Christmas Market Stall Checklist: A Maker's Day, Hour by Hour

It's 5:40am. The car is packed, the kettle is on, and you've just remembered the price cards are still on the printer. Market day has started.

If you make things and sell them at Christmas markets, this one's for you. Think of it as a Christmas market stall checklist, told hour by hour, with the small jobs that make people stop, buy and find you again. The useful bits come first. The snacks come later, for your lunch break.

Want the short version? Readable prices, a QR sign that scans, a sign-up sheet, and a packed lunch. We made free printable tools for the first three. The lunch is on you.

The week before: the paperwork nobody posts about

Read your market's stallholder terms twice. Note your bump-in and bump-out times (setting up and packing down), your site number and where to park.

Check the insurance line. Most market organisers ask stallholders to hold public and product liability cover, and some want a copy before you set up. Ask your organiser which cover and what limit they need before you buy anything.

Many markets also expect you to bring your own table, payment gear and cash float. If the terms don't say, ask. It's a much nicer question on a Tuesday than at 6am.

The night before: print, pack, charge

Price cards. Shoppers decide from a step back. Some people won't ask the price, they'll just walk on. Our price card maker takes one item per line with the price at the end, and prints 8 cards to an A4 page. You can add a tiny QR to your shop on each one.

A QR sign. The QR sign maker prints one big A4 sign for the front of the table or the till. Point it at your shop, Etsy, Instagram or a link in bio. Then scan it on two different phones before you leave the house.

A sign-up sheet. Not everyone buys on the day. A clipboard is how a browser becomes a customer in March. The sign-up sheet has your shop name, what people get, and a tick box so they say yes to your emails.

The packing list. The packing list maker builds a tick list for your kind of stall: outdoors, at night or taking card payments. Add your own bits. Charge the card reader and your phone, and pack a power bank.

All of these tools are free, need no sign-up, and nothing you type leaves your browser.

6:00am: load the car in reverse

What you need first goes in last. Table and cloth on top, then display bits, then stock, then the boxes of spares.

Your cash float wants a home that isn't a loose envelope. A zip pouch that's easy to spot works. Ours is shaped like a burrito, because that's how Scribble Snacks started.

The Original Burrito Pencil Case, about 22 x 22 cm in canvas, $12.95 AUD. For coins, the Nest Egg Avocado Coin Purse is a squishy silicone avocado with a zip, about 11 x 6.5 cm ($25.95 AUD, or a pair for $29.95 AUD).

7:30am: set up for the person three steps away

Stand in front of your table and walk backwards three steps. Can you read the prices? Can you tell what you sell? If not, lift things up. Crates, a shelf or a stack of books under the cloth give you height.

Put the QR sign where a phone can reach it without leaning over your stock. Put the clipboard at the front corner, with a pen that won't walk off.

A pen nobody pockets is a pen that looks like a chocolate bar. Stand it in a pen pot that looks like bubble tea, so it's the first thing people see.

The Boba Milk Tea Stand-Up Pen Pouch stands up as a pen pot and zips flat as a pouch, in 5 colours ($18.95 AUD). The Chocolate Bar Ballpoint Pen has a 0.5 mm tip, in pink, beige or brown ($11.95 AUD).

9:00am: gates open

Say hello, then give people room to browse.

When someone picks a thing up, tell them one fact about it: what it's made of, or how you made it. That's usually enough to start a chat.

Every time someone says "I'll come back later", point at the QR sign. "Later" is real. It's just often online.

11:00am: the quiet patch

If a lull comes, use it. Restock the front row, straighten the price cards and jot down what's selling.

A notepad beats your phone here. It doesn't go to sleep, and you can scribble "need more green ones" without unlocking anything.

The Chocolate Biscuit Scented Memo Pads hold 80 sheets and smell like chocolate biscuits ($13.95 AUD). Very good for tallies. Not for eating.

12:30pm: actually eat lunch

It's very easy to skip lunch on a stall and buy a sad pastry at 3pm. Pack something real the night before, and a big drink bottle.

Outdoors in an Aussie summer, follow the Cancer Council's five steps: slip, slop, slap, seek and slide. Shirt, sunscreen, hat, shade and sunnies. Market sun counts.

The Fruit Print Stainless Steel Bento Box has a two-part steel tray under a clip-down lid, in peach, watermelon or grape ($28.95 AUD). More on our lunch box shelf.

3:00pm: the last-hour rush

Someone with a Christmas list wants to find a gift fast. Move your best gift-sized pieces to the front, priced clearly.

Keep the clipboard visible right to the end. The last hour is when people finally have a minute to sign up.

4:30pm: pack down and count

Pack in the order you'll unpack at home. Count the float, photograph your notes, and take a picture of the sign-up sheet in case it gets rained on.

Then, within a week, email the people who signed up. Say thanks, show them where your shop lives online, and keep it short. That one email is how a market browser becomes a regular.

For the maker in your life

Buying for a friend who does markets? Things that live on the stall make great small gifts. Everything in this post sits on our Pick Any 3 shelf, where any 3 items are 15% off until Fri 20 Nov.

For carrying the essentials on the day, the Big Cheese Canvas Bag is a canvas cheese wedge with plush legs and a tiny cow charm, as a crossbody ($35.95 AUD) or a tote ($36.95 AUD).

Browse more pencil cases, sticky notes and snack-shaped bags, or the whole Pick Any 3 shelf. Ordering for a market day? Allow 7-14 business days, order to door.

Want more stall reading? Here's how to pack the perfect pencil case, and five small makers we love. Selling online too? Our maker shop checklist covers the market day box from the shop side.

Poppy x
Store Manager, Scribble Snacks