I’ve been excited to share this post with you! I’ve had several emails asking about how our Fourth of July booth went last year (The Perfect Summer Project for Kids). It was SO fun! The kids worked so hard to get all of their stuff ready to sell. We made most things, other things we bought wholesale. At the end of it all, after paying for the booth, supplies, taxes, and tithing, all the kids got to keep a hundred bucks! They were in heaven. There were no rules for their money and they blew it in no time. This year they are vowing to spend their hard-earned money cautiously. We’ll see. Either way, I found it to be a great learning experience for them and they had a blast. It was cute to see how important they felt being a “cashier,” and their sales tactics were often hilarious. I really, really loved it.
Our hands-down best seller was the marshmallow guns. At first, sales were slow. But, once we started pelting people with marshmallows as they were walking by, we started to get some attention. The guns sold like hot cakes! In fact, when we sold out of them, there were people trying to buy them from people that bought them earlier, for double the price!
Here’s a pic, outside our booth, of some of our customers. 🙂
This year, instead of focusing on lots of different items to sell, we are going to bang out tons of marshmallow guns. We’re thinking of adding foam (swimming noodle) swords to our inventory, as well. I’ll share with you how to make those soon. 🙂
These marshmallow guns are a riot. They shoot mini marshmallows soooo far! Okay, so here’s what you need to make one: about 3 feet of 1/2″ schedule 40 PVC pipe, 2 threadless T’s, 2 threadless elbow joints, and 2 threadless caps (all to fit the 1/2″ pipe.) Oh, and you need something to cut the pipe. If you’re only making a few guns, a hand saw will work fine. If you’re making lots, I recommend a chop saw.
Using a pencil, mark the pipe for the following measurements: One 7″ piece, Two 5″ pieces, and Four 3″ pieces. Because I am cutting a billion pieces, I mark several pipes at once and line up laundry baskets to sort the different sizes in.
Chop, chop.
This is where the kids come in. I lay out a completed gun in front of them, to use as a model, and the start piecing together gun, after gun, after gun, after gun, after gun…. (Shane is taking a Popsicle break.)
After putting them together, it’s best to hit it on the different ends to really push the pieces together. We also sandpaper the mouthpiece and barrel end to make it a little smoother for mouths and hands.
Here’s a marshmallow gun diagram for you:
Anyway, so if you don’t have plans for The Fourth, come say hi to me at our booth in Morgan, Utah! I would love to meet you and shoot you with some marshmallows. 🙂 Morgan always have tons of fun things going on. My kids LOVED the “Scales and Tails” reptile show…they got to touch and take pictures with some monstrous snakes and lizards! Oooh, and your older kids (and maybe you) will love watching The Battle of the Bands. I’m excited! You can read more about the happenings on Morgan’s web site.
Recipes, please!! (& great family ideas too.)
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Yes we will be making these 🙂 Krista @ A Handful of Everything
They’re super fun!!
So cool!!!! We are definitely making these for July 4th this year! I cannot wait to blast my friends and family with mini marshmallows….since it rains every year here in the Seattle area (we are up in Lake Stevens) for the 4th 😀 Thank you!
Awesome! Have so much fun. It’s so beautiful where you live!
How much do you charge for the marshmellow guns and noodle swords at your craft fairs? These are great ideas! Can’t wait to make them.
The guns are $7.00 and they include a snack size bag of marshmallows. Extra bags are .50 cents. The swords are $5.00.
Thank you Mariel! I’ve already started making them. Can’t wait till our 4th of July Craft Fair.
Awesome! Have so much fun!!
I have one more question. How many did you make last year and how many are you making this year. Just trying to get an idea how many I should make.
It’s been different every year because we always do it at the same place. The first couple years, we made a hundred, and they all sold out. But, after that, people already had them and the novelty was not there as much, so we didn’t sell as many and had to make something new and different (foam swords, bow and arrows.) So, maybe we would make 50, the following years. We would start to drop the price if they weren’t selling. We were selling them in Morgan, a small town, so it wasn’t like there were tons of new people there every year, if that makes sense. So, I would say it depends on where you’re selling them (big crowd/smaller crowd), if anyone else will be selling them too (you can usually find out), and if you (or anyone else) has regularly sold them there before. Another thing that helped promote them was to have some family members in front of the booth, shooting each other. It was drawing lots of attention to the booth. Pretty soon, as people were buying them, there were marshmallows flying all over the park and everyone wanted to know where they got the guns. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much, Mariel. Now I need to go look at your bows and arrows.
I can’t remember…but, I don’t think I gave instructions on the bow and arrows. To be honest, they were a pain in the butt to make…lots of steps. We sold a lot of them, but I don’t know if it was worth it (for me.) My kids still thought it was worth it, but I have to make most of it! Morgan isn’t having a fair this year (weird!), so we’re taking the year off (yay!) But, maybe one of these coming years, we’ll do it again and pick a different location.
I saw your comment that you sold them for $7 each but could you tell me approximately how much they cost to make? I’m thinking this might be a great fundraiser for my daughter’s school. Thanks!
Have you tried them at craft fairs?
I haven’t… just at 4th of July fairs. 🙂