Running a tombola is hard to plan!

[PinkFootstool]

I've been asked to support DH at a local Regatta by running a tombola at a stall. It's for a military veterans charity he volunteers at.

We don't have a pile of tat to use as prizes, so the plan (all above board, checked with the charity trustees etc) is to buy in stock for the tombola, recoup the costs at the end of the 2 days then the "profit" is what the charity gets.

I'm struggling to work out volumes of what to buy though! I canvassed the local Facebook group for ideas for what to have on the tombola, so it's going to be small sweets - Refreshers bars, small bags of Haribo, I'll look for vegan sweeties, and a few larger prizes to tempt people in.

So, busy Regatta, two days, would 5000 tickets be too many? How about 1000?

Winning tickets will be numbers 0 & 5, so 1:4 tickets will win, so I'll need to have the right proportions of prizes. Plus spares for inevitable cock ups / offering vegan or coeliac friendly prizes if people want them maybe?

HELP! I'M OVERTHINKING IT AND CONFUSING MYSELF!

You need to read the rules on raffles and then tombolas. https://bloodcancer.org.uk/get-involved/fundraise-your-way/guidance-how-run-raffle-or-sweepstake/#:~:text=Players%20pay%20for%20a%20ticket,and%20drawn%20during%20the%20event.

Donations are the way to go: Facebook local page, veteran's page, friends, family, local businesses- will generally only give you stuff if you are a customer. A few big ticket prizes are needed, bottles of drink always go down well.

As others have said, a tub of "penny" sweets for people to take one when they don't win is always a nice touch.

And a few back up prizes for that one that mysteriously disappears

And laying out in ticket order is good. Make sure higher value prizes are near the top, near you to stop them going walking so much.

I wouldn't worry about "tat tombolas" though. So long as you can provide a few decent prizes like a good bottle of alcohol, people will have many go's just to win that (sometimes spending more for the feeling of winning then the prize itself is worth!)

You can't offer discount tickets
You have to make sure everyone has a fair chance to win so if tickets are 30p each You can't change the odds for someone if they pay £1 and get more tickets

Of course you can, almost every tombola I've ever seen does this.

I ran a tombola recently, it was a chocolate tombola, with prizes ranging from a single Mars bar, to a big box of Thorntons.

We priced it at 50p ticket or £1 for three. Everyone bought 3, I don't think we sold a single 50p ticket.

1 in 5 chance of winning, jelly baby for children if they lost, everyone was happy.

We sold about 1200 tickets over the two day event. All chocolate was donated, so we had no costs. It was very popular, especially with children.

If you are doing a sweet tombola, I would buy enough sweets for what you think you might sell on the first day, add a bit for a buffer, then stop on the way home at a supermarket and buy more for the second day, once you know how much you got through on day one.

The most popular/profitable stands are alcohol related - ie bottle tombola, wine or water bags etc, but as we are children's group, we wanted to stay away from that.

Put out a plea on FB. If the charity has members locally see if the charity will let them know. Local British legion clubs etc drop them a message

Apologies - it seems this has changed on the Gambling Commission website and you now can offer discount/BOGOF tickets.

I worked for a military charity for seven years. Blagged a lot of stuff. The volunteers provided jars of home made jams and marmalades, bottles of whatever. Even cans of food. OH and those toiletries gifted at Xmas and stuck in a cupboard

@justasking111 the local members are currently all men, and DH is the youngest by many years and the only one still serving. They are almost all retired, several are disabled and some are on low incomes. They give their time because that's most of what they have to give. I'm not a full charity member, just helping DH as a one off. I really can't ask them to put their hands in their pockets for this, which is why I've sought permission to do it this way.

All those toiletries in a cupboard are exactly what I'm trying to avoid! 😁

As a PP asked, there are no sweet stalls at this event (I've checked with the organisers).

The RBL don't support what amounts to rival charities...

