My “Bento Bar” at Renegade Craft Fair!

BentoSign

Last weekend, I vended at Renegade Craft Fair with my new “Bento Bar” set-up, where people could assemble their own cute, crocheted bento boxes! This was a grand experiment, since I’d never done this before ever, either online or in person, and I think people really loved it, once they figured it out :P.

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DisplayM3Display1The actual “salad bar” part of the display was pretty easy to put together. The base was foam core with some plastic bins hot-glued on top. The sneeze guard was kind of a whole journey. I thought I would make it out of PVC, because PVC seemed easy, but Manda felt that wood was the way to go, even though neither of us know anything about building anything. I think it turned pretty well! An important element for us was that the sneeze guard be easy to transport, so the top/guard part separates from the legs. It is sliiiiiiightly crooked, but, hey, it never fell over, and it survived!

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My super favorite part of the weekend was watching people put together their bento boxes, guys, gals, grown-ups, kids, everyone!

Here are a few of the boxes that people assembled:

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As luck would have it, our booth was right by an electrical outlet, so I was able to turn people’s food plushies into pins, magnets, or hair clips, right as they waited!

Display5Here’s me with a hot dog octopus pin! My number one favorite request from someone was a french fry pin. I really need to make one for myself.

OctoPinWe also had a table filled with non-bento stuff and my books, plus the giant donut…!

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I definitely plan to put the leftovers on Etsy. I just need some time to take pictures of everything and get them listed. I’m hoping maybe by Friday or the weekend? Eep, we’ll see!

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Here’s a lil vid I put up on Instagram:

 

A video posted by Twinkie Chan (@twinkiechan) on

 

30 Comments on “My “Bento Bar” at Renegade Craft Fair!”

  • Amby Cakes

    says:

    This is such a super awesome idea Twinkie Chan! I’ve been a big fan of yours for years and have really enjoyed seeing the progress you’ve made! I hope I can catch one of your pop ups in SF sometime. I’m in Sacramento so not too far.

    Best of luck! <3

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      Hi, Amby! Thanks so much for your support! You should really make the trek out to one of the shows. Lots of stuff to check out!

      • Your bento bar was such a playful, fun idea. I really enjoyed seeing your pics — made me smile! 🙂

        • TwinkieChan

          says:

          Aw thank you! I had so much fun with it!

  • Such a clever display! It looks like you did a fair bit of business – sure hope you did. Love your stuff!

    • It turned out awesome! I love the burgers. Great job!

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      It was pretty good :). No complaints!

  • Amy

    says:

    That is such a cute idea:) I wish I could have gone.

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      Thank you! Me, too! Maybe one day!

  • Laura

    says:

    WOW! so so adorable….just like you…love it all…and so much work…you are one creative gal!makes me happy!

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      Aw thank you so much!

  • Tanya

    says:

    Everything looks so cute the booth was set up so nice and I love how it looked like a salad bar type thing. The music and your video killed me that’s hilarious!
    Super adorable girl you are ✨✨

  • Gina

    says:

    Wonderfully clever and creative! Sounds like people had fun playing mix and match.
    Hope you get to an East Coast event someday!

    And your outfit is beautiful, too :>

    Gina
    Central NYS
    PS – I STILL get comments on the pumpkin pie slice I made from your Thanksgiving free pattern a couple years ago!

  • You are so creative!
    Such a fun and unique idea!!
    And I want a load of those giant donuts to lie on!

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      Thank you, Claire! TBH, I am kinda sick of having this giant donut around the house, collecting dog hair!

  • Christina B

    says:

    WoW, this was such an adorable idea. Your Renegade Craft Fair Set up is always the best and so creative. I love it, everyone loves most things interactive.

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      It was interesting to observe people feeling unsure of how to make their box cute, and Manda was very encouraging and telling them that everything was cute and there was no way they could do it wrong.

  • Lee

    says:

    The bento bar is a great idea! Fun too!!

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      Thank you! I think some people were confused by it, but most people seemed to like it!

  • Tammy

    says:

    SQUEE! Will you be releasing these patterns? Maybe a little bento booklet or something? I’m so obsessed with these….

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      Yes, that’s the plan! I have a few other deadlines tho first.

      • Samantha Riesterer

        says:

        OMG! A bento book would be awesome!

  • Tony Dean

    says:

    Do you mind sharing your outfit details? Need that dress!

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      Which dress?

  • Absolutely adorable! I love it when people go the extra mile to theme their booths and you are really the pinnacle of that!

    Those doggie ham sandwiches and bear hamburger buns are so cute!!!

  • Samantha Riesterer

    says:

    These are so cute! The build-a-bento looked like so much fun!

  • Becky

    says:

    Would it be wrong if I made a bento bar for my living room, because I want to stare at this all the time? So freaking cute!

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      I have the same thoughts!

  • Katelynn

    says:

    This is amazing! I’ve been making amigurami for awhile now, and this floors me with how creative it is! Do you mind me trying something similar in the future for a local craft fair? Love to see what you do in the future!

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      Hi, feel free to do whatever you like at your fair 🙂

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