I am taking part in a vendor and craft night this coming Friday. It is at the elementary school just up the street from my house. I emailed the woman to ask if she had any idea about how many people might attend. Last year she said they had several hundred come thru.

So now I am freaking out about how many samples to bring!!
I am making mini cakeballs and mini cupcakes (vanilla carmel, yellow and chocolate).
I am also planning on bringing regular sized cake balls already boxed to sell.

How many should I make?

Also, any other suggestions on how to be successful on this night would be great!

Thanks!
Cathy

Would it be too much to make a sheet cake just in case?

You can always hand out small slices of it if need be.

There is no way to gauge just how many people might buy the cake balls. What would you do with any that didn't sell?

I'd rather run out than have to throw alot out.

IMO.

If they are expecting to have as many as numbers as last year, then I would say as many as you can reasonably manage.

I would sell them in say packs of 4 or 6. Whatever you don't sell on the night, surely you can freeze?

I would take about 50pks, and possibly have a few back up boxes so if you run out you have a few extra..

It totally depends! Everyone will want a sample or three if you leave them out, which gives you a lot of work for little profit. I would suggest handing samples to those who seem interested, rather than those who just want a quick treat. Also, I believe I read that cakeballs freeze well, so you could make as many as you have time for, and keep leftovers for later if you have them.

I would suggest two kinds to sell, and make some of each into samples. You can also do this by cutting regular ones into quarters. If you have the supplies, box them. Keep it to one amount, say four or six per box, for an even dollar amount. If you can, price them at $5 or $10. You can also get the non zip sandwich baggies to package them in, and add a little ribbon and a biz card tied to the ribbon.

The main point is to make everything as easy as possible while at the sale. Nothing should be more than two choices, or they will hold up the line. Same for payment, keeping it at even bills will be much easier for change. If you do a large offering, have that on the back of your biz cards and on a sign at your table. Keep samples for real customers instead of the hundreds of kids. Oh, yeah - have fun, and don't stress! And the name "cake truffles" might sell better at the higher prices, especially with the holidays coming up.

my opinion....FWIW....if you are using this to promote yourself and your business I would just do the best you can to make as many as possible. It would be better to have too many than not enough. You want to reach all of those potential customers.

If you don't sell them all, just give them as gifts with your business card as a tag on the box to your dentist's office, doctor's office, vet, accountant, lawyer, real estate companies (a REALLY GOOD ONE), etc. These free samples with your card could really help to get your name out and you've already made the product...so no extra cost.

However, if this is just a money-making event, then you don't want to overbake. If there are 500 people coming, expect at least 10-20% to purchase your product.

GOOD LUCK!

There are many ways to think about this IMHO. I did a craft fair that didn't go as well as I would have liked but it was ok because I hadn't made more cake than I was comfortable giving away. Besides, the main objective is to get exposure not loose your shirt so the way I look at it I was happy to have the opportunity to have people sample my work. There is no way to guarantee traffic/sales so be careful not to do too much. I would focus on a dollar amount you are comfortable spending rather than a number of cakes because if you run out of cake that's great! but if you spend too much and end up taking home enough cake to feed an army that would really blow.

Thanks for all your responses!
I do freeze cake balls, so if I did have extra it would be fine.

I like the idea of giving any leftovers to some businesses to try and get orders.

Keep those ideas coming!

Send the leftovers my way. I'll be sure and give you my honest opinion about them.