The big practise

Christmas fair countdown tip

The big practise

Now is the time to practise a layout for your stall. You should have enough products (or enough of an idea of what products will be made) to organise a rough layout. And it is worth doing now because you can address any obvious issues.

Start by getting a surface roughly the size of the fair (in our case, 6ft x 2ft). If you haven't got anything the exact size, have a measure and either mark where the table will end (if your surface is bigger) or just be aware how much extra you will have to play with (if the surface is smaller).

Put your tablecloth on and whatever name sign you have. Set up any display props and then add your items. Put smaller products at the front and then work back in height and size.

Now add your price labels. How do they work best and can they easily be seen?

Stand at the front of the stall and pretend you are a customer. Reach over to try and pick up a product. Are there any obstacles? Can everything be seen?

Now scoot around the back. If someone bought a product, is there room for them to hand it to you and for you to hand it back?

When you think you have it sorted, walk away and do something different for a while. Then go back. Chances are something you hadn't even noticed before will jump out at you. Fix it, walk away again and repeat until you are happy.

As soon as you are happy, take a photo of the display. Either do this on your phone, or print it out for reference. This way you avoid that sinking feeling at the show where your mind goes blank as to what you did!

If you don't need the items again, pack them away in whatever you will be transporting them to the fair in. That way you cut down on last-minute packing!

And don't worry if you are still wrangling with the finessing. Over the next few posts we will show examples of lovely displays to give you plenty of ideas.