
We have been buzzing to do another fair since the Barnes Fair that we attended in 2022 but to be honest, life has just been busy and efforts into finding the perfect fairs to attend have been minimal, however we couldn’t miss this years Barnes Fair, with over 500 stalls and approx 12,000 visitors, we made sure to be ready for you.
Following on from our feedback last time, we decided to keep it simple and only make mini kits and single dough pots for this fair, along with some play tools and a very new and very limited product, play tote bags and “tiny humans” zip up bags which will now be on our UK website very soon!
The fair was a huge hit, with many wonderful parents, grandparents and gifters popping in to learn more about our naturally made play dough and comment on the softness and delicious scent coming from the play table we had out front where little testers got to play.
The play table is ultimately the biggest hit, with the fair catering for families, the majority of the things to do are for older kids, and many of the stalls had products for babies or adults but there was definitely a gap in the toddler category and we were happy to fill it.
We unfortunately had one MAJOR hiccup out of our control but we sorted it within an hour and it was all systems go. Want to know what it was? Keep on reading to find out at the bottom of this post!


Our colourful dough pots were a huge hit, from parents of 1-4 year olds all the way up to pre-teens buying pots for themselves and their younger siblings. We even had workers at a neurological care facility interested in the stampers and play dough pots for their residents and a dad that was surprisingly (to himself) VERY into the play dough – we of course are not at all surprised as we love a little play ourselves, a great way to switch off, be mindful and relax.


Okay so if there’s something I have to absolutely rave about, it’s our play area. NOW this was my husbands fantastic idea and he is totally making sure I remember that, so now it’s here in writing, but it is such a huge hit.
Children are drawn to it and throughout the day I think we had over 100 little ones (and not-so-young-ones) sit and play.
It’s where parents got to see if their children had an interest in play dough, where parents got to test it for themselves. It’s where children got to have a place to sit and play, the only place like it in the whole fair. And where parents got to have a little break while their children were entertained.
Families spent a good 20 minutes at a time at the stall while their kids played with the play dough at the play table, and this gave them the time to really get to know us and our products.



Our mini kits were on sale too, and were bought by loads of families and grandparents for gifting, in fact the one mum was on her way to a birthday party that afternoon and was happy to have found the most perfect unique gift.
We created something new for the fair and that was our mini tote bags, which were surprisingly also a huge hit for gifting, but also really loved by all the little ones passing by that wanted a bag like mummy. As well as our zip pouches made from organic cotton with “the tiny human’s stuff” slogan. These will be on the UK website soon for purchase but we only have a limited amount available.
And as a little thank you to everyone who attended our stall, we had printed sheets from our play ideas pack as a favour. If you didn’t manage to get one of these, or you want more, you can buy the full downloadable Fun Play Cards pack here.
Now...for the hiccup
Now that I’ve raved about how fantastic the fair was, this seems like it wasn’t such a big deal anymore, but dare I tell you that I was honestly on the verge of tears and my heart had completely dropped.
An hour or so into the fair my card reader just wouldn’t connect (we were a card only stall) and eventually it stopped connecting at all. I lost all signal on my phone which the card reader was working off, and I had no way of contacting my husband who potentially had a solution for me.
Luckily we live locally and my poor husband was up and down all day, but I had to wait for him to come back before I could send him back home to fetch our external wifi router (which luckily we had) he eventually made his way back to the market only to go all the way back home and back again.
We later learned that the cell tower had gone down in the area and our network was affected, but the wifi router completely saved the day and gave us a good 6 more hours with the fastest connection and breezy sales. Packing this in every time from now on!
My husband was a total hero and even headed up the stall to give me a chance to do some market shopping myself. He has since confessed that he actually loved it! I think we will be taking shifts from now on. Do you think I could get him to do my online sales too?