Hello Moms,
We are having an outdoor fundraiser at our elementary school and I'm looking for input as to what sorts of activities have been successful at your own fundraisers. We have an inflatable slide, bouncy house, games, food, cake walk, etc. We're looking to add some things that successfully raise money and are not too difficult to pull off. For instance, one person told me that a "goldfish" game was terrific for them -- kids had to play a game to win tickets for free goldfish at a local pet store. Most kids never even turned in the tickets, but loved playing the game! And of course it was free and easy to provide. Would love your input as to what has worked well for you and your school.
Thanks!
I do face painting and balloon animals, it's always a hit at school fairs.
Sucker tree, cake walk, face painting, nail painting, piggy fishing (small pool filled with water and some marbles, the kids have to pick up a marble with their toes. Gross, I know, but they love it!), photo buttons (we used a digital camera and photo printer and made them right there).
I second the silent auction. Ask local restaurants and businesses to donate gift certificates and then auction them off to parents. Our school auctions off a parking spot for the upcoming school year since parking is a problem at our school when there are events such as plays. Each grade came up with their own silent auction item. The 3rd grade teachers are having an ice cream party and one silent auction winner from each class gets to attend with a friend. One grade did lunch with their teacher, one did a pancake breakfast with the teachers, etc.
Good luck,
K.
Slides & bouncy houses are fine, but the lines are long and kids get frustrated, so they don't buy as many tickets. Have something else that everyone can get to - a shoebox auction is great. Sell raffle tickets and people put tickets in a shoebox next to the item they want. They put as many in as they want, and avoid items that don't interest them. Get things from area merchants and museums (they always want to give away memberships), tourist attractions, etc. You can split it up by grade if you like, as another poster suggested. Sports tickets are a huge draw as well. Sometimes the school will let you auction off a parking space - that really pleases the parents that always pick up or have many activities. A shoebox auction can be better than a silent auction, because it's more anonymous - sometimes people don't like to bid over their friends, and also people don't like to bid a lot more than something is worth. A $25 gift card will earn you $25 or maybe $30 in a silent auction, but might get you $50 in tickets if enough people put in 2 or 3. The shoebox keeps people from seeing how many tickets are in there.
Other classics are "guess how many jelly beans are in the jar" type of things. Kids get to guess and it's fun for them, and everyone has an equal chance. Also having each class make something - handpainted bookcases with the kids' handprints, or a mirror with their signatures around the frame, etc., are great souvenirs from the school year that parents like to "fight over" (in a friendly way!) and have no set value - they can bring in a lot of cash. You need a good group of parent volunteers to get it all done because the teachers don't have time, but it's a great project. Sometimes local woodworkers or mill stores will donate the raw item, and then you do the painting.
If anyone has a vacation home or a boat on a lake, a GREAT way to raise money is to auction off a weekend or a fishing trip or a moonlight sail - those are things people are willing to pay for since they can't get them on their own. Do that as a silent auction or even a live auction.
Another thing that's fun is to put small prize numbers inside helium balloons, then sell the balloons for $5, $10, $25 - you can use different colored balloons for each dollar value (blue balloons are $5, red ones are $10, etc.) - volunteers walk around with balloon "bouquets" and a large hat pin or even a letter opener. Collect the cash (or people can use raffle tickets they bought for other purposes), and let the purchaser pop the balloon - the paper that falls out is usually a number that corresponds to an item on a table, which the winner then goes to claim. The value of the item is more than the cost of the balloon. The element of surprise is fun, and the sound of all that popping gets people revved up. Be sure to have a helper to collect the money and also the balloon remnants so the little kids and the birds don't get them off the ground. If you have any balloons left at the end of the day, auction them off for a bargain price - $25 gets the rest of the bouquet, etc.
Good luck!
The goldfish thing sounds fun!
You didn't explain your 'games' but one game I've played at school was to have students donate (or grocery stores donate) 2-liter soda bottles. Do a ring toss where kids pay for a chance to win a soda bottle.
In one school, it was fun. In one school it didn't make too much money. But we did a nail painting booth. We all have plenty of bottles of nail polish at home, right. Some kids liked getting their nails done. A couple boys wanted theirs painted black. (if you do this one, remember that when it gets dark, you'll not be able to see what you're doing, so set up this booth in a well-lit area)
Another fun hit was to get their hair 'painted' with that spraypaint hair dye. It washes out in one wash. Kids would spend big bucks on it too. They can get one color for 50 cents, 2 colors (stripes) for 75 cents, or something like that. I think you can paint a lot of heads with one can of spray, esp with little elementary-kid-sized heads.
Raffle! Get donations from parents who own their own businesses, or from local places around town. Raffle them off. But 'need not be present to win' is a must. I refuse to buy raffles if I have to be present to win. Ya just never know if your kids will get sick or if you'll have to work late... I dunno. It's more fun if the winner is THERE but if you win and you're not there, it's a bummer to hear about it later.
Have you thought about getting a silent auction together? That's one thing that is a HUGE success at our school every year at our carnival. Each Grade is responisble for donating items. Like 1st grade donates kitchen items (moms will do pampered chef stuff) gift cards to resteraunts, 2nd grade is responsible for sports items (State College T-shirts, football stuff, tickets to local hockey games) and so on. It can be as small or as big as you want it. Oh and the parents had bid on having their child be the school secretary for a day (they shadow the secretary) or the principal, teachers donate an afternoon to take the highest bidder to the movies...it's a lot of fun.
Sometimes local farms or petting zoos will bring there animals for free to fundraisers. You can provide an area for the animals and provided small reusable containers specifically for each individual animal, that can be given to each chid. Each container full of food can cost 50 cents. It would be a mini petting zoo, that kids always love!! At the exit you can place a big jug of hand sanitizer.
