Everything We Bring to a Pop-Up: Our Vendor Booth Checklist

We've been setting up at markets for about five years now. Festivals, town greens, sidewalks, and a couple of (really hot) parking lots. We've learned a lot in that time, most of it by trial and error, and we have a bin or two in the basement full of displays we no longer use to prove it. At this point we're a well oiled machine. The best way we can describe it is like being a band on tour: everything has a place and a purpose, and we know how to get set up and torn down quickly. It's a big part of why we work so well together as a team. It took a little arguing to get here (just a little, we swear!) but we got here.

People ask what we bring, so this is the list. All of it: the things that hold up the tent, the things that hold up the books, and the odds and ends that seem unnecessary right up until the moment they aren't.

One thing to know about how we pack. We bring a little more than we need on purpose. Not a lot more, just enough that if the vendor next to us is short a zip tie, a roll of tape, a bandage, or a phone charger, we've got one. Market days are long and everyone is running on coffee. Being the booth that can lend a hand costs us almost nothing, and honestly it's how we've met some of our favorite people at events. This is hard work, and nobody is getting rich off a Saturday in a parking lot. We all have to support each other in this community, because most days that support is the best part of it. If that's the only thing you take from this post, that's fine with us.

A quick note before the list: most of the links below are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. Everything here is something we own and actually pack. If we stopped using it, it's not on the list. Last updated September 2026.

Display Essentials

This is the part we fuss over most. Blind date books don't have covers to do the selling, so the display has to do it instead. Everything here folds flat or breaks down, because all of it has to fit in the car next to the books.

• Tiered Board Rack: Gets books up off the table and facing out. A flat row of books gets skipped. A tiered one gets picked up.
• Revolving Card Stand: Made for greeting cards, and we use it for the smaller things (cards, stickers, bookmarks). It spins, people spin it, and that's most of the point.
• Grid Walls: We don't bring these to every event, but when you need vertical space nothing else does the job. We've gotten creative with them. Our favorite setup is hanging them as a backdrop behind us in the tent, which gives us a wall to mount the sign on, clip shelves to, and hang things from.
• Folding Peg Board and Pegs: Same idea as the grid wall with a smaller footprint. Folds flat, weighs almost nothing, and the pegs are the part you'll lose, so buy extra. It also doubles as a screen for things you'd rather customers didn't see. Ours hides the rolling organizer.
• Folding Metal Shelving: We invested in a few of these sets after a lot of comparing, because they seemed like the best balance of size, display space, and weight. One tip: make sure they're level on the ground, especially on grass, or they won't stay sturdy.
• Wire Book Display: Big and bulky, and worth the space in the car. Nothing else we've tried puts as many books in front of people at once.
• Business Card Holder: We keep two. One by the register, and one closer to the entrance so someone can grab a card without having to talk to us if they'd rather not. Some people want to browse in peace, and we'd still like them to find us later.

Tent Essentials

The boring part, and the part that matters most. If the tent isn't right, nothing on top of the tables matters.

• Pop-Up Tent: Yes, the E-Z UP costs more than the others. It also comes with all four walls in the box, no separate purchase, and they zip together to make the whole thing surprisingly waterproof. Tent walls on their own get expensive, so that's a bigger deal than it sounds. We started with a cheaper tent, and it was fine right up until the wind destroyed it. We don't recommend learning that one the hard way.
• Tables (6 ft and 4 ft): We use a mix of 6 foot and 4 foot tables depending on the event. Usually it's two 6 footers and one 4 footer. The best part of the 4 foot tables is that the height adjusts. Sometimes we set one low so the display sits closer to eye level, and sometimes we raise it so there's more storage underneath.
• Table Covers: Floor length, always, so the bins under the table disappear. We have a bunch of the stretch kind. They look clean, they wash easily, and we still can't tell which size is which until one is on the table. We like having a few with one open side, which turns the underside of the table into easy behind the scenes storage.
• Rug: A small thing that does a lot. A rug makes the booth feel like a room instead of a patch of pavement, and people step into a room more readily than they step up to a table. It adds a level of polish, and it makes customers feel welcome.
• Weights: Speaking of wind! Weights are not optional, and most events will check. We use weights on every leg, and on grass we add stakes on top of the weights. We don't mess around when it comes to wind, and after losing a tent to it, we'd rather overdo it every single time.
• Hammer and a Small Tool Bag: The hammer lives in the tent bag, which has more storage than it looks like it should, so it's always there for the stakes. Next to it is a little bag with a screwdriver, a box cutter, and zip ties for fixing whatever comes loose. It's a small thing, and it's the thing the tent two spots down needs most often.
• Lighting: We put a lot of value on lighting, especially at indoor events. It draws people to the tent and it makes the products look like they're worth walking over for. The Govee lights are durable, they run off the battery pack further down this list, and you can set patterns or match the colors to your branding.
• Rolling Organizer: Systems like this are pricey, but they're bulletproof. They take any abuse you throw at them and they're water resistant, which matters more than you'd think at an outdoor event. There are plenty of options out there. We went with the RIDGID system because the colors are a little quieter than Milwaukee's and it's slightly cheaper. The larger chest with the slide-out drawers is the piece we'd buy again first. It makes it easy to find everything we brought, which ended the "where's the tape" era for us.

