Since my last round of Holiday Markets in 2019, I finally did another round of Holiday Markets this year! I did 4 markets this season with two new markets I had never done before. For 2023, I’m doing Mermade Markets, Renegade LA, MAUM Market, and Makers Arcade. All of them are juried craft markets and require significant investments. The main reason I’m back doing all the in-person sales is the noticeable dip in sales and bookings this year. I went from having the best revenue in running my own business in 2022 to having to dip into my savings to pay for living expenses. Between the rising costs of everything, social media no longer has the same amount of organic reach, and the fickle algorithm from both online and wholesale sites; I just really need to see if people still want my stuff or if I should just throw in the towel and start applying for jobs.

Anywho… Enough with the sob stories and here’s what you guys are here for! I’ll go over all the important deeds (expense and sales numbers), insider tips from each market, and most importantly; whether I’ll do each market again next year. I’ll go over the main difference between the 2023 and 2018 markets (I did holiday markets in 2019 too, but I was pregnant and forgot to do recaps or take any decent photos). Afterward, I’ll go over my takeaways and what I’ll do for 2024 markets.

Mermade Markets (Dana Point, November 8-11)

The Deeds: 10th Annual Mermade Markets, 80+ vendors, free entrance

Application and Booth for Indoor Makers: $280 and 20% of gross sales ($272)

Gross sales: $1,360 | Net sales: $1,088

What’s selling

Pins: 33

Keychains: 19

Handpainted Ornaments: 1

Agate Ornaments: 12

Art Prints: 9

Wax Stickers: 2

Greeting Cards: 3 Box | 1 Single

Mermade Market is the first one this holiday and that’s perfect to get my market groove back. Unlike other holiday markets, this one has the option where they don’t need me to man the booth. In exchange for the 20% of my gross sales and the table cost, I get 3’x6’ space and they handle the checking out and restocking. That means I only have to drive to Dana Point twice instead of every day! This allows me to fine-tune my displays for the remaining markets, test how my products do in a new demographic, and even enjoy the market experience for once. We swing by early on the break-down day to have some delicious food trucks, a popsicle for my toddler and even do a little shopping.

Another big plus from a smaller footprint is that I can do the set-up on my own. Now that we have a small toddler, you’ll never know how cooperative she would be! I also could no longer fold the second row of our car fully down with her car seat installed. That means I have to be extra mindful of storage space!

Loading in was a breeze, just parked and hauled everything in at only a small distance. It’s so close, that I can make multiple trips and carry each box and wood backdrop one at a time. I forgot to pack bungee cords and wasn’t able to properly secure everything to my dolly/hand-trucked. Like I said, I need to get my market groove back.

I do have to do more behind-the-scene setups for this market. They require every product to have pricing in them, so I need to label all my products and backstocks. With all the different vendors they have to re-stock, I could no longer pack everything in random boxes like I used to. I got plastic drawers and labeled each drawer for the different pins. I also got some small foldable plastic crates to store my keychains for easy restocking. They also recommend getting some sort of lighting for everyone’s display and want everyone to stay away from white/black tablecloths to cover their tables, so I have to get a couple of rechargeable music lights and custom-printed my toile design to use as a tablecloth. I ended up using the drawers for the rest of my markets to store both keychains and pins. The mini plastic crates are perfect for organizing my market supplies, so I’m making the most use of them.

Verdict: Yes, I would do this market again and would recommend anyone who just starting to give this market a try! They want something new and fresh from returning vendors, so I need to figure out new products and fresh displays for the next one.

Renegade LA (Los Angeles, November 18-19)

The Deeds: free entrance, 275+ vendors

Application and Booth Fee: $700

Tent, sides, and weights: $500

Gross Sales: $2,259.90 | 41 sales on Nov 18 and 52 sales on Nov 19

What’s selling

Pins: 62

Keychains: 22

Handpainted Ornaments: 11

Agate Ornaments: 1

Art Prints: 22

Wax Stickers: 5

Greeting Cards: 2 Box | 4 Single

I’m most anxious about Renegade since it’s the biggest market with the most investment and promises the most amount of attendance. I have to buy a 10’x10’ tent and weights because they charge $300 for a tent rental. I paid a little over $200 for their recommended tent (it has since gone up in price after Black Friday). A couple of weeks prior, someone mentioned it might rain so I have to buy the side walls for the tent and a whole lot more weights so each leg will have 40 lbs (160 lbs total). Oh, and I never set up a tent before!

The actual setup wasn’t too bad. Alex, my husband, has to help me with hauling everything and setting up the tents. We also have to coordinate this set-up time with picking up our kid from her Montessori. This means he has to pick her up as soon as we finish setting up the tent while I do all the merchandising. I’m always grateful for a day-prior setup time. Breakdown was a whole different story and we will have to arrange for a nanny next time.

This was my second Renegade market, and my 2019 market was a pretty good one. I had fewer SKUs then but I remembered how busy I was with all the custom ornaments. I had high expectations for this year! But it rained during market hours on Saturday and was crazy windy on Sunday. I have the most sales from Renegade this year and I did better than last year. But I’m expecting more and the crowd itself didn’t feel like 10,000+ event attendees as shown in their 2019 kit.

