News From The Christmas Fayre
And so the countdown begins, twenty days until the big day and, are you ready?
At the weekend, thanks to one of my lovely newsletter subscribers, I took part in a school Christmas Fayre. I lugged all of my boxes of stock out of my understairs cupboard and carted them to a local boys’ grammar school. I wasn’t sure what to expect and whether the effort would be worth it, but as with all these things, there was really only one way to find out.
Here is my stall, I had as much stock under the table as I did on top of it!
It was difficult to know how to display it all so that all the books got a good showing, but I did what I could and it was a pretty successful day. I sold around twenty books and after the cost of the pitch (£40) I’d say I made about £140. Most importantly though, I was able to throw away two cardboard boxes that had been home to those books, so I was very pleased indeed. I wish I could do some more Christmas Fayres in the next couple of weeks, so if you hear of any let me know.
Also, while I was there, another of my lovely readers ordered on Twitter (of all places) this lovely historical fiction hamper to be posted to a friend for Christmas. I’ve always thought that my hampers are only available for Tunbridge Wells residents so I could drop them off, but of course I can post them anywhere.
Anyway, this one is winging its way up the country this week though I’ve yet to tie all the books with pretty ribbon and write a Christmas card to go with it for my customer…
Here’s another hamper I had on display at the fayre, this is the motherhood hamper put together by Marianne Levy, you can find out more about the hamper here and watch my interview with her talking about why she picked these books, and her own work. I think this hamper looks amazing, I would absolutely love to find this under my Christmas tree.
And these curated hampers reminded me of a post that I wrote about a year ago on the icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflód, which is giving books on Christmas Eve so everyone can sit around in their new Christmas pyjamas reading and drinking mulled wine/hot chocolate.
Doesn’t that sound heavenly? Though for me, as my dog and two cats can’t read, and I’d be hard-pushed to get my own child to pick up a book (I know, I know, the irony, I think it’s her rebellion against me!) then it would just be me then taking part in this household. However, the more I think about it, the more that idea appeals…
Take a look at last year’s post on jólabókaflód, and let me know if you would like me to put together a book hamper for you!
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