Yesterday, we had a big multi-family blow out yard sale. Six different families gathered on one lawn to display our wares. It was unlike any other yard sale that I have ever done, and I learned a few things along the way.
Coordinating a Multi Family Sale
There are special considerations to deal with when you are trying to coordinate multiple families into your yard sale. There are a lot of positive benefits to having a multi family sale, especially if you live in a semi-rural area, such as we do. Larger sales will bring out the shoppers, and I found that it is a lot of fun to have all of your friends in it together.
When coordinating a multi family sale, you will need to negotiate a date when everyone can have the sale (and a back up date), as well as pick a location. You’ll want to do the sale where there is enough room for everyone to set up and a location that is close enough for everyone to travel with their stuff. If you can score a location that is close to a lot of foot or car traffic, that is even better.
Appointing a Leader
When you are hosting a yard sale on your own, you can make decisions about your yard sale on your own, but when you have multiple families to consider, you really need to have a leader who will rally everyone and help keep the game plan flowing.
For example, what will you do in the case of bad weather? As coordinator, I watched the weather carefully and then worked with everyone to have a plan in place in case the sale needed to be postponed as well as a way of notifying everyone. I also asked for volunteers and assigned people to certain yard sale tasks, such as putting up signs, placing an advertising ad, etc. This helped us all work together for the same goal without one person becoming too overwhelmed.
Also, with different personalities and different opinions, you want to appoint a leader who doesn’t mind negotiating or being an advocate.
Occupying the Kids
Because the sale was so large, it came with its own set of challenges, such as how to occupy the kids. Since multiple families were setting up away from home, there were the kids to consider. How would we keep them occupied and happy during the sale. We wanted to make sure they were having fun and were safe but not interrupting the sales.
A couple of things helped. There was a small blow up moonbounce type of structure one of the parents had set up. There was also a little lemonade and snack stand that the kids could work. Also, having so many kids together, they naturally had fun making their own games behind us on the lawn and playing together.
Enjoying it!
At the end of the day, it didn’t matter much about how much we sold because we had so much fellowship and fun among ourselves. There are plenty of new stories to tell, and there was “a lot of good energy” as many customers told us.
As we packed up, everyone rallied and wanted to pick a new date right there on the spot for the next sale, two weeks from yesterday.
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