Bookfair Blues

[cara delia]

Well, I am in the midst of my very first scholastic bookfair, I was wondering who of you have used other bookfairs.  I have heard bedfordfalls mentioned a couple of times, but scholastic makes things sooooo easy.  Do any of the other fairs offer the easy scan machine?  I'll tell you it's worth its weight in gold.  Also, how many of you have chosen to keep the scholastic dollars?  I totaly see the benefits of both, but what I really need isn't in the catalog (or online).  However if I cash out I won't have that much to play with that would matter.  Thanks for your input.  Also one more question to throw at yall, How many of you keep open checkout during BF?  I stopped it after 8:30, but I'm thinking the next fair I won't have it at all.  It has been a very very hectic 3 days!

[Deborah Fagnan]

Diane,

I love the idea of a table top display case. Each year I borrow artifacts from a local museum. I would love to have a display case for them. Was it exspensive? Where did you purchase?

This year, my principal decided to cancel my second bookfair due to economic concerns. My second fair does not sell as much as my fall fair. But the kids will miss the second fair.

[cara delia]

I am also hosting a gently used book fair around Christmas. I have already started collecting donations from the community. I will sell the books for 1.00-3.00 and it will be all profit (not charging taxes) I think this will be a great way for children (and teachers) to clean out their library and swap out for some great "new" books. A lot of times we have parents who's children have grown out of a certain genre and they are just sitting around, so I think this will be a success. Maybe you could try to do this instead of the Scholastic? You could call it a "Spring Cleaning" book fair. It wont be nearly as much profit, but then it is something?

[Diane Mentzer]

I had a mother purchase it at an auction. She was always attending auctions for different places and for different things. It was not very expensive. I also bought 2 smaller ones on ebay.

[cara delia]

Well, everything has been tallied up and the results are in. 4669.00 total sales, almost 2,000 in scholastic dollars, and took out 250.00 in cash.

[Deborah Fagnan]

Great job!!!!I still have two more days until my fair is over. :-)