Stallholder essentials

July market shoppers are in for a real treat. Our retailer list is close to being fully locked in and it's looking like the stalls on the day will be a diverse range of fresh, beautiful, some well-known and some new and upcoming businesses. We thought some tips on how to get the most out of your Sugar & Spice experience could be handy for those retailing. So here's Katie from 5 Star, Baby! with some essential market day advice. As a regular retailer on the market scene, and with many, many market days under her belt, Katie's advice may be just what you need. Enjoy! Thanks so much Katie :)

Sherryn & Jackie
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Wow!! What an honour to be asked by Sherryn and Jackie to do a guest post on their blog with some handy tidbits for stall holders.

• First things first…DISPLAY! I can not emphasize this enough. This is your chance to draw someone towards your stall, or have them walk right past.

• Think carefully about your display. Always practice your set up at home. Take photos to get perspective on how it’s going to look and make sure you fit into your allocated space.

• Most of the items I take to a market are purely for display. Think outside the square and make it different, creative and super appealing. Use different heights to create multiple levels of interest.

• Make sure you have good signage so everyone can see your brand.

• Your stall needs to be well stocked so there are no empty spaces, but not so cramped that it’s overwhelming.

• Be friendly. A smile is free and will entice customers over to browse.

• Try to stand behind your stall rather than sit, I know it can be exhausting, but trust me, this small difference will invite customers over to browse.

• Write yourself a checklist of must haves. Some things I try to remember on the day are paper bags, (which I have on occasion forgotten!!) people like to have a bag to protect their precious purchase.

• Your float. Make sure you have a few of each note and as many gold coins as possible. I find many people come to the market via the ATM and only have larger notes. So be prepared!!

• Some plastic drop sheets or something similar to cover your stock on the trip in and out of the hall in case it rains.

• One last thing to remember is your coat! Woodend is freezing in winter. The hall gets nice and cosy, but trust me, until you thaw out, you will need to be rugged up nice and proper!!!

• Most of all, have fun. Relax and enjoy the day!

Katie
5 star, baby!

Giveaway Madness!

While our Scienceworks Giveaway doesn't close until April 1, we have had so many great entries that we had to source some more wonderful prizes!

Thankfully, our friends at The Baby & Toddler Show have generously given us some double passes to this weekend's awesome Baby & Toddler Show in Melbourne! So do you have wonderful things planned for your weekend? If you sent in a photo entry for our latest giveaway, there may be some free passes in your inbox very soon to solve any weekend boredom worries! There's also the possibility that some lucky (randomly chosen) facebook fans might receive a double pass tomorrow too! So if you haven't already, go 'like' our facebook page!

The Baby & Toddler Show is Melbourne's premier baby and parenting event and an invaluable resource for expectant and first-time mums. This year, the show will feature daily seminars by parenting expert Pinky McKay and parenting psychologist Angharad Candlin at the Bio-Oil Main Stage; informative, hands-on sessions with leading maternal and baby nurses and experts at the Advice Hub; and over 200 exciting exhibitors showcasing and selling their new and innovative baby and toddler products.

The interactive and fun Fisher-Price playground, roving entertainment and meet-and-greet sessions with New MacDonald's Farm and Bananas in Pyjamas will keep little ones entertained, while peaceful and relaxing areas such as the Woolworths Change Room and show Feeding Room have been set aside for parents.

The Baby & Toddler Show will run from 30 March to 1 April (9.30am - 4.30pm) at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre.  We hope you were lucky enough to win a double pass from our recent giveaway, but if not, tickets are on sale now and can be purchased from The Baby & Toddler Show's website at www.babyandtoddlershow.com.au/melbourne.

Hope your weekend is fabulous!

Sharing the Love

It’s giveaway time :)

Our friends at Scienceworks have so very generously donated us two family passes to their super awesome, family-friendly, always fun, science and technology centre.

Located just out of Melbourne, Scienceworks is the experience that makes science fun. Here’s a little insight into how your trip to Scienceworks may pan out…

Once entering the doors of this western-based gem, you will be welcomed by sights, sounds, buttons, pulleys… a learners wonderland.  Your little people may run around like crazy possessed professors at first, swept away by the hands-on frenzy available to them! Once they overcome this and relax into the facts and figures in front of them, you can spend hours enjoying each interactive exhibition and learning more about the world around you. Lucky for you, the pass also includes FREE entry to a Planetarium show. Here you will lay back, recline in your comfy seat and immerse yourself in the stars above. You will learn things that will blow your mind and give you some perspective on just how big the Universe truly is. Other places to explore include the hair-raising Lightning Room, the history filled Pumping Station and the playgrounds, surrounding. No doubt you will leave exhausted, but with happy little minds and bodies in tow.

HOW TO WIN:

And now by sharing your love with us, we will share our love with you ….. by presenting two of you with these brilliant freebie tickets!

What we want to see from you is pictures of well loved goodies that you bought from a Sugar & Spice Children’s Market. Things like a well-loved dolly, a stained and much worn dress, an always cuddled blanket, a well-used bib, anything that you have purchased from one of our markets and found itself into a much loved home.