Branding and Signage

Most of this is custom, so there's nothing to link, but it's the part people comment on most and we'd feel wrong leaving it out.

• Custom Fabric Table Cover: A printed cover with our name on it. People see it from across the aisle, and it's the first thing that says we're a real shop and not a card table.
• Custom Vinyl Sign: Hangs on the grid wall, up high, where it can be read over a crowd.
• Electric Photo Display: A digital frame that cycles through photos of the books, the wrapping, and the shop. It does the explaining when we're busy with someone else.
• Branding: The same colors, the same name, the same feel across the cover, the sign, the labels, and the bags. If someone loves what they bought, they should be able to find us again without trying very hard.

Payment

• Square Reader and Stand: We've since moved over to Shopify's platform, but we still love Square and it's what we recommend to other vendors. There are other options. This one just works. Customers see it and trust it, and because it's everywhere, nobody even has to ask whether you take cards. We started with just our phones and the standalone reader, which works fine. We eventually upgraded to the full iPad stand because it made checkout a little faster, and because a stand on the table is a more obvious signal to customers that this is where you pay.
• Cash Box: Yes, people still pay cash. A cash box keeps you organized and keeps you from stuffing bills in and out of your pockets in front of a customer. Bring more small bills than you think you need.

Packaging

For us the wrapping is the product, so this part is not an afterthought. Our inventory changes from event to event, and sometimes the person buying is traveling and needs their purchase to survive a suitcase. We pack a variety so there's always an option.

• Bags: We probably bring too many sizes, but we like giving people the right size bag for what they bought. We usually buy whatever the best deal is at the time and put a branded sticker on it. Nobody has ever noticed the bag. Everyone notices the sticker.
• Bubble Wrap: For anything fragile, and for anyone who mentions the word "flight."
• Tape Dispenser: This one is no joke! It's heavy duty, it holds two kinds of tape, and it will outlive us. It also makes a great paperweight when the wind picks up. We wrap at the booth, so this gets used more than anything else on the table.
• Tissue Paper: Because a bag with tissue in it is a gift and a bag without it is a bag.

Electric Power

Never trust the words "power available" on an event application until you can see the outlet.

• USB Battery Pack: You can't have enough batteries to get through a long day. The MagSafe ones are nice because you just slap one on the back of your phone and keep going. This is also the thing we lend out most. A vendor with a dead phone is a vendor who can't take payments.
• EcoFlow Battery Pack: The big one. There are a ton of options out there, and we still think this one is the best balance of capacity, size, features, and price. It has always been more than enough for us (lights, the photo display, a fan in July) and we never think about running out.
• Tool Battery Packs: If you already own cordless tools, the batteries you have will run lights or charge a phone with the right adapter. We bring what we've already got.
• Extension Cords: Even when there is power, the outlet is thirty feet away and behind someone else's tent. Get the ones with built-in USB ports. You never know where you'll want power.

Worthwhile Extras

None of these are required. All of them have earned their spot.

• Battery Fan: A must on hot days! Not something you want to realize you forgot at noon in August. This one is magnetic, so it sticks right to a tent leg. We also swear by Ryobi's clip-on fans. If you know, you know.
• Mobile Hotspot: Events say they have Wi-Fi. It doesn't always reach your spot, and it isn't always reliable when it does. We started with a cheap hotspot from T-Mobile just as a backup. These days we use an iPad with cellular and it covers everything we need.
• iPad and iPad Stand: This is our Shopify checkout now, plus the catalogue, the connection, and the Matchmaker for anyone who wants a hand narrowing down the shelf. The stand keeps it upright and facing the customer instead of lying flat where nobody can see it.
• Folding Cart: A must for moving heavy boxes of books. You'll see a lot of vendors with collapsible wagons, and those are fine too, but we prefer this style of cart because it carries the plastic storage boxes we keep everything in without any fuss. Car to booth in two trips instead of eight.

