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swag 101

Swag is mandatory, and must be BROUGHT WITH YOU TO CHECK-IN THE MORNING OF THE SHOW.

The reason dozens of shoppers line up at our doors for hours before we open is clear: We are known for our great swag bags!

“What are swag bags?” you may ask.  Well, all vendors are required to submit no less than $40 worth of merchandise that will be included in these goodie bags, which are given to the first 100 fans through the doors.  It’s a great way to attract new fans, it creates a huge buzz for the show, and it’s a great promotional tool for your business! We try to allocate each bag with a variety of merchandise that makes it exciting for our fans, while also helping you to promote yourselves.

We want these to be bags full of goodies – real examples of unique, hand-crafted goods that will be fun for the audience and a great way to reach a new market of interested crafting fans.

Here are a few things that, when contributed alone, do not meet the $40 swag minimum:

  • business cards
  • buttons with your logo or trademark
  • stickers with your logo or trademark
  • postcards with your logo or trademark
  • magnets with your logo or trademark

Business cards are not accepted as swag contribution, even if they accompany actual swag.  Your business cards will be thrown out if you give them, so please do not waste your promotional dollars and paper!  The ONLY time it is acceptable to submit business cards is if it is attached to your swag as a way of identifying which business the item came from, if it’s not already clear.

You may still include coupons, or buttons with a card as EXTRA, additional swag, but we urge you to keep them to a minimum (say 25 max) and make them really neat rather than giving 100 of them.

Basically the swag recipient should open that bag and be floored by what awaits them. Things that intrigue the customer to come and see what else you have in store are what we are looking for.

If you really do not want to contribute physical items to the swag bags, you have the option to instead pay a $50 swag fee, to cover the cost of our purchasing additional foodie goodies, so that the swag bags are still full enough for our fans. If you indicated this on your application, you have already been invoiced for this fee. If you did not indicate this on your application but would like to choose this option, please email us ASAP to let us know.