Christmas Fair stall ideas for secondary school

[Justonemorecardi]

My dd is 14 and going on a school trip where she the school expect her to raise half the money. One of the ways they do this is to have a stall at the school christmas fair, and we're trying to think of some ideas.

I've done primary school Christmas fairs, but they tended to focus on raffles etc, I think she's expected to produce something and sell it. We've thought about cakes / biscuits etc, but we don't have lots of time in the days immediately before the fair, so are really looking for some effective craft ideas that look high quality, but are cheap on materials and not too time consuming to make - the holy grail! Any help gratefully received!

Guess the weight or number of sweets in the jar and you win the jar of sweets. Simple, easy to prepare and always brings in money in the schools I have worked at.

chocolate tombola.. honestly a genius way of making money.

get to your nearest cash and carry buy cost price boxes of animal bars freddo frogs and some bigger stuff, mix in a couple of selection boxes and perhaps a £5 box of roses or hero's or something.

£1 for 3 tickets and you will make a packet.

File and paint nails. £6 a time every 15 mins.

Always liked. Easy to do. Guaranteed (sort of) money if pre booked and filling gaps on day.

I'll explain;

Take off existing polish.
File nail so not ragged
Single coat colour / naturalish shade
Top clear coat

Just need steady hand cotton wool nail file and a couple of colours to choose from

Polish remover too duh

There will be younger "customers" there so things for them work really well. Helium balloons and a tag for them to write a letter to Santa, and then release. Reindeer dust (to attract them) which is a mixture of oats and glitter in a clear bag, tied with tinsel.

Guess the name of.....

Photos of odd places in the school (corner of a desk, bit of a painting to match with a location) £1 a go.

A quiz - £1 a go.

How about some Candy Cane mice - I have always done these for Christmas Fairs and they seem to sell well and are relatively cheap.... even cheaper if you use thick card instead of felt...

Wilkinsons (I think) sell the candy canes or perhaps the Pound Shop

Instructions

Video Here

Wow, thanks for your quick replies. I get the impression (we're new to the school) that the usual idea is to sell something rather than things like chocolate tombola. This is why I'm struggling, as that's the sort of stall I did when dd was in primary school, but I feel a bit out of depth for secondary - dds last school didn't have a Christmas fair. Am I over thinking?

Cupcakes or rocky road/malteaser cake sell well.
Number of sweets in the jar
Temporary tattoos?

mobile phone/bag charms. get the kit on eBay

hot chocolate swizzle sticks. can be made and bagged in advance

Cake stall? Or make some jam and chutneys?

If you don't mind mess we did glitter tattoos - I have got it down to five mins start to finish.

Look at glitter tattoo kits on ebay, did a day long event, bought a £40 kit and cleared £450. The main downside is everything had a glitter coating for weeks after, just remember that if you push your fringe back and then go to the garage for fuel you will get looked at funny.

please don't release helium balloons - they look lovely but they are a disaster for wildlife

more info here or

How about large jam jars or Kilner jars with cookie or cake ingredients with a nice ribbon, and a nicely written recipe?

Something the young children can do with parents or carers.

We got biodegradable ones and used organic wool and untreated paper to tie onto them. They don't have to be a disaster for wildlife and many companies sell them.

I was just about to say please avoid the helium balloons. iheartdusty beat me to it. Loads of other lovely ideas Tinlegs!

Ask her what sort of thing she'd like to buy. My friend does a nail art stall and that always seems busy with the older ones at primary.

Buy beads and make bracelets/necklaces.

I was going to suggest hot chocolate stirring sticks too.

Also jars painted with a tea light inside.

Glitter tattoos are easy peasy to do.

Little bags of reindeer noses cellophane bags from Amazon/ebay, 6 malteasers and one red bubbly. Lots of printable labels for these online if you google

What's a red bubbly?

But biodegradable balloons don't degrade immediately m, and the paper and organic wool will still be a physical hazard, but with less chemical pollution.

A chewing gum sweet. We call them bubblys here

Second hand book stall ?

Hi, depends how crafty you are and how much time you have. We have just done this and my DDs (12 & 14) managed to make quite a bit. They sold friendship bracelets with charms attached, christmas decorations (felt and also using air dried clay - cut out Christmas shapes and hung with Christmas ribbon, prettified with stamps and gemstones) but the big seller was charm bottles. These are tiny bottles with a little message tied up with ribbon and glitter inside and a small silver charm on another ribbon on the outside. Tiny screw rings in the cork on the top and cord threaded through to wear around the neck. Look up wish bottles on eBay to see what I mean. All the bits are available on amazon and eBay but be aware of items coming from abroad. Each one cost about 40p to make, took only a few minutes and sold for £2.50.