BLOG -- One of a Kind Show (Christmas -- Toronto)

Since my first exposure to the One of a Kind Show, I've been attending every Toronto show with my sister. When we go, we always go with our "plan of attack", which is starting at one end of the room (farthest away from the food section), snaking through all the booths, and then back-tracking to purchase what we want. 

This year we changed our "plan of attack" a little -- snake through some booths, and then back-track if there was something we wanted. The downside to this is that we don't get to see everything before deciding whether or not to purchase something. The upside is the distance to back-track, which sometimes stopped us from actually back-tracking in the past. Walking from Row A to Row X could feel like a 10-minute trip, considering the large number of attendees. It is near impossible to speed-walk.

We got to the show around 1-ish PM and finished around 5-ish PM. Even though this is my 4th year of attendance, I still get fascinated with what's there. And I always love visiting the food section. Mmmm...!

THE FAMILIAR BOOTHS

I was glad to see familiar favourites at the show, like Mad Batter Bakers and Monkey Butter. When I like the stuff, I'm happy to see them again. I never get the chance to buy everything I want (I'm not made of money, haha). So seeing them again gives me that chance. Sometimes seeing them at the One of a Kind show is the best way for me to buy their stuff. 

Other booths I was glad to see were Sweet Truth Candy, The Bean Ladies, Oladesign, and another booth (I forgot the name -- they sold cute octopus-designed mugs and tableware). The booth selling musical spoons wasn't there this time, which was a bit upsetting.

A booth selling sock monkey-fashioned clothing. 

I don't know how or why this trend became so big. 

The tent is unique, though.

THE NEW DISCOVERIES

After checking the show guide, two of these booths weren't new to the Winter show, but they were new to me.

Creepy Christine -- Her stuff appeals to my cynical side.

Handmades -- I like the geeky nature of many of her greeting cards.

Him Creations -- She makes felt creations and they are sooooooo cute!! Here's a Youtube video featuring her briefly and some of her products:

THE PURCHASES

Compared to the Spring show last year, I spent more money this time. *sigh* My wallet cries, but I know that I'm supporting people, and that feels good.

Here were my purchases (I did not take any photos of what my sister got):

Monkey Butter! They had 3 new flavours this year: 
Chocolate Mint, Cranberry Orange, and Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. 
I really like the Cranberry Orange!

Cookies from the Mad Batter Bakers. Delicious!

Geeky cards from Handmades. I love the Pi cards.

Some inappropriate gift tags and buttons from Creepy Christine.

Sweet marshmallows from La Nougaterie.

A cute seagull and vase from Him Creations.

Total spendings:
Mine:
Monkey Butter -- $70
Mad Batter cookies  -- 3 for $20
Geeky cards -- 4 for $22.60
Gift Tags and Buttons -- $13
Marshmallows -- $10
Seagull and Vase -- $50
TOTAL: $185.60

My sister:
Mad Batter cookies -- $8
Garlic Speads -- $35
Hot Sauce for her fiance -- $20
TOTAL: $63

TOTAL TOTAL: $248.60

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Overall, I enjoyed my time at the One of a Kind Show. It's fun to see all the different things, new and familiar. I've already purchased my ticket for the Spring show. Hopefully I can set aside more money and support more people.


Thanks for reading! I hope you all have a good week! :)

BLOG -- One of a Kind Show (Spring -- Toronto)

Happy Easter! I don't celebrate Easter, but I do appreciate the day off. I spent it looking at old movie stubs and recording them all in a Word document. Lol... documenting over 15 years of movie stubs. I may post it up here one day. I wanted to do it before all the ink faded away... because I'm a stickler for the little details in my memories (as some of you might have picked up on from my blogging style).

So last weekend, the same day as the Final Fantasy concert, my sister and I attended the One of a Kind Show at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto.  The One of a Kind Show is a convention where various small businesses and individuals gather to sell their homemade, handcrafted, one-of-a-kind products (as well as promoting their business). Attendees go to this convention to experience and buy the stuff. Admission was $14. It was my first time at this convention, and I had a swell time!

THE BEGINNING (12:30-ish PM)

When I walked through the doors I thought, Wow! This is huge! Tons of different booths... carrying different items... everywhere. I'm a girl who loves variety so I was excited!

My sister and I started at the nearest corner and snaked around the aisles to the opposite end, taking bench breaks in-between. Since we had to leave around 4:30 PM (to eat dinner and get to the Final Fantasy concert in good time), we aimed to get to the end by 3:00 PM. The remaining time would be spent revisiting booths and making purchases.