Verdict: Maybe? I’m not sure if the bad weather combined with the WGA/SAG strikes makes for a meh holiday market. It’s still a good marketing opportunity (I handed out lots of cards and ran out of cards on both days) and I’m selling the most amount of pins and art prints than in any other holiday markets. I will give their Spring market a try since I need to reuse my tent and most of my sales are not Christmas-related. But I won’t recommend Renegade as the first market to launch your vending journey.

MAUM Market (Los Angeles, November 25)

The Deeds: AAPI markets, 70+ vendors, free entrance for Small Business Saturday

Application, Booth, and Building Parking: $292

Gross sales: $623.48 | 38 sales (I’m also doing my 30% cyber week discount during this market)

What’s selling

Pins: 30

Keychains: 10

Handpainted Ornaments: 2

Agate Ornaments: 2

Art Prints: 5

Wax Stickers: 3

Greeting Cards: 1 Single

With MAUM, I have the tiniest market footprint ever! Only half of an 8’ table and I can use some extra small furniture in front of it. It also has the least amount of vending hours, much newer markets than the other I did this year, and less foot traffic than the rest.

The best part about a smaller setup is I can fit everything AND a wagon without doing expert Tetris with my car! It’s also a fairly easy setup, with building parking at ROW super close to the market and there’s no need to move the car or wait for the freight elevator. I can do set up, market, and break down all by myself.

Verdict: Yes, I would do this market again and would recommend anyone who just starting to give this market a try! With only 4’ of display, it’s not as overwhelming for less established vendors. Sales might seem low, but I have 30% off since this market happens to be on Small Business Saturday. Without the sales, my gross would be around $890. Honestly, that’s not bad with the easy setup and relatively affordable table fee. I’m able to reuse everything from previous markets for this one. They have regular markets every other week at the ROW location and I might do more dates for next year. Also, with lots of AAPI vendors and attendees, they love my flower pins!

Makers Arcade (San Diego, December 2-3)

The Deeds: free entrance, 130+ vendors, $7 general admission, and $50 for VIP

Application and Booth Fee: $415

Hotel and Food: $650

Gas: $90

Gross sales: $1,735.58 | 32 sales on Dec 2, 31 sales on Dec 3

What’s selling

Pins: 43

Keychains: 22

Handpainted Ornaments: 6

Agate Ornaments: 3

Art Prints: 10

Wax Stickers: 14

Greeting Cards: 4 Box | 6 Single

Footprint-wise, the size of Makers Arcade is 5’x9’. I use the same setup as Renegade but with less walking space and no tent. We do have to pack overnight bags for everyone and we still managed to fit the wagon!

The setup isn’t quite as breezy as the other 3, but not as complicated as some indoor markets where everyone has to load in with a freight elevator. Everyone can pull in at their designated time, with 30 minutes allocated time to take everything out, and you’ll have to move the car elsewhere before bringing everything in. It’s a two-person job. Loading out is the same but in reverse, with a crabby husband and toddler in tow. Not recommended. Toddler decided she would like a ride in a wagon during the breakdown, so I had to make way too many trips because more than half of the wagon's real estate was taken.

Verdict: Honestly, I’m doing this market solely to take our toddler to the San Diego Zoo. I’m just glad to make a small profit after booth fees and travel expenses. I probably won’t do this one every year because of the travel expense. But I would recommend this to any San Diegan vendors! Also, they have an awesome photographer to document the event and gave all the vendors gallery access. That means I don’t have to worry about what image to use for my blog post.

So, how did I do? I…… don’t think I’m the problem, especially when it comes to Etsy. Between November 8 to December 3rd, my revenue was $1,920.77 (46% down from last year), and 80 sales. I did more in one weekend of Renegade. I have this theory that the marketplace’s algorithm will only promote one or two items from your shop from each category and they don’t like to promote “stale” products to keep everything “fresh”. With in-person markets where everyone can see most of my products, I sold 60 of my California pins and 35 of my California keychains. In contrast, I only sold 64 of the pins and 30 keychains for the whole of 2023. I also noticed that my Forget Me Not Handpainted Ornaments are selling much better on Etsy compared to all the other ornaments. During my markets, I sold about the same amount for each design. I’ve also had my grey vow books that went from being my best-sellers to selling less than 10 units this year.

Another big surprise is how little I sold my personalized calligraphy ornaments this year. It used to be my money maker for these markets. I’m happy because it gave me the confidence that I have enough ready-to-purchase merchandise for everyone to browse and buy. Perhaps it’s the $25 price tag that’s too steep for everyone in this economy. I might have to lower them to $15 for the 2024 markets to move all the extra slices I wasn’t able to sell from the 2023 market.

With that in mind, I can confidently say that people do like and want my stuff once they see it. My products and pricing sold pretty well with the general audience. I also have decent enough SKUs to bring people into my booth and immerse them in all the pretty little things. I mean, who doesn’t love flowers? I do need the events to bring a great number of attendees, so I’m trying night markets for 2024! I booked 2 dates at 626 Arcadia Night Markets, so here goes nothing. Like I said, I need to reuse this tent I’ve spent so much money on! If I’m doing well with the non-holiday markets, I plan to add more dates. Crossing my fingers this new plan works out because I really, really, don’t want to look for a 9-5 job.

2023 Holiday Markets Recaps