ShipStation Story: Craft + Boogie
Learn how Craft + Boogie supports its mission of giving back with the help of ShipStation.
Meghan McCloskey, founder of Craft + Boogie, was busy working a fulltime corporate job while trying to provide her 3 kids the same magical childhood she experienced. The kid’s arts and crafts monthly subscription box rolls out a new theme every month. Focused on the art of celebration, it recognizes different days of the year, from New Year’s to St. Patrick’s Day to National Honeybee Day. The boxes include an assortment of craft projects, DIY decorations, family games, and coloring pages. Every item found within the box is exclusively drawn and designed by local artists.
“We make craft kits for kids in need to feel seen, loved, and connect with trusted adults through creativity,” says Meghan McCloskey, Founder of Craft + Boogie.
How It All Began
Before Pinterest boards existed, her mom would go the extra mile to celebrate holidays with the family. From food, crafts and games, to the decorations she made, every holiday was memorable within their household.
“My happiest childhood memories are of the small celebrations my mom threw for us,” says Meghan.
When Meghan began having a family of her own, she carried forth the tradition for her children. Juggling her full-time corporate job and being the mother of three, she longed for more time to celebrate those everyday life moments with her kids. She imagined other moms and families felt the same. Desiring to give others the same opportunity to gather as a family, she created her first DIY craft kit in 2017. The original box was 4th of July themed. Included was supplies, games, and crafts that were prepped for parents, ready to enjoy out of the box.
“I sent an email to a bunch of my co-workers at the time, specifically moms, and said ‘Would you guys be interested in a craft box I put together. Let me know if you want one.’ Out of the 30 people I emailed, 24 of them were like ‘Yeah, that sounds awesome.’ So I made 24 boxes for my first round,” says Meghan.
Gift of Giving Back
The mission of Craft + Boogie is to help families celebrate, play, and connect through arts and crafts. Meghan’s at-the-time side hustle began with her desire to give back to foster families. All profit from the first boxes made was used to make craft kids for kids in foster care within the local Portland, Oregon community. Today, part of every purchase is used to make craft kits for kids in foster care, patients in children’s hospitals, and students in low-income elementary schools in Portland.
Craft + Boogie Collective is operated 100% by volunteers. Every dollar donated goes directly toward materials and supplies for craft kits. Meghan’s hope is to provide kids with a form of self expression through creativity which creates bonding moments with their trusted adults.
Meghan: “Arts and crafts can also help boost kids’ self esteem. When they’re done making something and they hold it up to an adult and the adult says ‘Wow, that’s really great. Let’s put it on the fridge.’ That is such a self esteem booster.”
In early 2018, Meghan was able to quit her corporate job to pursue the business full-time. Working together with an organization called With Love, Craft + Boogie now has its own non-profit branch within the organization.
Meghan: “Before COVID, we’d have volunteers come over to make craft kits for kids in foster care, patients at our local children’s hospitals, and families needing emergency food and clothing relief. We now ship these boxes directly to foster families and hospital patients needing food and clothing relief within our local community.”
The ShipStation Solution
Thanks to one google search, “How do online businesses ship things?,” Meghan found ShipStation. Managing the business, her at-the-time corporate job, and being a mom, Meghan had no time for inefficiencies.
Meghan: “ I will always remember the numbers from my first craft kits. The first July I sold 24 boxes, and this last July we sold out at 400. Our growth with Shipstation from July 2017 to July 2020 is over 1500%. We wouldn’t have been able to successfully grow at such a rate without you guys.”
Multichannel Selling
As her business took off, Meghan began to look for ways to expand her online store presence. Kicking off Craft + Boogie on her Squarespace site, she expanded to Etsy and Cratejoy to reach a wider range of audiences.
Meghan: “It is definitely beneficial to sell on multiple channels. You can reach different types of consumers on different channels that maybe you wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. The more exposure, the better.”
Meghan: “I chose to get on Etsy and Cratejoy for visibility and for search. There are so many more people on these marketplaces than on our website every day. Multichannel selling is important for visibility. Cratejoy is the biggest subscription box marketplace and Etsy is the biggest marketplace for handmade things. So, that is why I chose those platforms.”
Once the orders began to come in, Meghan realized she needed a shipping software where she could view all of her orders across marketplaces at once.
Meghan: “The benefits of ShipStation is the strength of the marketplace integrations. Being able to view orders from my Squarespace store, Etsy, and Cratejoy all in one panel makes it possible to run the business.”
Being a frontrunner to the subscription box business model back in 2017, she credits ShipStation for her ability to grow and expand her business across marketplaces.
Meghan: “The way Cratejoy works with ShipStation is so wonderful and easy. It is all right there within ShipStation. It is no work for us at all – it is seamless and wonderful.”
What’s Next
Desiring to support more families and children in need, Meghan hopes to continue expanding the business with ShipStation supporting along the way.
Meghan: “ShipStation allows us to focus less on shipping and more on finding new ways to help kids express themselves, boost their self esteem, and connect with trusted adults through creative arts and crafts.”