This and That

This is the bin that saves the day, ours or somebody else's. It's small, it's cheap, and it's the one we'd tell any new vendor to pack first.

• Hanging Clips, Zip Ties, and String: For hanging anything on anything. Zip ties are the currency of a market. Bring a bag and give them away freely.
• Bungee Cords: Keep the cart loaded and the tent walls from flapping.
• Scissors and Tape: Two of each, because one will disappear before noon.
• Pens, Sharpies, and Price Labels: For the price you forgot to put on something, and for the sign you didn't know you'd need until you needed it ("back in 5 minutes," "cash only until the signal comes back"). Keep a few blank cards in the bin so you're never writing on the back of a receipt.
• Paper Towels: A must. Nobody wants to explain a food truck lunch to a customer.
• Water, Snacks, and a Cooler: Depending on the event. Long days, lines at the food trucks, and no one to cover the booth while you go find lunch. Feed yourselves.
• Trash Bags: Your booth generates trash all day and the event's cans are always full by two.
• Clorox Wipes: Tables get sticky. Kids exist.
• First Aid Kit: Paper cuts, blisters, and a splinter from a display that wasn't sanded. Most of the bandages we've handed out have gone to other vendors, and we'd rather have it and not need it.
• Vacuum/Blower: A recent addition, and now we're not sure how we went without it. Nobody wants dusty products, and nothing is worse than a layer of pollen over everything by 10am. A quick pass and the tables look like they were never outside.

How We Set Up (and Take Down)

Before anything comes out of the car, we decide where the tables and shelving are going. Mostly that means figuring out where to stand so the most people can see us, and it changes at every event depending on where the foot traffic is coming from.

The tent goes up first, but not all the way. We leave it low so we can hang the drapery on the support bars without reaching, then raise it once that's done. From there we split up. Jeff handles the behind the scenes work: wiring, the register, hanging signs, stakes and weights on every leg. Taylor is the merchandising queen and gets everything looking the way it's supposed to look. Neither of us is very good at the other one's job, which turns out to be the whole trick.

Take down is the same thing in reverse, with two rules. Be strategic, but don't pack up early. Event organizers notice, customers notice, and the last hour is often better than you expect. And get everything taken down and packed away before you go for the car. Load out is chaos with everyone doing the same thing at once, and the booth that's already in bins is the booth that gets home first.

If You're Just Starting Out

Don't buy all of this at once. We didn't. Our first setup was a cheaper tent, one table, and a tablecloth from the house, and the list grew one bad day at a time: the windy one, the dark one, the one where the card reader died at noon.

If you only buy four things, make it a good tent, at least one table, obvious signage, and a way for customers to pay. Even a simple setup can do well. Customers just want to feel invited in without feeling pressured, and they want to be able to see what you sell without working for it. Everything else can wait until you know what you actually need.

Two pieces of advice we'd give anyone. First, do a practice setup at home before your first event, so you can see how it all looks and find out what's missing while the store is still open. Second, don't forget about vertical space. A table is a table, but a grid wall or a shelf behind it is a whole second booth. Jeff also built a free craft fair booth planner for exactly this. You set your space (10x10 or whatever the event gave you), drag tables, shelves, and racks onto a measured grid, and pick a starting layout if you're not sure where to begin: front counter, U-shape, L-shape, or a walk-in. There's a 3D view so you can see the booth at eye level, you can drop in a few customers to check how people will move through it, and when you're happy you can save the plan as a link or an image. It works on your phone, so you can pull it up in the parking lot. We use it too.

And don't worry, we still forget things too. Five years in, with a list, with bins that have labels on them. If the event is close enough to the house, one of us is running back for whatever it was. It happens to everyone. It's why the odds and ends bin exists, and why the vendor next to you will probably have what you need.

And if you're a vendor and you see us at an event, come say hi. If you need a zip tie, we've got you.

Taylor & Jeff, Daydream Made