Friday Fab Five 15 • Everyday Lifehacks from Barb

What a week. I turned 29…again, got real honest in an IG post about what life really looks like behind the walls of my 12 block grid, and came to some hard realities this week. Last week we talked ALL about Pop-Up shops, and you have asked for more, so this week on the Fab Five we will tackle some more Pop-Up shop things and Ill give you a sneak peek on some things I got for my birthday…hint…the number is now 20! Thank you to everyone who commented, participated and made my day so special. I love you all!

Lets get to it.

1. Flavors for Pop-Up shops

I got a overwhelming number of requests to give some flavor examples for pop up shops, so here are a few groupings of flavors we have offered in the past. They have all been show stoppers.

Cereal Theme: Fruit loop, Lucky charm, Fruity pebble, Trix and Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Tropical: Coconut, peach, passion fruit, pineapple, key lime and raspberry

Candy Bar Bonanza: Crunch bar, Kit Kat, Snickers, Butterfinger, Reeses and Milky Way

Wish I was at the Fair: Waffle cone, peach, cotton candy, pop rock, lemon, Neopolitan

I always pick themed packs and write the name in large font so they can easily identify what I have shown them on the packaging.

2. Set up help for Pop-ups

The second most asked question was what do you need to do a fun set up at a pop up? I will link a few of the must-haves that will really set your space apart. I always start with chicken wire baskets. You can pre-pack them and just set them on the table for easy handling. Find them HERE, HERE and HERE. These all hold different size of packs, which is also nice to have options for your customers. I stack them onto cake stands like THIS if I need more height to separate them.

Next, I use a wood shelf to show smaller products, such as cookies or crumble kits. I also use this shelf If I set up a porch pickup for the holidays (Hey locals! We will be doing these more this year) THIS one sets up and stays up. It’s stationary, but has amazing room to stack deliciousness. THIS one folds down for easy moving and storage, and has a bonus chalk board on top (and it’s on sale!).

I also take fillers, which I’ve talked about before. Buying is mental; if people see an empty table their mind tells them there is nothing to see even you have product left, so as I sell out I replace the empty space with galvanized tins full of silk hydrangeas. That way the table still looks cute and people still see a full table. Here are the tins and flowers I use. Sometimes I cut down the stems, or you can find different flowers, you can also hold Macs in them. WIN WIN WIN.

3. All The Things

My husband surprised me BIG time with not one, but 2 more Kitchen-Aid mixers. Trust me, I know… I am beyond lucky to have a guy like Mr. Sweet Mac. He truly encourages my love for creating in the baking world. Now to find a building so I can start teaching classes! He brought home this beautiful BEETROOT Kitchenaid (it’s the color of 2022). And if that wasn’t enough, he snagged me last years Color of the Year: HONEY. Total side note: The ones marked “color of the year” come with extra accessories! Yep! I now have the pie beater and the paddle scraper; the beetroot one also came with a smaller bowl, which is going to be fun to play around with. So hats off to Mr. Mac for taking my collection to the next level.

4. What I am Watching

This week I started more treadmill work to get my newly functioning hip back to the point where I can start running at the beginning of next year, (just a few more months) but this means lots of treadmill work. Incline and low speed, no incline, higher speed, working all my short twitch and long twitch muscles so I can have success when I get to hit the pavement again. (Yes, I am a total nerd about running, I love it!) So my sweet hubby bought me the TV series “Parks and Rec.” It’s one of my favorites. Literally I’ll treat myself to a binge watch of this any day of any week. Please tell me I am not the only Leslie Knope fan in the house? He bought the series for me HERE. Grab it! Lets relive the best series together. Ya heard….

5. What’s On the Blog

We are getting those OG crumble recipes all in one spot, have you noticed? This week we launched Cherry Crumble (it’s delish) and is absolutely amazing with just about every flavor of shell and filling. I love it with Pineapple and Blackberry. We also broke down the first guide top to Pop-ups in last weeks Friday Fab Five, seriously BOOKMARK this. It will be the perfect guide when you are ready to get started.

Last, don’t forget the Packaging Guide we put together last year–while some things may have changed in the shops, it’s still full of great ideas for your fall Pop-Ups. And the Halloween fun Tip Sheet is still available, if you are planning ahead for teachers’ gifts, etc. Fall baking is on its way!