have a look what it was. Then they got interested and then they bought.

I was miffed that I didn't bring any soapies. I could have at least brought some of my Glycerine soaps. There was another stall right next (2 tables down) to us which did natural cosmetics and they did bring their soaps and they were quite agressive, always out there putting lotion on people and talking about their stuff, which I just wasn't ready yet to do, but will keep that in mind for next time. Never did see Neal's Yard, I think they did treatments which were in a different room.

The stall on the left of us was candle-lights / party-lights and they kept encrouching on our stall which I also found annoying. They were incredibly busy booking parties and kept using our stall to write out the forms, but on the other hand they were busy and drew customers into our area, so I didn't say anything. They did move out the way when we had customers, but it did grate on me a bit. Not sure how to handle something like that in the future.

Total sales were: 8 sugar scrubs (Rasperry and lemon were top sellers), 5 lip scrubs and 2 whipped sheas and 1 face mask. Not brilliant, but there was no stall fee, so it was all profit. And for a first event I felt it went ok.

Now comes the prep for next weekend, but thankfully I am able to bring soapies. Phew...

Well done MP! And well done to your daughter too! 
What an asset right under your nose.  :buttrf:

Wow girl what a stressful last days! It would have killed me for sure.

Next time you'll have to bring the camera or I don't know what punishment will await you.  :mwaha:

WOW!! I feel exhausted from reading this  :mwaha:..well done you!!! your daughter sounds lovely, and your obviously proud of her, rightly so.
Its a lot of work isnt it...phew....but you are to be congratulated for keeping your cool.
I admire you, and it will get easier each time, you will be able to do it in your sleep soon , lol.
Well done, the photo looks lovely!

Well done.   It was your first event, so now you know what to expect and you know what they say "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow".  

Well done - I've been to just one pamper evening type event and it can be a bit daunting to see salons etc. with their products which people already know about and a first event can be stressful anyway - but you coped and you had sales.

Your daughter's definitely an asset to cultivate.

Well done. I think Elaine summed it up perfectly - you coped and you had sales  . As a first event goes, do did reall well, expecially considering you were under P and feeling poorly. It's a learning curve, what works, what doesn't and what you can do in future.

And your shelves worked a treat, they look really good.

You and your daughter should be really proud.  :buttrf:

I am chuffest mum ever. I was sooo proud of my daughter I didn't care anymore if we sold anything at all  :buttrf:

we have had so many arguments recently (typical teenage stuff, nothing serious) and then she just came through on the night and essentially saved my bacon. Wish I could treat her to something. Can't afford to though....

Absolutely! Think how much more experience you have now!

My first market (luckily it was only a small one and not a full sized table) I spent SO long thinking about packaging and labelling my soap I realised when I turned up I hadn't taken anything to display them in or on!!!! :mwaha: so I just had to lay them out flat on the table and it looked crap!

Families - we can fight all the time but the bond is always there. It's brilliant that she want to find out more about your products - a familiy business!

And you don't need money to treat her - let her do something she really enjoys and join her. Go for a long walk round a museum and chat, or cook her her favourite meal. As a teenager, it's often about how much and how big a thing they can get, but when you're older, it's the other stuff you remember and appreciate.

Sounds like a hectic few days for you, well done to you and your daughter for for doing
your first event and making some profit........

Hope you've had a chance to sit back and relax for a minute before it all starts again!! :buttrf:

Sounds like a frantic day but good on you and good on your daughter too! She's a champion! And I don't think she needs a pressie, maybe just sit her down and tell her how proud you are of her and how much she really came through for you.   I think that could be an excellent pressie just by itself!

Proud of you, especially for keeping going whilst it was manic!!! Pics next time though, ok???!!!

So pleased it went so well I find that I love making soap but I am not overly interested in the selling side I only sell it so I have room to make some more & that is where my daughter steps in she is older than yours & has always worked in marketing & retail & like your daughter has an eye for it I am hopless at setting up my stall/table I pile it all on like a jumble sale and she comes and takes it all away less is more apparently Your daughter seems to have the knack for this I think you are quite right just leave it all to her let her do this whole job her responsibility & I bet she will always want to help & 1 day you may be able to pay her I expect she goes looking round the shops & sees how things are this may be pointing her to what she wants to do as a career & is excellent experience for her She may give you some ideas for a 'younger range' too & what fun for her all those products  much more interesting for her than something mechanical or boring.You will get much tougher about other stall holders taking advantage don't worry about that & the talking the first few I was tongue tied until my daughter said 'you know how you talk about nothing but soap 24/7 & we are all bored with it well you have an audience here just pretend it is us & just start talking!' it worked! Go round to the front of the stall & have a tidy up, move things around & fiddle about & talk to anyone who slows down near you have a sniff at things the table/ stall can be a barrier, it is all about experience & confidence

Well done MP. The only way is up heehee. The stall looked lovely in the piccies. x

Well done MP!

Gosh well done MP!  Sounds a really stressful day but you & your daughter turned it round together, you must be feeling pretty chuffed.