The ratio of wins to losses is 1:4, the fraction of winning tickets is 1/5 🙂 I knew what you meant!

Are all these men widowers? Do they have offspring?

We used to get great support from the younger generation relatives because they were Very grateful for the charities support.

You can put the ones that aren’t winners from the strip you’re sticking on the prizes into the bucket so there’s a 1 in 9 chance of winning and you’ll need fewer prizes.

Literally every tombola does that...30p each or 5 for £1 ... 99% people just buy £1 worth!

Re supermarkets you need to speak to the community champion. You'll get bottles and cans. BOOTS make up gifts for this reason. You Will need a letter from the charity saying @PinkFootstool is Authorised. to collect on behalf of the charity.

Our local wholesale warehouse Bookers are great with sweets. Disposable plastic cups, Bookers penny sweets, fill cup, cellophane and ribbon blagged from florist or cling film it. Kids love a pick n mix

@justasking111 its a strange group! Mostly single men, adult children but not local etc. One or two wives, only one is very involved.

I used to be a very active member, but after the previous Head Shed for our area managed to estrange over 50% of the members in a huge political fall out, I walked away. Until all the protagonists have left, I'm not going back in properly, just helping with the one event as its on our doorstep. I feel bad as the charity is genuinely brilliant but I can't be around people who stood by that guy when he was so vile to people like me.

So anyway!

I'm going to try to keep it simple, rejig my prices and sizes of the prizes, look at big tubs rather than label each one individually, organise a losers option, some big sexy prizes, add in canned drinks and try not to over order (I'm also a feeder!).

Love MN for practical things and correcting my appalling maths. Thanks all!

Your maths was right! The ratio is 1:4 (wins to losses), the chance of winning is 1 in 5. They are different ways of expressing the same thing.

Not legally you cant (unless you advertise it)
You also cannot do discounted tickets

There are rules which must be followed.

They shouldnt- gambling laws

Have you ever been to a summer fête?
Literally if the probably 100+ I've been to do this...

Not so. This is an incidental lottery at an event for fundraising.

https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-and-players/guide/page/how-to-run-a-fundraiser-with-lotteries-or-raffles-at-events
"There is no limit on how much you can charge for a ticket, and you can apply discount tickets for multiple purchases, such as buy one get one free".

You will probably need a bottle of wine to help you fold all the tickets. Just make sure you put the winning halves some where safe before the second glass.

Excellent advice. Noted and will action. Thank you. 👌😁

on the link above

PrizesYou can take up to a maximum of £500 from proceeds to pay for prizes. Prizes can also be donated, there isn’t a limit on how much donated prizes can cost.
Prizes can't rollover from one lottery to another.

Ah the flouncers, Queen bees, you were sensible to withdraw. It's a juggling act of personalities that's for sure. My OH yacht club is no different I just roll my eyes, go down very occasionally to the events with an offering of some sort but as for joining anything formally. No thanks 😄

If there will be loads of kids about, filling a few old clean jam jars with cheap wrapped sweets makes them look higher value than they are. Lidl is usually a good source. Having a few larger jars provides incentive.

I'd be temped to ignore your husband and get some Scottish sweets, novelty is always a selling point (presuming you're not currently in Scotland).

Rainy day jars always went down well for us. Buttons, bits of fabric, ribbons. Easy to put together and can be cheap. We usually put a pattern suggestion in as well (printed from the internet).

Have to say my eldest and I got through 60 prizes on the bottle stall at the school Christmas fete in 25 minutes. Don't underestimate the number of prizes. Also don't make too good a job of it otherwise you'll be doing it forever...we're back on the bottle stall for the summer fete.

Contact local companies for bigger ticket prizes eg local farm park or attraction, restaurant, hairdresser, nail salon, cinema, ice skating, GoAPe or whatever.

The rules appear to have changed
You definitely couldn't before. Had to offer an equal chance. But it now says you can offer a discount