Since I was the one to suggest a banner, I felt obligated to volunteer to check on banner pricing. Unfortunately, a one-day turnaround was not going to work in our favor, unless we wanted to pay through the nose. ...which we didn't want to do since we didn't even know for sure if the city would allow our banner to stay hanging. (Our city ordinances only allow you to post signs on the day of the sale in specific, designated places. However, the fence is private property so we were hoping it would be ok.)
I called the local fabric store and asked if they had vinyl to make a banner...they did and it was only $2.99 a yard. Great! But, after I went to the store, I realized they neglected to tell me it was clear vinyl! Oops. So, I went to the local party store and thought about buying one of those "make your own" banners, but all they had were birthday ones with balloons. Feeling defeated, I came home and searched through my craft closet. That's when I found the perfect item to make a waterproof banner! Shelf liner paper! You know, the kind that's a little bit rubbery? See, told you it was clever! It's the perfect width to unroll and make a banner! I simply bought a roll of white shelf liner and some black vinyl letter stickers (available in the poster section at a craft store) and ta-da! (You probably also could use a permanent marker if you wanted to forego the stickers.) It didn't look as nice as a professionally printed one, but it was quick, inexpensive (only about $7 ), and waterproof.
Well, the banner must have worked to draw in the traffic because I had people swamping my driveway at 7:30! (The sale didn't even start until 8am!). We opened up our garage at 7:30 and people started walking in our garage trying to buy things (even things that weren't for sale - crazy) while my husband and I were trying to carry out all of the tables onto the driveway. We borrowed two Lifetime 8' folding tables and two Lifetime 6' folding tables from my husband's squadron. Thank goodness I had set everything up on the tables the night before in our garage because it made it so quick and easy for us to simply carry the loaded tables out in the morning. I also used my Lifetime Personal Table and Lifetime Chair as my "checkout" table where people paid for their items.
We were rained on twice during the day. So, we quickly carried the Lifetime tables back into the garage...and then back out...and then in...and then out. Ugh. Thank goodness the Lifetime tables were lightweight and so sturdy because it made that inconvenient chore a lot easier.
Anyway, despite the rain, the sale was still a success...thanks in part to my creative waterproof banner! So, that's my garage sale tip for this year. If you want some more ideas on how to make your garage sale a success, read my post from last year's garage sale, or check out Lifetime's website for more garage sale tips!
