to think this is too much money for a Bingo Night organized by the PTA?

[emkana]

Went to Bingo at dd1's primary school tonight.

Family ticket £2
Pizza slices (pre-ordered) 75 p each
Bingo tickets - 20 p each
Cups of tea/coffee 30p#
Cans of beer - £2 each
Fruit shoot (not that I'd buy one £1

plus Raffle tickets £1 per strip

we ended up paying £16 altogether for this one and a half of "fun"

is it me or is that a bit outrageous?

Well that sounds a totally different event inthegutter. We have a dinner dance in Jan and that's £30 per head and then people put in for the 'games' and raffle. It's a 'do' at a golf club though with a 3 course meal.

QuintessentialShadow, I think you should stop asking those friends for sponsorship. Or just cross them through if they don't come up with the cash.

No-one expects all parents to be able to afford to help or be able to get people to buy raffle tickets. If you can't get anything don't be embarrassed. They're not going to write down who brings in the cash and who doesn't. Some people won't even bother to try to sell tickets. Just do what you can. It's great that you help by making cakes etc.

I have spent most of last week trying to sell tickets to our quiz night and getting the 'why would I want tickets' look. It's really to think that of a preschool of 31 children, 5 turned up, 5. and 2 of those were committee members. Hardly supportive. I will be selling raffle tickets to everyone I can think of. I'll put c/o me and the persons name on the ticket so they don't have to come to the event. I aim to sell quite a few, but I am in the fortunate position of having family/friends and work collegues(mine & dh's) to sell to. I know not everyone will be able to do it. I think maybe, as our preschool is small, i'll ask each parent if they would be able to try and sell some tickets, how many they want and that there's no pressure to sell any but we'd appreciate the help.

Our PTA's latest event is a wine tasting evening. Great, I think, until I see tickets are £15 a head. So DP and I both go, and that's £30 for a few thimbles full of wine. We could get several bottles of quality wine for that.
I know they have to make money but this is quite steep. Our school is in a well off, largely middle class area and all the PTA events seem to be aimed at that group.
The committee never seems to consider that some people can't afford £15 for wine tasting or £20 for a curry night, so poorer families miss out.
I'm lucky that I can afford to go to these events if I want to but I know lots who can't, and they feel excluded.

We have 3 fundraising events a year.

1. Quiz night. £5 at the door & then raffe tickets.

2. BBQ/entertainment at local bar. The bar usually provides the BBQ & the 2 local butchers provide the meat.. so on the night, £5 entrance fee & raffle tickets all go to the school.

3. Books of tickets sent home from school just before Xmas, small prizes, £50, £25, £15. Tbh I won the £25 last year & my sister won the £10.. and we give it back to the PTA.

Our school want to raise funds for a new bench & picnic table in the playground. We just got the roof mended & bought new PE equipment.

I just looked at our Christmas raffle tickets and prizes this year include a Nintendo Wii, digital camera, Apple iPod nano, portable DVD player, £250 voucher to spend on carpet.
I think I'll buy all the tickets myself

Eddas, actually, I have to write name of child, class year, number of tickets sold, and amount sold for on the envelope, there is a competition, the child who sells most tickets will win a price.

Our school does the prize for the child who sells the most tickets too. The children love it. But I only buy the book of tickets that comes home. I did ask DH who take a book into work last year but he wasn't keen.

The year before last there were complaints at our school as every child was given a book of tickets and for families with more than one child it was a lot to ask. So now we do one book per family and if anyone wants more they can ask

our PA (Ok, I'm sewcretary- I admit! I out ,myself!0 did curry night recently, we added £3 per head to the price the restaurant charged and loads of epople whinged.

because we're a PA (no teachers can be arsed ), we don't have access to bulk buys / discounts much, so its harder for us to provide 'chaeap' stuff- instead we rely on goodwill / idea of why we're doing it and peoples generosity.

Does that make sense?

probably not

Bloody hell, Quint! That stinks!

I'd feel exactly the same way as you. Boycott the whole affair and sod the kids

FF2 your lot get ite asy don't they - we have a social, girls night, 2 X fayres, sports day, and a music night minimum. We're suppsoed to cover an interactive bird feeder table with internet access, rubber matting, 50% of whiteboards and a new piano this year.

Desi. taken out of context I can see how that came across. I do not begrudge the kids some competitive fun....

It positively irks me I dont have any RL people to sell to, no family members, and some filthy rich friends who wants tickets, but feel it is beneath them to give me a couple of quid it costs.

Desi, fancy a raffle ticket? You may win tickets to the UB 40 Concert on Wembley Arena 8th December! Or, a make over at Space NK, or a make over from another local salon! (Doubt you need it my lovely)!

I think it seems cheap, you are having a night out as a family, including refreshments for £16, and the money raised is going to benefit your children.

I was agreeing with you, Quint

The way they've gone about it is all wrong, imo.

oh Poland! Whereabouts? I have a love affair with that country, been there SOOOO many times, I even love the food!

I've never been before. We're going to Cracow for a three night break. I wanted affordable snow ... and I believe it's pretty much guaranteed in December.

It also coincides with a big nativity display in the main square! Oooh, I'm all excited!!

I think the prices are reasonable tbh. But I can see your point.

Imo the PTA is not just out and out fundraising, it should also have a community aspect to it and if prices are too high then some families will be excluded and at the end of day you can end up with the same old faces at all the events.

"The thing is they did these evenings last year and the £2 family ticket included tea, coffee, squash and the bingo tickets"

I would guess that they probably found they didn't make any money last year....

scrooge this is so funny

Haven't read the rest of this thread, but it is a fundraiser and those prices sound fine to me.

QuintessentialShadow, well in that case you are right to be shouldn't be a competition. If it were me i'd raise the issue with a committee member and say that it's unfair on children who's parents just can't sell tickets. They may not realise. I know they should but sometimes people get bogged down in their great ideas and don't realise the possible consequences.

I have taken on board what you said and will do as I said before and approach each parent individually and ask if they want to help and how many tickets they would like to try and sell, if any. Our preschool is small so that's possible to do. Mind you I might not be able to even suggest it to our chairlady as dd has just developed chicken pox so won't be at preschool for a while. No doubt by then they'll have decided what to do without me

Quintessential,
There's no way that selling raffle tickets should be a competition.
We send £15 with each child and they just return what they don't sell.
Having said that, I know how difficult it is to get people involved in fundraising - maybe your PTA are at their wits end - I know the feeling.

Raffle tickets are boring, that's why they don't sell.

Family based events are often the best fundraisers.

Well I went to the PTA AGM and according to the accounts the Bingo Nights already made quite a handsome amount last year.

Threads like this make me not want to bother with the PTA.

Beautiful cards from grateful teachers and pupils for their new computers or their new digital camera makes it worth while.

Here is a thought to all of you moaning , join the PTA and change it from within.

I wonder how many would.

I am a member of the PTA, even though I wasn't involved in the organization of this particular event.

This is not about me not wanting to spend the money, but it's about my worry that these prices might alienate people from attending.