What's your ideal Christmas School Fair like?

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

What would you like to see and do there?

I completely want to overhaul ours and make it more fun and Christmassy!

Father Christmas, lots of cheap games, hot chocolate stand, homemade fudge/sweets stand

Imo the big problem with Christmas fairs is that they have to be held indoors. In our school it ends up horribly noisy and crowded and you can't browse the craft stalls at all (yet the second hand tat gets a whole classroom so the kids can spend ages browsing and buying rubbish)

So no.1 for me is space.

I'll happily pay for tea (it's usually included in admission) but would like somewhere to sit and chat.

I'd quite like mulled wine and if it's a local event lots of people are probably walking so it's not a driving issue

I love the old favourites like guess the weight of the cake, or how many sweets are in the jar....but if the room is crowded I won't stop.

I love craft stalls and this is one thing that you can probably put outside as many craft fairs this time of year are outdoors. Lots of people have gazebos etc waiting in their gardens for summer, so can't be too hard to organise

I hate Santa's grotto. I really don't want the pressure to visit a lacklustre obviously fake Santa.

Happy to indulge kids with face paints but need lots of volunteers so the queue isn't an hour long

If you have to sell second hand uniforms sort them by size

Put musicians outside where they can be heard and enjoyed not inside competing with the conversations

A snow machine (outside) would be fun.

Knock the tin cans down/ hook a duck type stalls for small money and certain prizes are brilliant attractions for kids

Please no bouncy castles

(Sorry this is more rant than helpful)

Dd's school xmas fair is a big fixture on the school calendar. It's really well organised and advertised way in advance. This is what they do to give you a few ideas:

• bouncy castle & hot chocolate stand in the small playground
• a few funfair rides and a burger van in the car park
• canteen turned into a cafe where donated cakes & hot/cold drinks are served
• main hall a mix of PTA activities such as decorate a cookie etc & private stallholders selling craft stuff *sensory room is turned into Santa's grotto which is strictly timed slots booked online only. This avoids the massive queues. *spare class rooms are turned into a photo studio (run by local photographer) reptile room, bookshop etc.

The fair is very popular with the local community and raises more than £3k annually

Clubs and choir do the displays in the lobby area rather than the main hall. Getting the clubs/choir in encourages parents/family to attend to see their little ones performance.

Bailey's hot chocolate?!

I love the idea of a hot chocolate stand! Do you do different flavours, charge extra for whipped cream etc?
We've invested in a candy floss machine recently, but it makes a heck of a mess!
We do tombola, grotto, craft room where children can make gifts, bric-a-brac, school choir performing outside, a few games such as tin can alley etc. The grand draw is a big money-maker but the trick (and hard part) is getting fab prizes donated to go alongside a cash prize.
Hamper raffles.

Oh and we always have a debate over mulled wine - will we sell enough to make paying for an alcohol license worthwhile?

My ideal would be for the PTA to offer the option of paying £10 to stay at home guilt-free

Yes Baileys hot chocolate and standard hot choc with or without extras which cost 10p or so more.

Price according to the school community, ours is in an affluent area so the PTA can get away with charging a bit more. In my old area, the school was in a deprived community so the activities were priced accordingly.

Raffle and tombola. It's not a school fete without a raffle or a tombola.

Ha ha Slightly I was about to post to say 'one that falls on a day when I'm working and DH isn't'. Glad it's not just me!

Love the idea of a hot chocolate stand, wouldn't bother with mulled wine unless you're in a more affluent area - but maybe I'm just a pleb.

I'm a sucker for mince pies so sell those and I'd be there!

Maybe a xmasy lucky dip for the kids - easy to organise and doesn't take up much room. And I agree that you've got to have a raffle or tombola - complete with suspicious bottle of wine/spirit that has probably been going from raffle to raffle for about 10 years.

I'd agree with the pp who mentioned space. About 6 years ago, I went to one which started straight after school at 3.30 so no one bothered going home and the result was hundreds of adults and children, some with buggies, in the main hall, shoulder-to-shoulder. It was boiling hot in there and probably unsafe. I didn't buy anything, I couldn't get to the stalls. It went on until 6pm and a few working parents apparently turned up at 5ish but it was pretty dead by then, everyone had been and gone. In later years it ran from 4.30 - 7 which was better because visits were staggered and it was never too full and never too empty.

The other problem was the lack of food. There were loads of gorgeous home-made cupcakes but nothing more substantial. So, I like the idea of a burger van (or a chip van).

Parents donated Christmassy items and alcohol for hampers, which were made up and silent-auctioned by the deputy headteacher. This was always very popular and it made plenty of money.

Christmas music (not too loud) is a must, maybe from the school choir (but I'm biased, I love children's choirs).

Provide plenty of seating. No one wants to stand around with a polystyrene cup of tea whilst others try to squeeze past.

Actually, a coffee company dispensing decent coffees and teas from a van might go down well, if you live in a catchment where people will pay £2.50 for a drink.

Agree with retro stuff - tombola/guess the Christmas cake's weight/guess how many sweets in the jar. People love nostalgia at Christmas.

Hadn't thought about the alcohol licence problem when I suggested mulled wine. I'd definitely settle for a nice hot chocolate though!

Our school gets all the kids to make a craft which we go and buy at the fair and I'm happy to do that. But then it's also obvious who hasn't been at the fair because their child's craft is hanging there til the end

Yes I agree to using the whole school and spread out so people aren't confined to one area/hall. Dd's school utilises the whole school so there's a constant flow of people.

Glitter tattoos & face painting very popular.

I like a present room where dc pay a few pounds to buy and wrap a secret present for parents.

Shudders at the memory of Christmas Fayre (when DS was in Reception , DD was 2.5 and was gutted that Christmas Fayre wasn't a FunFair Awwww)

The queues were horrendous, people who knew the ropes got in a queue and their DC met them (only Yr 4 and up, otherwise you need to collect your DC).
And they'd let their friends join them so the queue got longer

The main hall was packed , the classrooms were used for cakes, games, balloons.
There was a Decorated Jar stand (they had to take a sweet filled decorated jar in he week before , there was a prize for the best one .

Cakes and biscuits went down well, more icing and sweets than cake though!

They could definately do some things outside. Not sure if our school would allow hot drinks unless you were seated.

And yes - a wrapping stand would go down a storm .

No tack / tat. In the past ours has been a decent craft / food fair. It's now just second hand rubbish bric-a-brac, cakes and crap 'enterprising' games and competitions. I loathe it.

Agree with no santa's grotto - I resent the magic being spoiled by somebody's granddad in red nylon.

My husband would pay the big bucks for someone else to wrap his Christmas presents for him.

Ours is on a sunday morning/lunch time and BBQ
s bacon and sausages go down a storm!