The Mystery Bag

This past Saturday, my sister-in-law and I had a yard sale. I would say it was a pretty good success. There were lots of good stuff sold and some weird stuff too, but the best and most popular item on sale that day was the...

Mystery Bags!!!!

What is a Mystery Bag, you ask? Well, it's very simple. Here are step-by-step instructions on how you can make your very own Mystery Bag:

1. Sort through all the stupid little toys your kids collect from fast food places and who knows where else

2. Put one or two in a paper bag

3. Draw a question mark on the bag

4. Staple the bag shut

5. Sell bags for 50 cents each

6. Watch the money roll in

I had made 14 of these bags for the sale. Our sale started at 9am (even though people were showing up at 7:45) and all my bags were gone by about 9:30am. That's a $7.00 profit! I think the appeal is that the kids don't know what's inside and that drives them crazy! They just have to know, but the only way to find out is to purchase a bag. The best part of the whole experience was when a car full of little boys with their mom pulled up. They jumped out, found the table of Mystery Bags and bought all of them (there were 13 left at that point). I helped them along in their decision by letting them know those toys came from my little boy's room. I don't think that made their mom too happy. But that was the highlight of the sale for me. I think that if nothing else sold, I would have been content with my $7.00.

So, next time you have a yard sale, try making Mystery Bags. Just make sure your kids aren't around when you do it. You don't want the power of the Mystery Bag taking its effect on your child.