cliquey pta, they want new blood, now they have it, they are looking down their noses at us

[pukkapatch]

and it is really annoying. i am tempted to just walk off, and leave them to it, but my friend is really bothered by it, and wants to have a really really successful summer fayre, to 'show them'
any ideas or suggestions? we have recently volunteered to help organise the summer fayre, but it seems they want us to organise it, and take over as it were. except that my friends and i have never actually belonged to any cliques before, and rather naively assumed the idea was to help our kids out.

so for example, the idea of having quad bikes at the summer fayre is being vetoed because it wont make enough money. whilst i think that even if it only covers costs it will be worth it, because the kids will have a fab time. but success is judged in monetary terms by these peopel.

hmm. But surely it is mainly about raising money for hte school?

but the PTA is all about raising funds!!! One of the best fund raisers we have are the fortnightly cake sales done by a class at a time.

Quad bikes I just wouldn't go there too dangerous/insurance issues etc etc

Balloon race, strawberry teas, bouncy castle, throw wet sponges at the teachers.

No quad bikes - it will be a nightmare to organise and patrol! The kids would love 'beat the goalie' just as much

well, yes, thats what i am learning.... i thought the kids having a good time was at least incidental.
so, any ideas on how to deal with these women? they all wear a uniform of dyed blonde hair, bodenesque clothes, perfect neat little, huge,houses and perfect neat little 'angels' who all go to grammar schools and never ever make a mess. au pairs, cars, and they all work in oh so worthy employment. [gag emoticon]
not being blonde, and living in the real world, we dont quite fit their stereotype of what their pta should be liek.

okie, if mumsnetter say no to quad bikes, then no it is
they do all those things at the summer fayre already. the bikes were meant to be as an alternative to horse riding, as the pony who did it for many years has since died, {owned by pta parents]
and its a state school before anyone asks

pony rides - surely some of them must have ponies/horses

Be very thick skinned and ask for the help

Pukka, shoulders back and head up.

We all bring different skills to PTA.

I tried to butt in join a few years ago but was put-down and pooh-poohed by the then PTA so legged it PDQ.

Wanted to get involved so eventually pushed my way in again and decided that the other members would welcome my gobbyness skills and be able to utilise them accordingly.

Go for it, the school will appreciate it, and you may find that the perfect mums are shy/inept socially/lonely

it's actually really really difficult to get hold of ponies for pny rides. because local stables etc just won't oblige so it has to be someone that owns a pony and is prepared to bring it over.

I wouldn't do quad bikes because

a. the insurance would be a nightmare and
b. the queues will be so horrendous that you won't be able to accommodate all the children and it will lead to more tears and tantrums than it is worth.

best bets are cake stall/brick-a brack stall, candyfloss/popcorn/slush (there are companies that will hire you the machines and come out to man them for you) bar of course, plus bbq selling hotdogs etc, bouncy castle with bouncy slide for kids, strawberries and cream (esp if f fate is around the time of wimbledon)

but they all seem to be together, so how can they be lonely? unless lonely together?
but i know wha tyou mean. which is why i joined really. its just i cant qute get up the gung ho my friend has about wanting to make even more money than they have made in previous years. they make a f&&&ing fortune. and i rather sadly feel that all this fundraising cash could go to a better cause than providing the school's pool with an automatic dosimeter. or other such high tech nonsense.
i shall rise above it, and remember my original intentions.

At my dd's school fair the following were popular/made lots of money:
cake stall/international food stall
BBQ - good for involving dads
bouncy castle
wet sponge at teacher
beat the goalie - could be run by the older dc
Bric a brac

We also did lots of smailler stalls which were good for involving dc in planning and running of stall e.g:
treasure map
fill cups with sand and put a coin in some - dc have to pour sand through sieve to see if they've won.
drop a coin into bucket of water onto a target

Good luck, it'll be hard work but hopefully very rewarding.

Oh yes, cups of sand a winner with pocket-money prizes.

Also Teddy Tombola,and henna-pen art (allergy concern but v popular when the artist is handsome dad phwoar)

Bouncy castles can be good. Last year we used a company that didn't charge anything for the hire of the castles and they gave the pta a % of their profit (they also provided the staff to run it). I think this alone made about £200 for the pta, and with no risk. You can easily pay £200 to hire bouncy castles and you then run the risk of making nothing if they weather is crap.
Local scout group run BBQ and give pta a % of profits.