Miss Sugar with her Miss Ruby May dolly, who has had (real) lipstick smothered on her face one too many times :)

Please email us your pictures along with a little caption and we will share them on facebook for you all to see. Two entries will be chosen by random generator and awarded a FREE family pass to Scienceworks (Two adults, Three Children, including Planetarium entry, valid until 31 Dec 2012) You can enter as many times as you like, each picture will give you one entry into the draw.

We can’t wait to see your entries – send them through!

sugarandspicemarket@gmail.com

By entering this competition you are allowing us permission to post your picture and caption to our Sugar & Spice facebook page. Winners will be drawn Sunday 1 April 2012. Australian residents can enter only.

Drum roll please....

It is with great Sugar & Spice pleasure that we release the dates of our 2012 exclusive, boutique markets, to be held at St Ambrose Hall, Woodend.....

Sunday 22 July 2012, 9am to 1pm

&

Sunday 18 November 2012, 9am - 1pm

We are NOW taking applications for stallholders interested in the July market. Retailer applications for this market will close on the 31st March, with the successful stallholders to be announced in the first week of April. November bookings will open at a later date.

If you are interested in being a part of our July market please visit our blog and fill out our online retailer form:

http://sugarandspicechildrensmarket.blogspot.com.au/p/retail.html

With just two markets for the year, our focus will be on promoting each event and your businesses as much as possible. We aim for a diverse mix of products and retailers at each market, to ensure a wonderful shopping experience for our visitors. 

Pencil us in your diaries please, it's going to be a lot of fun :)
YAY!

Under the Sun

Why hello 2012... you crept up on us didn't you?! 
and can it really be true that it is nearly March? eeek!

We have enjoyed such a truly magical and sublime summer that it has been hard to draw ourselves away; growing and changing little people, long days on the beach, picnics, camping holidays, poolside parties, we didn't want it to end. But after our little extended break we're back and storming towards an exciting 2012, that will see some changes to the Sugar & Spice brand.... keep reading :)

This summer has bought home to us just truly how fast children grow! Can you blame us for not wanting to spend every mili-second of this Summer focusing on them and soaking in their little person beauty. The Sugar & Spice babies are growing before our eyes, and this Summer alone, more than we ever thought they could in just a couple of months...

Miss Sweet (Jackie's beauty) 

The girl with the personality as big as the sky turned 4 on Christmas Eve. She has been swimming with her cousins all summer and has finally gained the confidence to jump in, not just into the pool, but into anything the big kids can do! She is taking on new challenges, and leaping head first into kinder and showing an extraordinary amount of confidence that just blows me away. It's stressing me out that she seems to have gone from my cute baby to a big kinder girl in a matter of days! How did this happen?!

Baby Spice (Jackie's little man)

My littlest man, the dimpled cheek cutie, learnt to walk over the Summer. Not long after he was running, climbing, skateboarding (!) and even fielding in an Australia Day backyard cricket match! Where has my little 8 pound newborn gone!? (sob!) I have been behind the camera all summer trying not to miss a single moment, it just seems so fleeting!

Miss Sugar (Sherryn's baby girl)

My baby turned 3 during the summer break and continued to surprise us with her humour and imagination. She learnt how to throw award-winning tantrums, to wrap her Daddy even more around her little finger and to make us smile with her growing grasp of concepts and speech. She learnt how to draw people, complete with the longest legs you have ever seen! She had her first hair cut (oh those beautiful golden curls) and she spent day after day making 'rumballs' in the sand and jumping the shallows of sea.

Master Spice (Sherryn's big boy)

Oh big boy, how much you have changed and thrived since Christmas is mind boggling!? Farewelling your training wheels without ever looking back. Standing up and surfing your first waves and wanting to do it again and again. Starting your first day of Prep and loving it so much that you "want to go Saturdays and Sundays and the next 10,000 days". You are our carefree nudist, who loves any sporting/outdoor activity, yet is such a sponge and facts and figure man that you have integrated into the classroom with such ease. This was your Summer big boy!

Ah and in roll those beautiful, proud Mama tears... 

So back to the markets and bringing our Sugar & Spice handmade love to you. 2012 will see us focusing more on what is important to us and that is bringing you high quality, unique and divine stallholders, lots of publicity, awareness and profiling of our markets and retailers, busy days (we hope) and fun, family-friendly events. 

With this in mind Sugar & Spice will no longer be including Ballarat in our destination list (so sorry Ballarat friends). It has been a tricky decision but we will now keep our focus entirely on the Macedon Ranges and beautiful Woodend. We will hold two exclusive, high quality markets during 2012 (in July & November) with dates and details on how to apply to retail at them to be released very soon (very very soon). 

We appreciate your understanding and support with this new shift with Sugar & Spice and we look forward to working hard and bringing you two unique, handmade events for the year. See you soon!

Sherryn & Jackie x

Swamps, Singing and Smiles

Who takes the photos in your family? I am the designated photo taker here, always behind the camera and rarely in the photos. I have lost count of the number of family photos we have of my hubby and our kids, and I have had a tiny worry in the back of my mind that my children will look back on all of our photos in years to come and worry about where I was for their childhood!

