Christmas fair SOS

[Jesstryinghard]

Have just got involved with PTA which Is in danger of dissolving :(

What's going to make the Christmas fair a MASSIVE success ??

Many many thanks

What's the problem? And what's success - lots of profit or lots of attendance and happy parents/teachers? Is it lack of support from teachers/parents? Or that you desperately need funds? If your funds aren't too bad then I would concentrate on providing a really fun and good quality, value for money fair to try and get parents and children back on side. By that I mean make sure that the prizes are good, and that the odds of winning on tombolas are fair (but obviously not so great prizes and odds that you don't make a loss!)

Success for profits - Find a parent who is able to get matched funding from their employer for charitable work. Lots of big companies do this. If that parent can be involved in the raffle, or a big money earner like the bottle tombola (by involved in, I mean a 30 min volunteering slot) then it can double your profits for that stall/activity.

People generally like the old favourites - bottle tombola, children's tombola, lucky dip, Santa's grotto, cakes and tea/coffee (mulled wine if your school would allow it) and lots of good, well thought out games for the children.

Other ideas:
Used teddy tombola (get a pop up tent and kids get to go in a pick a teddy)
Human fruit machine
Biscuit decorating/Craft table
Second hand book stall
Secret room (where children choose and wrap presents for their parents)
Have a grand finale? Have the school choir sing some carols?

Lots/All of these depend on the generosity of parents in terms of donations and time in volunteering to help run stalls though.

I think its tough for lots of people at the moment and sometimes I think its good to show that the PTA are trying their best not to just 'fleece' parents but looking to fund raise outside the parent population. So you could see if local businesses could sponsor a stall for a donation. Or widen the invitation to the Fair to the local community. Or offer something that doesn't cost anything to parents, like having a free storytelling room of Christmassy stories?

Good Luck!!!

being realistic.

I think if you haven't got a great previous Xmas fair record to build on then start with simple but effective, don't try to achieve too much in the next few weeks, you haven't got that long to plan it so think carefully about what to do. Our PTA is in very similar position (you could be at my school to be honest!)

last year things which were popular with ours were 'making' stalls so kids could decorate baubles (best to keep it stickers or jewels etc as no problem with drying - they take them straight home with them), raffle - get good prizes, ask local businesses for donations/parents businesses, cake stall, we had making crackers, face painting. gift stall (parents could donate something to be sold, could be home made craft stuff etc), santa's grotto. selling of tea/coffee/cake and so on.

keep outgoings as low as possible (so if going to do making stalls then make sure you can cover your costs and make a profit etc)

Our biggest money maker are wreathes, get greenery in ring already done, buy pretty decs from ikea, tiger etc, pinch fresh holly and red berries from friends' gardens - hotglue gun decs, hang with ribbon. Quick and fun to make, costs about 10-15 quid depending on cost of wreath & decs... sell for 20 or 25. Oh and we buy cinnamon sticks and dry slices of oranges ... they sell well.

Cakes, mulled wine and mince pies. Play christmas carols - good luck.

Raindeer food.
Our school asks us to bring in bottle or chocolates. for tombola.

Hot pork cobs are a hit.

Santa grotto

Biggest thing is get helpers but maybe in slots as people want to spend time with their kids

Talk to Y5/Y6 DCs find out what makes the children pester their parents into coming?

At ours pictures with Santa.

Then as much stuff to sell that is free or very very very cheap.

Cakes, minced pies, mulled wine, crisps, pick and mix sweets, pop. Anything that cash and carry sells in bulk and makes a good profit even at kid friendly prices.

Raffle adults and DCs

Soft toy tombola

We have no luck with dearer single items. People notice spending 1x£5, but not £15 pestered off them by two DCs and a mulled wine for them selves.

As someone said the one large item that might sell is wreaths also plants if you can sweet talk a local nursery.

We have several large ones round here and can some times get things.