This company is good if you want some kind of go karts. Again, they provide satff and expertise
[http://www.go-kartparty.co.uk/Apps/Content/Html/ViewContent.aspx?fid=11 Go Kart Party]

We also had a Pimms tent where you had to roll an odd number on a dice to win a glass of Pimms (cos you can't directly sell alcohol)

Tombola is profitable too

Go Kart Party

Oooh Pimms Tent

I am so stealing that idea

We were not sure how popular Pimms tent would be so we started off with 4 one litre bottles of Pimms, but then had to send somebody off to shops to buy more!
Must be a drunken bunch of parents at our schoool!
Was so hot parents were desperate to win!

We have done a Pimms tent two years in a row. It is VERY popular (in warm weather) but doesn't make much money. This year we are trying for a beer tent.

Our big earners are the Bottle Tombola (we have a non-uniform day the day of the Fair, and kids bring a bottle of anything or £1. With the cash we buy more bottles.

Also the raffle. We beg local businesses for prizes ages in advance. The kids/their families sell the tickets. We just give each family a pack of tickets to sell, then send out reminders. We also have a contest for the family that sells the most.

Good Luck

ok my fav.topic

in my absence i got co opted on to the committee for our fair and for the last 10 weeks this has been a full time job(for job read obsession!)

get a programme together to print and sell adverts in it ....get local businesses to provide the artwork for their company and specify how many cms this can be as we have made a lot of work for ourselves a ads have come in all shapes and forms

we made about £650 profit last year form this and am aiming for twice that this year...this can help pay for prizes etc

ours is costing about £700 to print 1200 copies as it a gloss high quality one (pronta print wanted £1200 !!!!!!!!!)but if the school has a repro centre that would be much cheaper or someone's company or husbands company can photocopy them especillay if you go for non gloss

raffle and wheel of fortune are the best money spinners so get local store/restaurnats to give hampers/vouchers ..hair dressers have given vouchers for £50 cuts etc etc champagne

the pony ride thing is impossible we were quoted £850 for 3 hours for 2 ponies!!!!!!!!

I have charged £21 per quarter page ad and £37.50 for half apage (a5)black and white

and get local company to sponsor the 4 cover pages as they will get full page ads

one school round here manages a 32 page programme but that is too much

we are going for 17 pages of ads, a wordsearch, letter from Head, a thanks yous page 2 pages of artciles for which companies are donating for a write up..maybe you cd do local restaurnants, kids parties etc etc and 2 pages for a plan of the stalls

get an ice cream van and charge him £50 to come and maybe other stall holders..phoenix cards etc etc

the main problem is then do you sell the programmes for admission in advance or on the day or do you ask for donations on the gate

anyway good luck and jsut a word of warning
health and blinking safety..our risk assessment runs to pages! ball in the welly
bar-b-que, loudspeaker cables running across the grass etc etc

and then there is the wet wetaher plan

this said ours made £5000profit last year
infant school of 120 pupils but then again it was the ONLY nice wetaher saturday for months

I love love love the idea of selling advertising in the programs!!

£5,000 profit for an infant school of 120! Thats amazing.

Is it a state or a private school?

state.
jesus, why did i join this thing???????????
every single one of these suggestions is already being run by the school. they are a money making monster. HOW is it possible to top what they have done previously with my apathetic attitude?
the fair last year raised six and a half, and that was when it was pouring with rain outside, and the whole shebang had to be moved inside.
aaaarrrggghhhhh...

I do kind of agree with you about having stuff for fun as well as money makers - our school had mini quad bikes a few years ago - a company did it (and took care of insurance!) It didn't make much money but it was an attraction that drew people in. SImilarly we have had people in that do pottery painting with the kids - again the school doesn't make much money but it takes a while so parents wander round spending money while their children are kept occupied painting.

This is another thread to read and weep

Why bother being competitive about a summer fayre? How is it that you've got time and energy enough to be competitive about it? Why not just relax and thank god they have enough time to do it and show some appreciation?

Sounds like you've been coerced by your friend into helping out. Are you really running the whole thing yourselves this year? Has she got any brilliant ideas?

Don't dismiss the old favourites mentioned here. There's a reason why they do well and people come to expect certain things year in year out. If you really have your heart set on quad bikes then why not organise that as a separate event.

If your heart's not really in it though I would think about stepping down now because it's really hard work, even if you do manage to delegate successfully, and can be a very thankless task at times. You'll need the hide of a rhino when you get comments left, right and centre about why you didn't do such and such stall or what useless prizes you chose etc, etc.