Seasons Best Craft and Gift Fair

So last weekend I got a brief, unplanned chance to stop by the Season's Best Craft & Gift Fair, which is probably one of the biggest craft fairs here in Hawai`i; it was actually my first experience visiting a craft fair of this size (I can imagine how big they must get on the mainland)! Boy, was it ever busy... it was totally packed with people, which must have made the vendors really happy. It was really very nice; there were so many cool handmade items, the crafters were very friendly. I came away some really cute handmade items, and I was able to learn so much, which will come in handy in case I ever want to show at a craft fair (at a point in time way, way, way in the future!)

One of the only drawbacks I saw was that many vendors had the same or simmilar items: there were a lot of T-shirts, Asian and Hawaiian print fabric household goods (like baby blankets, bags, napkins, tablecloths)... in many ways I expected it to be a little more hip and young... don't get me wrong it was still awesome, and there were many vendors selling unique and beautiful things. I guess it was just particularly noticeable to me because I was specifically looking for kawaii items like you see on etsy, like fimo charms, kawaii japanese import fabrics made into items, and amigurumi. I was especially shocked to find that there was not a single vendor dedicated to selling amigurumi, not even sewn plushies! I guess that means if I did participate in the craft fair, I wouldn't have that much competition, but still, I was more than a little surprised to say the least.

Anyway, here are some of my favorites vendors, which especially stood out to me because of their displays, and their nice products (which I found very appealing!). Here we go:

Wire and flower bead rings from Angie's Beads... such a sweet vendor; she was so polite and her jewelry was very affordable and soooo beautiful!

Mini Ecosystem with ‘Opae ‘Ula: each handmade environment is a self-sustaining mini aquarium that houses a number of ‘opae ‘ula, which are tiny red shrimp that are found in Hawaiian brackish tidepools and ponds. So unique to our islands, and vendor Zen Creations was so helpful!




Nice displays, clockwise from Top left- Ceramic mushrooms from Li-Nan Ceramic Garden Art, Angie's Bead's display, Mesh and wire flower hair picks from Tropical Silk, Berry-Sweet Bath & Body.

Here are the lovely things I bought, all within my budget of a crisp $20 bill : A ring from Angie's Beads ($5), a ceramic mushroom from Li-Nan Ceramic Garden Art ($4), lip sugar scrubs and mango butter lip balm from Berry Sweet Bath & Body (4 for $10)

The beauty products are especially nice; they came in wicked cool island flavors like lychee, green tea smoothie, brown sugar, kudzu and ginger, and even wasabi! Let me just say, the lip sugar scrub is TO DIE FOR... I love it so much! I believe Berry Sweet Bath & Body has made me into a follower; their next show is this Saturday, Dec 6 at Waialae Elementary in Kaimuki. Yay!