A vendors’ guide to last minute handmade Christmas gifts
Christmas is nearly upon us and people across the country will be looking out for those last-minute gifts for their loved ones. This can be a great time for craft makers of all kinds to bring in some final Christmas sales.
Over the years people have become more and more interested in finding gifts that are unique and that carry with them an air of design and style. Handcrafted items can be just the gift that people are looking for and there are some wonderful options that crafters can utilise to make the most of last-minute gift buying.
Stocking fillers
Christmas stockings were once filled with oranges and chocolate coins, but nowadays these are filled with small gifts that can include everything from jewellery through to small toys for children. When it comes to looking for last minute Christmas items that you can make to sell, stocking fillers are a great place to start. Take a look at some of your best sellers and see whether there are ways that you can make smaller versions of these products that can be sold at a cheaper price. You can then sell these via your website or shopping platform as well as taking some to local Christmas fayres. Make sure that you have the appropriate craft insurance UK policy in place to ensure that you are covered for any incidents that might occur.
Sales
Another great way to make the most of the last-minute Christmas rush is to hold a short sale. It is important to ensure that you have the stock available to be able to do this. If you have some stock left over, you could batch these together and sell them in hampers and gift boxes. These kinds of pre-packaged gifts are incredibly popular, especially with those people looking to gift something unique and truly special to their friends and family. Make sure that you factor in any postage costs and delivery times into your sales planning to ensure that your customers receive their deliveries in time for the festive period.
Materials
Christmas can be a good time to look at all the materials and stock that you have left over from the year, and to see whether you can use them in your Christmas items. In some cases, you may be able to repurpose some of your stock by adding in Christmas elements or simply packaging them together in a different way. For example, if you normally sell handmade blankets, you could package these together with a nice cosy hat and some gloves and sell them as a winter warmer gift pack.
Personalisation
Christmas is one of the most popular times of year for products to be personalised and this is particularly true when it comes to handmade items. If this is not a service that you normally offer you might want to look to see whether there is a way that you can add this into your offering. Personalisation does not have to be a difficult task. It could be simply adding a card to your products that contains a message from the person buying the item, written to their recipient. This can help those people who are looking for last minute gifts to be delivered directly to their friend or loved. It is important to ensure that you have the right craft insurance UK policy in place to cover any eventualities when it comes to your products being delivered.
Gift vouchers
If time is starting to run out for you to be able to craft some of your beautiful items for sale before Christmas, you could look at producing some gift vouchers that your customers and can purchase for their loved ones instead. In some cases, these could be generic vouchers that allow the recipient to purchase an item of their choosing or you could make up some gift packs that can be redeemed with the gift voucher. For example, if you have some best sellers, you can package these together in a gift box and allow your customers to purchase gift vouchers relating to the chosen gift box. Their loved one can then go on to redeem the voucher at a time that they wish to receive your item.
Christmas fayres
Over the last few weeks in the run up to Christmas there will be numerous fayres that will take place in local community centres and schools. Keep an eye out for these and if you have some stock that you would like to clear before the New Year, take the opportunity to have yourself a little Christmas sale. Be sure to clearly mark your Christmas best sellers and have some festive decorations to add to your table. Also make sure that your craft insurance UK policy covers you in case there are any incidents that occur as a result of your attendance at any of the fayres, or any accidents that occur when transporting your goods to the fayre location. Christmas can be a stressful time for handmade crafters, but there are opportunities that you can take to allow more people to see your items and to give yourself the opportunity to make a few more sales before the festive period ends. Plan for the possibility of some last-minute gift buyers and, where possible, try to have some stock in reserve for such eventualities. Any stock that you don’t sell in December, you can put towards a New Year sale. These work incredibly well for craft items, particularly those items that help to lift people’s mood and to allow people to feel pampered and rejuvenated after the Christmas break.