What were the most profitable stalls at your school fete?

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And what wasn't really worth the effort?

Five weeks to go until our summer fete and it's all kicked off (again) at the PTA. Most of the members who were supposed to be organising and running the stalls have walked away from the PTA entirely (sadly, not the two people that I wish would leave, but heigh ho).

A bouncy castle and fairground ride have already been booked and I think the catering is mostly sorted, including a cake stall. And the person in charge of the raffle is staying. So, we just need some games stalls and probably a few stalls selling products.

What would you recommend, bear in mind that the number of volunteers we'll have on the day is likely to be limited due to the Old Guard's talent for pissing them all off. I thought about running away as well, but my kids love the fete and the school needs the money.

Tea & Cake Stall

Sausage sizzle

Bottle stall - any bottle from booze to shower gel. Ask the school if they’d be willing to ask parents/kids to donate to it so it is very profitable. This was always our biggest profit stall until we were banned from any alcohol on school premises due to local rules.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. We should be able to get a licence to sell alcohol, apparently as we were granted one last year.

Jolly jars? Basically jam jars filled with little toys, rubbers, pens etc and sweets. Stick a raffle ticket on each one and the kids pick a ticket out of a box or container. We always had this stall and the kids love it!

The bar!

But I accept not every school has a licence to sell alcohol!

We didn’t bother with second hand kids clothes this year. As there’s always lots left over we have to get rid of.

Hook a duck and throwing wet sponges at teachers/parenrs/friends are popular but don’t necessarily make a lot of money.

Splat a rat and sumo wrestling. The sumo suits were hired but honestly it was so popular it would be worth buying them, the kids absolutely loved it and it was hilarious. The Fire Brigade also used to come along with a fire engine and although it didn’t make any money the kids enjoyed it and so did the mothers…..

There's already few ideas that I've never thought of before, so that's great!

I think Sumo wrestling would be fun, but the Head might not approve!

Depends on the school demographics but an international food stall? We had a Japanese parent that made the most amazing food and it was a scrum at fete opening time to snap it up.

Chocolate stall - each kid brings a bar of ANY choc to school, and the entire lot goes on a chocolate tombola stall. Pick out a folded raffle ticket, any ending 5 or 0 take their pick of a bar.

Ditto - teddy tombola. All kids bring a pre loved teddy or seven to school, from those bigger than you or a beanie baby.
Ditto raffle, pick any teddy.

Don't bother matching tickets to individual bears or choc ; it takes too long x

Tombola was always a huge hit for us. Thankfully parents and local businesses were very generous re: donations and we often got things like nice booze/restaurant vouchers/art etc

Wine or water stall.

Wrap a load of empty wine bottles full of water and some bottles of wine thrown in (ask classes for donations). £1 a go.

There used to be a three deep crowd around the one in my dc's old school, they'd make £200 in half an hour and the stall would be wiped out 😂

Former treasurer here so I can tell you with certainty that it’s was food and bar, and then the tombolas - bottle, and then gift and choc, All donated by the families in the run up
in exchange for a mufti day.
Then spin the wheel where you won a prize - but we had an amazing team sourcing prizes.
The games stalls weren’t money makers but were vital for the kids to feel they had a nice time.

Human slot / fruit machine

Nerf gun shooting range, we made a fortune. Second year with it we had a local dad/handyman make a proper shooting range with knock down targets, made even more and covered all costs easily. You could borrow nerf guns and make targets out of tin cans or similar if you wanted to do a no cost option.

If your pta has some money to invest ours bought a candy floss machine - from a couple I’d spoonfuls of sugar you can get loads of candy floss - was at a previous school but pennies per bag/stick’s worth of sugar that you can easily sell for a pound. Likewise popcorn (especially if there’s a local cinema that would donate some for a bit of feel good/publicity) can be very cheap.
or try hiring the machines this year to see how well they work for your school…

get from eBay or amazon a nice big photo frame that you have printed with the school’s name and ‘summer 2026’ or similar, then charge people 50p to borrow for a minute or two while next to you to take selfies with their own phones. Maybe have a few other props or a plain frame or some way of participants being able to put a message or names on it.

If more than 1 person wants a photo then work out pricing - eg 50p each photo group they are in or £2 if they want to be in lots. Particularly useful if you have any year groups that have leavers so want nice summer pics of themselves and friends with school branding/time etc for looking back on in the future.

Cup cakes, toffees, slices
Donation auction ( auction off donated items and services like a hair cut, roast dinner)
Throw wet sponge at target to make teacher fall into a tub of water.
Pony rides (led, wearing helmet)
Raffle of a weekend accommodation
Second hand stall
BbQ sausage in bread with sauce.
Sponsering kids in a run-a-thon exhibition
Art work for sale, some kids art made into cards too.
Plants. Needs someone devoted to organise.

Our biggest earners were always

bbq
sweet stall
beat the goalie - always a massive queue
tombola - we do no uniform day prior and ask for wine, sweets or toiletries in exchange

However, we’ve now stopped doing the fair due to lack of helpers and we do a colour run instead. We made over £2k last year with much much less work and the kids loved it.I appreciate this isn’t what you asked 😊

I would quite happily pay £50 not to be contacted about the summer fair.

Nutella or other flavour pancakes. Pet an animal/bird. Alcohol stall. Cakes. There was also a vintage stall at the school which was nice for parents or if kids wanted to buy mum eg jewellery.

Get the school to allow kids to come in non uniform on two consecutive Fridays and bring in chocolate for 1 and bottles on the other. 3 raffle stalls - choc, kid friendly bottles and alcohol. Always makes the most money!! You can also take a few bottles of wine out of the donations and play water or wine so people pay £1.50/2 and choose a bottle which either has wine in or water.

Target practice. A line of three to five sturdy plastic bottles filled with sand to weigh them down on a raised platform.

Table tennis balls or similar balanced on bottle necks. Nerf guns. Three shots.

The dads loved it! We made a fortune!

You can do a version for younger dc too with bigger balls balanced on plastic jars (the kind that craft materials come in) filled with sand.

The beauty of it is that an eleven year old boy and his little brother ran the stand by themselves.

This is decades ago, so I don’t know if you’d get away with it now, but one year our PTA screwed up and managed to use all its alcohol licences for the year before the summer fair came around. They got around it with a beer and wine tombola - any ticket ending in 0 or 9 and you won a drink.

Of course, there were no tickets that didn’t end in 0 or 9.

If you can please avoid a toy tombola. Every year I get tears from my youngest dc because he can't understand the concept. He sees a toy he wants but he doesn't get that 1/ he may not win anything 2/ even if he wins it won't be the one he wanted.

Definitely a bottle Tombola. See if the PTA or local business might donate as well. We are overrun with schools in the area but always get very generous donations from local businesses.
or ask the school if they would allow a non uniform day in exchange for a bottle or a raffle prize rather than the usual £1.