The first section was the food section. Many booths were giving out samples and my sister and I got to try some yummy stuff. 

The most memorable booth was the Monkey Butter booth. They were selling gourmet peanut butter. My sister took a sample and I reluctantly took one as well. I generally don't like peanut butter -- I don't like how it sticks to the roof of my mouth. The flavour I sampled was white chocolate raspberry. My taste buds were... pleasantly delighted! I tasted the white chocolate -- and the raspberry -- and the peanut butter -- in this amazing union. The texture... was smooth and jam-like. I knew then and there that this is peanut butter I would actually eat. I knew that I was going to buy a jar. But sticking with the game plan (of leaving purchases to the end), we continued on.

Another memorable booth was the Mad Batter Bakers booth. They were selling gingerbread and sugar cookies. Though... I already knew about them. My sister went to the One of a Kind Show last winter and bought some really soft gingerbread cookies from them. They're good -- VERY good!

Other samples I tried were lobster and crab dips, which were okay. They made me think of hummus -- rich, thick, delicious, but I wouldn't be able to consume much at one time. I also tried some wine jellies (wine-flavoured jam) and that was really good. If I brought more money, and if I wasn't going to a concert later in the day, I would have considered buying a jar.

After the food section was a mix of clothing, stationary, jewelry, and other miscellaneous booths. My sister and I generally stayed away from the clothing booths (though I was set on buying a tie -- don't want to keep wearing the pink tie my co-worker gave me). Clothing at the One of a Kind Show -- being one-of-a-kind and possibly an expression of oneself -- is generally on the high-priced side. There was one booth that carried frilly, gothic lolita clothing. It totally drew me. I looked at the price of one of the dresses: $235. I found one booth selling ties for $30 (I didn't know if that was extremely pricy or reasonable).

As we walked by the booths, my sister was marking down the booths we were thinking of revisiting. There was this neat booth selling musical spoons. They're two handcrafted wooden spoons glued together and when you hit it against your leg and fingers, it'll produce sounds. It kinda makes me think of a horse galloping.

THE END + PURCHASES (2:45-ish PM)

When we finally reached the end, it was around 2:45 PM. We were bushed! We sat for about 20 minutes, talking about what we saw and what we wanted to buy. I was trying to calculate about how much money I would spend, because I couldn't spend that much. I have been keeping a budget and I didn't have much "free spending money" for the month (thank goodness it was March 31st). We looked at all the booths my sister marked on her map, and I drew out our "plan of attack".

One booth didn't get revisited because we decided not to buy anything from there.

Then we got off our seats and put our plan in motion. Many from the booths that we revisited remembered us, saying with a smile, "You came back." It's nice to know that we were remembered :)

Even though we knew what we wanted to buy, we still spent a good amount of time trying to pick the designs that we wanted, haha (except for the musical spoons). I was really looking forward to getting back to the Monkey Butter booth -- all I kept thinking was, Now I'll have something to eat for breakfast that's easy to make (I could eat cereal but I'm semi-lactose intolerant). When we got back to the Monkey Butter booth, though, this is what we saw: 

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Monkey Butter was sold out!! I was soooo unhappy. The one thing I wanted to buy most at the show and it was sold out. Gone were the visions of me eating delicious-flavoured peanut butter sandwich for breakfast... T.T

We finished the rest of our purchases by 4:15 PM.

Here were my purchases (I did not take any photos of what my sister got):

My various loot. I did end up buying a tie, lol.

Cookies from the Mad Batter Bakers. Delicious!

Musical spoon and a neck cooler thing. The neck cooler is for Summer.

Crystal pendants. They just looked pretty.

Buttons. Cute buttons.

Total spendings:
Mine:
Tie -- $30
Heart pendants -- 3 for $22.60 (tax gets added sometimes)
Musical spoon -- $25
Mad Batter cookies -- $12.99 
TOTAL: $90.59

My sister:
Neck cooler thing -- 3 for $30.51
Buttons -- 6 for $10
Marshmallow toffee chocolate roses -- 2 for $5.65
Mad Batter soft gingerbread cookies -- $7.00
TOTAL: 53.16

TOTAL TOTAL: $143.75

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Overall, I really enjoyed my time at the One of a Kind Show. I know that if I had more money (and I had no other plans for the day), I would have bought more. I enjoy the exposure to new and unique things. My sister and I already bought our tickets for the next show in Winter (which I've heard is much bigger and busier).

In the meantime, I'm hoping to get my hands on some Monkey Butter, lol (once I do, I will mention it in a blog, hehe)!

Thanks for reading! Here are some business cards I picked up from various booths:

I hope you all have a good week! :)