Publicise it (to death), have a Father Christmas there, mulled wine for the parents, some sort of food (a couple of parents to man barbecues outside) and sell hot dogs - that way families will come for lunch. We also have a chocolate fountain (with fruit kebabs / marshmellows etc) which goes down really well. Ask the school to do an own clothes day and instead of children paying a £1, they have to bring a bottle. Then have a bottle raffle (for adults). We usually have a children's raffle which is all chocolate. We also have a "secret" room where only children are allowed and they sell tat cheap Christmas presents for parents (bubble bath / socks etc) that have been bought in bulk. Kids love the idea of it being a secret. There is also a "big" raffle for the best prizes - every pupil is sent home in the week before the fair with £5 worth of raffle tickets and asked to either sell the raffle tickets (and send the £5 into school) or send the tickets back. Obviously some people do return them but the vast majority send in the money. Craft ideas - decorating biscuits, making xmas tree decorations, stained glass windows (made out of tissue paper), door hangers / signs, christmas pictures.

The other thing that our school do - some people have mixed views of this but it is generally accepted as the norm now at our school - is that you can't pay cash for most of the stalls on the day (you can for the cake stall / food etc) but the craft stalls / raffles etc use a "payment card" system. Just basically a piece of paper with a number of boxes on it, each box has "25p" written inside the box. The payment card is £5 - child puts his or her name on it, whenever they "pay" at a stall, the person running the stall just crosses off one of the boxes / boxes to the right value. Means that most people who attend are spending at least £5 per child / per family if they just get one for the family. There are 400+ children at our school so its a big money spinner for us.

Do you have local small businesses / parents that run little businesses? We have parents that have little jewellry / candle making / stationery businesses - they come and pay a nominal fee (say £20) for having a table.

Hope that helps

One other thing - we also had a room with Wii's (or Xboxes or something ) which had a Mario Kart challenge (or something - not really up on my computer games!). Basically there was a game where people paid say 50p/£1 to have a go/turn and the person with the highest score of the afternoon won a prize. No financial outlay other than the prize and it was a real money spinner with the boys / dads.

Our school runs a crèche for the under 5's - in the school canteen so loads of space. lots of paper to scribble, some tents and a few toys. Parents could come in and stay for a very small fee, or leave with a couple of TA's for a slightly larger one. Time slots limited to 1 hour. I believe the TA's worked it on a rota system (Cant remember how much it was as mine are older but it was only a couple of quid) but it was a real money spinner and little outlay. Friends loved it as they could pop the smallest ones there and help their school aged kids doing some of the craft etc.

Also put out a notice on Gumtree or any local sites for people who run small craft businesses - they will often be happy to rent a table and sell their goods just before Christmas

Our school made £4k on the Christmas raffle alone last year. Most of the prizes were donated by local business', however they actually bought the top and second prize from the PTA fund (an Ipad and something else but can't remember what) People are more inclined to buy tickets if the prizes are really good.

Get the junior forms to do a stall each. SO they have to decide what to do, and then have a rota for manning them (with a PTA member or their teacher if teacher is willing).

Brilliant grotto is often one of the best crowd pullers. If you can have an "exciting journey" there (following tinsel/finding presents on the way/sledge run) it adds to the excitement.

find a sale or return christmas tree wholesaler, tell the parents you'll have lovely trees - make £10 on each tree!

The most popular thing at our Xmas fair is the hamper raffle. Each child is asked to bring in a nice food item suitable for a hamper. The class reps then box the hampers and wrap them prettily. Tickets are sold on the day and beforehand. The hampers always look great without any individual having too much pressure on them. It isn't necessary for there to be a hamper from each class if you don't have enough contributions from the parents.

A really good raffle. Get in touch with local businesses for prizes

Chocolate raffle. Pupils have a non uniform day and bring in an item of chocolate for the bazaar as payment.

Goes down a storm and costs nothing!

Some superb ideas !!! Wow !! Thank you so much !!

Things my son's school have done for the past few years, so I guess they are successful?

Class hamper - Every class has a list of 30-40 items from champagne to breadsticks and the parents sign up for something for the kids to bring in. The PTA stick them in cardboard boxes covered with wrapping paper and cellophane, and voilà 6 (or however many classes) ready made hampers for the raffle.

Bottle stall - Non uniform day and the fine is a bottle of anything. From ketchup to alcohol.

Cake stall - Non uniform day the day before the fair and the fine is shop bought cake for the cake stall. These are raffled off for £1 a ticket. They do something similar with Easter Eggs at Easter.