A opportunity fell into my lap this week and I decided to give it a try, well actually the original opportunity was really for next weekend and when I mentioned it to my friend Kristie she said I could set up a table this weekend at her sale. When I say sale, I am talking garage sale, yard sale, tag sale, whatever you call it where you reside. Around Columbia it's either a garage or yard sale for the most part. Anyway, after my friend Lori offered me the first opportunity my mind got to spinning on what I could do. Then, when Kristie offered me up the same thing, I had to think fast since I only had 4 days to get it executed. So I'm thinking, what would be the fastest cookies I could possibly make? No, I can't just do the normal bake sale things, that isn't unique enough and really doesn't bring in many orders to be honest as most people have mastered the art of chocolate chip cookies.........although they haven't had mine. lol Anyway, I thought, apples, baseballs, cupcake cookies, and then I had seen these cute little round cookies with bees on them from Pinterest....sorry I forgot to write down which business it was, so if you know or if it's you, then let me know and I will gladly give you/them credit. Then I thought, wow, I could actually bag up some cookie mix and offer that for sale as well as making some brownies and individually heat sealing them for sale as well. I think I baked on either Tuesday or Wednesday, then I skipped a day and spent 5 hours last night decorating those 47 cookies. For the most part I liked how most of them turned out. I got up this morning at 6:10, with the intention of being at the sale a little after 7 when she opened......that didn't happen. Didn't happen mainly because I failed to get those brownies made last night so I made them this morning. That put me way behind as it took a entire hour to bake those puppies. They were super thick!
I arrive at the sale around 8:30 with my individually bagged cookies (which I did this morning) and a red hot pan of freshly baked brownies. They really smelled good and added a nice aroma to the garage this morning! I really enjoyed the day but only sold $11 worth and I think only 1 person took a business card and because I'm a terrible salesman and didn't insist on them taking one. So I'm wondering if it's really worth all the time it takes to decorate a bunch of cookies for this type of setting? The main reason I ask is because I have two cakes to make this next week, one due on Friday and one on Sunday. Plus, Kristie and her friend Chris loved the baseball cookies and placed a order for almost 4 dozen due next Saturday. My thought is that I should just concentrate on my cakes and these cookies and forget the other sale and do as Lori suggested if I didn't have time, to just bring them business cards and they can stick one in everyones bags. I mean I would love to make a bunch for that sale as well, but I don't want to spread myself too thin and I want to do a great job on the orders that I already have as that is a sure sale, whereas this other is kind of a crap shoot.
So my wonderful friends, what are your suggestions? I want to get the exposure as it is a neigborhood sale that nets thousands of people each year. Should I do just a few, maybe a dozen cookies, just for a visual in a nice cookie jar, a few bags of cookie mix and give them business cards or should I just forget it and go with cards only?
It really is difficult for me to say no to any opportunity, but I want to do quality work on what I have.
Now I arrive finally at my original reason for this post.............do you believe garage sales are a good marketing oppotunity or not?
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Here are some pics of the cookies for the sale today :)
Have a wonderful evening my Fluffybutt friends and remember, always look where you step when you live with pets ;)
Fluffybutt (Tammy)
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