But my worry was erased recently by the lovely Kim from Kim Selby Photography. I can't begin to tell you how happy I was to have a photoshoot with her... perhaps I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.

Kim had us in hysterics jumping on beds, smiling while standing in swamps and singing on the side of the road. She was unbelievably patient with our IMpatient four and one year old monkeys, and so completely understanding when the kids needed a break or a change of scene... three hours just flew by, and we were left with too many breathtaking photos to choose from.

To anybody looking for an amazing photographer that will capture your family in such a beautiful way; who can simultaneously distract a four year old from an impending tantrum while chasing a one year old that's escaping out the front door, all the while making parents feel totally calm amoungst the chaos AND have the biggest smile about being knee deep in a swamp, Kim Selby is your girl. Kim, we feel so lucky to have had this experience with you and loved it so much we think we should book in once a month for updated wonderful photos!

You can contact Kim and see more more of her amazing work at www.kimselbyphotography.com or on Facebook, and you can also have a chat to her at our market at St Ambrose Hall in Woodend tomorrow!

All Things Nice - Missy Minzy

Why wouldn't you want to buy handmade this Christmas when the products you're buying are put together with love and care and are unique and gorgeous??

We love handmade and one of our new retailers that you will have the pleasure of meeting this Sunday, is Irene from Missy Minzy. Irene hand illustrates, designs and produces Missy Minzy's stand out range. Pop by her stall on Sunday and sift through her whimsical designs yourself :) 

Are you more sugar or spice?

Definitely a bit of mix between the two!

What inspired you to start your own business?

It’s one of the dreams I wanted to achieve in life. The dream unfolded more clearly when I was made redundant from my graphic designing job during the recent global recession. My hubby was the one who encouraged me to put my illustration skills to good use. I then fell pregnant with our first child a few months after that. Most of my hand drawn illustrations were a reflection of every precious moment during the pregnancy. It was and still is a lovely moment looking at all of the illustrations drawn at that time.

How did you name your business?

Minzy is a short abbreviation of my little nick name in the cyberworld - Minnies, I really like the nickname so much that I was considering changing my name to Minzy in real life at one stage.

Irene - the creative force behind Missy Minzy

What is your favourite piece from your own range?

I am loving and enjoy applying my hand drawn illustration onto all possible media.

My current favourite piece is the newly launched product range – Removable Fabric Wall/Décor Stickers. It features some of my hand drawn illustrations. Each of them was hand cut by me individually. Handmade 100%!

Where else can we check you out? 

FB: https://www.facebook.com/MissyMinzy

Blog: http://missyminzy.blogspot.com/

Store:

http://missyminzy.bigcartel.com/

www.madeit.com.au/missyminzy

http://www.etsy.com/shop/missyminzy

We will be at Sugar & Spice Children's Market for the first time this Sunday in Woodend. Our last market for the year will be at the Camberwell Sunday Market on 11st December in Camberwell.

Thanks Irene!!

 

Jump, Jump, Jump!

We've got something fabulous to entertain your little ones at our market on Sunday! Our lovely friends at Jumping Mania will be bringing one of their super fun and super jumpy jumping castles to St Ambrose Hall in Woodend! Bouncing is FREE for the kiddies all market long.

Jumping Mania are the people to go to for Jumping Castle hire. They have 3 castles to choose from: Mickey Mouse, Dora the Explorer and Batman, and all of their castles are cleaned after each use, ensuring your kiddies have a safe and fun experience! 

Check them out on Facebook or call Cveta on 0410 907 908 or email jumpingmania@live.com.au for bookings or further info.

Hope to see you Sunday for some Christmas Fiesta  shopping and fun.
9am - 1pm St Ambrose Hall, Corner of Ambrose & Templeton Streets, Woodend.

Amazing Christmas Fiesta Raffle!

Check out the wonderful items you can win just by purchasing a ticket for our Christmas Fiesta raffle! Tickets can be purchased at our Woodend market next Sunday. Make sure you come and visit us on December 4 at St Ambrose Hall from 9am - 1pm... One lucky winner will win this entire prize package, full of beautiful products from our stallholders!

All proceeds donated to SIDS & Kids.   

 

 

1 more sleep until our last Ballarat market for 2011!

There's plenty of reasons to join us in Ballarat tomorrow...

It will be our biggest market to date, with over 30 stalls of wonderful and unique handmade products!

Our market will be in conjunction with the Baby & Children's Expo, Ballarat, so there's sure to be a wealth of information for parents, plenty of activities for kids, and so much to see and do!



You might like to go exploring with Dora, have a dance with Dorothy
or a laugh with Elmo.



You may also like to enter our fabulous giveaway from Bohemian Secret Photography
(check out the details here).



These gorgeous items are from our Ballarat retailers:
Skirt from Bridie-Jane,
Skirt & Mini-Monster from Silly Milly Moo,
and wall art from Piggywinkles

 Check out our retailers list and start writing your shopping lists, Christmas is only 43 sleeps away! Come find us at Alfred Deakin Place, enter via Camp Street, or Police Lane, or through the Mining Exchange on Lydiard Street.

 We hope to see you there!