playgroup craft ideas to SELL!!

[crispface]

Hi, for the first year our playgroup will be holding a christmas fayre to raise funds for our local village hall. Ihave a few ideas of things the children can make over the forthcoming weeks which can be sold, but nothing seems particularly good

what crafts have you made with children which are worthy of being sold to the general public? The children are preschoolers btw.

How about making Christmas Cards using their hand and foot prints. An upside down white hand print makes a lovely santa beard, just draw on a red hat and face. An upside down brown foot print can easily be turned into a reindeer and two upside down foot prints makes a lovely Christmas tree. You can get blank cards from places like The Works etc pretty cheap - I think I got 50 for about £5.

Or how about something like this - pinterest.com/pin/169583123/

The kids could help by painting the pegs green and then an adult could put it all together.

You could get the little ones making up reindeer foos really easily, just give them bowls of porridge and sugar crystals/glitter and tell them to get mixing! then fill up some small cellophane bags, add a tag with instructions/ the rhyme and done, very cheap and quick and easy for smaller children.

They could all make a decoration, thinking along the lines of diping pinecones in glue then glitter, or poster paints?

I think whatever you do, you need to get the adults to finish it off so it looks a decent product.

This year my DS nursery got all the kids do do a painting, (rather than the usual free style stuff this was quite directed and very supervised) and they produced brilliant picture, they then framed them all and sold them back to the parents to raise money. No one could say no, and as they were great anyway so who'd want to? You could get them doing a christmas scene each perhaps?

My dd has made these for her teachers one christmas. You can cut the costs to make easily by putting in a cheap soap and buying cheap flannels. They''ll appeal to the children and they can help by sticking on eyes and noses. I'd imagine you could make them for 50p each and sell for £2.

Could you precut felt stars and get them to stick sequence on them, add a loop of ribbon and they have made tree decorations.

How about tiny glass votives - they could decorate them with glass pens and then put tea lights inside them.

Penguin or Reindeer or Santa Christmas cards would probably also sell. It would require a lot of precutting of black circles, white circles, beaks, googly eyes, etc though.

The flannel reindeer rock - they are ace. My dd made rabbit ones for gifts at Easter but they didn't have soap on them.

There were videos of how to do it on Youtube.

Insanity I may have to steal that one for my dcs to make as Christmas gifts this year.

I would go for

handmade cards
handmade calenders
reindeer food
christmas themed fairy cakes
christmas shaped biscuits
framed children's artwork
homemade playdough (add glitter or spices to make it more christmassy)

Our playgroup made teatowels one year. They got a handprint from each child in the playgroup and got them all printed on the tea towel with the name on the playgroup in the middle. They were a HUGE hit and obviously something useful that everyone needs.

They did a similar thing with hessian shopping bags another year - again something that everyone needs.

Ours just did some paintings on one of those canvas box frame things. The older ones contributed an animal each to a zoo themed painting and the younger ones sploged a more abstract design. Then they were auctioned off.

I once worked at a school where they got every child to draw a family portrait and laminated them and sold them.

I also know of a school that gets each child to do a little pen drawing of themselves and they get them printed into calendars - each child goes with the month that is their birthday. They are very cute.

I have also received lots of Christmas cards that are children's own work. They do a Christmas picture, it gets sent away and printed into a pack of cards and the parents can buy the pack of cards that their child "made". I think schools make some profit from this, as well as the printers obviously.

I assume you're selling to joe public rather than to the parents/grandparents?

Personally I don't know many people who like to buy obviously hand made gifts made by random children, they usually prefer to buy what their own child has made. Unless it is something edible. Is that an option?

Lots of ideas here for things to make www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/crafts.html

Also some good craft packs available here or you can steal/borrow their ideas to make your own versions www.bakerross.co.uk/category-Christmas-Craft-Ideas-XMSACIDE.htm

gilly is right. I have done loads of fundraising and the biggest sellers are ALWAYS baking.

www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/431337/Video-recipe--Phil-Vickery-s-ginger-biscuits

Make the biscuits yourselves and then let the dc decorate them. Wrap in celephane and tie with a pretty ribbon

this shape may be nice too www.lakeland.co.uk/14494/Snowflake-Cookie-Cutter-Set

Wow, I had no idea this thread had carried on growing :) Thanks all, am really impressed with all ideas!! Lots to look through and trial!

These string balls look great here I plan to make some with my 3 year old for decorating the house/tree this Christmas. Could even add scent to them and display in a vase or bowl like pot pourri?