A great resource for finding local artisans is Etsy.com. You can shop by local crafters in your area. Once your find shops in your area, you can see what they offer and contact them to see if they may want to participate or donate items to your event. You can charge them a set-up fee as described in another post. Or, the local crafter may want to donate items for say a "Silent Auction". Also, many Etsy shops are willing to sell their goods at wholesale prices so that you can mark up the items for resale to generate a profit for you. I have donated several of my items to local events by being contacted in this way.

Good Luck with your event!

Sweet & Sassy Sewing

www.etsy.com/shop/SweetNSassySewing

We used a local company for a few years, it was on consignment but only thing it was the same gifts year after year. We decided to change two years ago and we are glad we did, they had the #1 mom, #1 dad, #1 uncle, #1 aunt, #1 grandpa, #1 grandma, #1 sister, #1 brother merchandise in keychains, mugs, pens, bracelets, necklaces, hats plus they had pamper items, pet toys/treats, Christmas ornaments, toys, jewelry, hand-dipped chocolates that's all I can remember. The prices were from .50 to 7.00 and basically we made about $600 in a school of 150 kids. The parents who came to shop like the variety and quality of the products and they actually did their Christmas shopping too.

This company was in Pennsylvania and our school is in Iowa and we paid for the shipping, but it was worth it. We were planning to use Rainbow Gifts again this year but our principal doesn't want us to have the Holiday shop.

I have helped run our school holiday store for the past two years at a profit of $4,000 for a school size of almost 800 students. We keep most prices low from 50¢ to $5. Our items include:
1. CRAFTS made by parent and student volunteers: last year we made 300 reindeer candy canes, 300 no-sew fleece scarves for moms, dads and students, 50 small decorated holiday trees, 100 little xmas stockings filled with pet dog bones from Costco or cat toys made with fleece scraps tied to foam paint sticks from Michael's, doll blankets made from fleece scraps
2. WHOLESALE toys purchased from A)Toyssmith (best quality, a little pricey), Joissu (great prices, beware of some cheap quality toys), C) Oriental Trading (shop xmas sales in Jan, beware of lots of poor quality items that can be sent back for a refund),
3. MICHAELS after holiday sale in late Dec and early Jan for 80% to 90% off their dollar items and holiday decor such as note pads, gifts boxes to fill with candy, candles, ornaments, 40 holiday wreaths and 40 poinsettias we buy at $5 each and sell for $8 to $10 to parents and teachers. The wreaths decorate the cafeteria during the boutique and any unsold ones are allowed to be kept up after the boutique with discreet price tags so the cafeteria looks festive for student holiday concerts.
4. DOLLAR STORE online
5. COSTCO Online
6. CLAIR'S jewlery store sometimes has amazing sales on costume jewelry that we try to select the nicer pieces that Moms and teens would appreciate
7. SEE'S CANDY - we send an order form before the boutique for candy to be picked up during the boutique, as well as a limited supply available for sale at the boutique.
PRICING - we buy
8. CONSIGNMENT - We are looking for a source to purchase some items that can be bought on consignment or returned if unsold.
9. ADULT GIFTS - We are still looking for a better source to purchase adult gifts, especially for Dads.

STORAGE: We are very lucky our school has a storage closet they let us use during the year to store pre-purchased items. We try to make our big purchases of multiple items closer to the date of the boutique, but allowing us enough time to return items of poor quality.

PRICING; We buy Post-it 3/4" round Removeabe Pinter stickers, template #2700-O to print our own pricing stickers. They can be printed on a printer or a master copy can be printed on plain paper and xeroxed onto stickers using the school copier as needed.

This will be our second year of buying for Santa's Workshop. I am a bargin shopper and when I found out that they had only made around $200.00 I told them I would do the shopping. If you are going to do it you need to start now. I have been shopping since Dec 26th. Best times to find things are after a holiday like Mother& Fathers Day. Hit all the stores the month of Jan to get some really great deals. Last year our profit was $1800.00 and I hope we do better this year.

I've been running our Santa shop for 4 years now-- and we purchase all our own merchandise-- we have made a profit of approx. 2,000.00 each year after buying all our product for the next year. So the first year you are out money initially-- so let's say you spend approx. 5,000.00- you run your santa shop and sell your items and make 7,0000.-- after the sale- and Christmas-- you go shop for next year's sale and use 5,000.00 for shopping-- that gives you a profit of $2,000.00 and all your shoppijg is done--- also anything left -- carry over-- you can always discount the items down for the following year-- we do that will misc. items that have been around for 2 or more years-- as you run the sale-- you get a feel for what the kids want-- also by buying your own items to sell-- you can get a better quality product to offer the kids-- we also open the last day for family shopping to help sell off what we have on hand-- we use a Santa shop envelop -- all my letters and envelop are on the file exchange if you want to check them out-- we shop Target, Kmart, Meijer, Hallmark stores, Kroger- they have a gift area, Wal-mart and Sporting goods stores and anywhere else that might have a deal- our most expensive item is $5.00 ( and these are logo shirts, jewelry boxes, yard stick of golf balls, Disney merchandise, CZ earrings, watches (citizen, timex)- and we also do a showcase to help show parents items that will be available- as parents saw the items offered, they sent money in-- since they saw that kids were buying pretty nice items.

Hold your own craft fair, invite local crafts for a nominal fee and then charge admission as well. You could also sell food(hot dogs etc.), beverages and baked goods during the fair and maybe even have your own booth with donated goods. Also have each vendor donate an idea for a Chinese raffle.