Fundraising ideas and proven fundraisers FREE for nonprofits

Handmade Sale Items

Unique Gifts

Do not forget the power of selling

handmade goods anytime of the year.

Pay particular attention to selling items

in the fall starting a couple of weeks

before Thanksgiving right up to

Christmas for last minute shoppers.

Go to 1st-artsandcrafts.com to see many craft making ideas that other crafters have successfully created.

The Set Up

When you settle on a specific handmade gift to sell or a set of similar handmade gifts, then you will need to determine on how to sell your items.

The best way to sell your handmade items is at a booth or table set up in a shopping area or mall. Your booth must be in a high traffic area. It may even be at a grocery store, book store like BooksAMillion, or at a local fair if you can get a space reserved there.

If you have a ready made shop then make sure that you invite the general public to your store to see your handcraft goods. Ideal organizations with stores for this way of selling include Junior League shops, Salvation Army stores, Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Goodwill Industries storefronts and Christian shelter ministries stores. This will also attract some good publicity as people come to visit your base of operations.

Handmade Items

Hot Sauces -- with your label on it. Panola Pepper will put your private label on a sauce that they make.

Wreaths Grapevines, straw, or evergreen twigs (Juniper) make excellent natural sources of making your own. You of course can use yarns, bows, and ribbons to decorate it further. You may also contact wreath making companies like Christmas Forest,

Table Decorations -- Candle Centerpieces can be made with large candles and evergreens or plastic floral arrangements surrounding each. Don't forget placemats and cloth napkins.

Leather Goods -- Moccassins are great for Christmas gifts. See Tandy Leather for kits to make them. This is a great gift for dads or moms. Have the mocassin kits on hand, take measurements from each customer and sew the moccasins up while they shop (or make arrangements to deliver them later). Or have your youth club make easy to make coin purses, wallets or other leather crafts on site.

Christmas Tree Skirts -- Here are some easy to make Christmas time items. Bumblebeeee.com, WyomingMade, or Clay Creek has some fancy ones and typical pricing. Be sure to check i5ive.com to meet others interested in making tree skirts. See how it's done on HGTV.

Christmas stockings can be a fun way to make some profits. See some great looking stockings here.

Christmas Crafts galore Here are some sites that have some free resources. FreeKidsCrafts has items for Scouting groups, bible related groups, and more. Family Corner has a lot of interesting crafts that kids can make. Free Christmas Crafts & Gifts has a multitude of free stuff and links to Christmas crafts. Don't forget Wendy's World of Crafts and Woman's Day Magazine.

Homemade Lookalike Items For Resale

Don't have time to make your own. Buy items from other vendors and resell at your own price. Set up these at a booth or make up your own sales sheet and go door to door and take orders.

Towels4U.com has some great items.

Save-On-Crafts.com has a full range of crafts items completed or nearly completed.

These are just a couple of places to get items that you can create your own Christmas Craft Catalog that you can use to resell to parents, friends, and neighbors. Use your word processing software to create an appealing mini-catalog of several pages of products. Be sure to check on availability of the products before you put them down for your customers to buy.

Craft Books and Resources

Check the many great craft books (see right panel) available for unique ideas on making Christmas crafts.

Christmas Scroll Saw Patterns by Patrick Spielman

This book has many useful patterns for Christmas crafts. It was given a 5 star by people who rated this book. Check it out.

Christmas Stocking Book by Mary D'Alton

Has 50 designs to celebrate the season. Has many great pictures to choose from.

Gooseberry Patch Christmas Book 2

Great book for Christmas crafters.

Classis Crafts and Recipies For The Holidays

Christmas 101 Wondrous Ideas To Make by Better Homes and Gardens

Gift Of Christmas: Create Ornaments, Candles, Centerpieces & More (Arts & Crafts for Home Decorating Series)

by The Editors of Creative Publishing international

300 Christian and Inspirational Patterns for Scroll Saw Woodworking by Thomas L. Zieg

Received at 4 star rating by readers. Easy to make crafts using your scroll saw. Make a few of these and sell for ornaments, table decorations and more.