Ideas wanted for social & fund raising for lower school

HappySad

I am looking for ideas to raise money for the school. They can be social events or anything. What have your found to raise good money? What have you found to be very social & enjoyed by children, parents & friends.

freebiequennie

a auction of kindness so people offer services that are then auctioned off so everyone pays a few pounds to come in and for nibbles then you auction.

eg - 4hrs babysitting
- 3hrs cleaning
- decorate a room
- wash the car once a week for a month
- chauffeur for the day
- make a car every week for a month
- personal training session 3 times a week
- gym buddy 3 times a week (some people hate going alone)

sure others can think of more

tamlem

At my childrens last school we held an auction of promises at a local hotel. It was a dinner and dance evening and then an auction of items either volunteered by parents or sourced from the community and businesses. It was extremely successful and raised loads of money.

We were astonished at how much people bid after a few drinks. The auctioned items were really varied and included- flights to ireland, signed football shirts, 2 wills drawn up by lawyer (parent), one parent volunteered the catering for a childs birthday partyfor up to 30 children and loads more!

Of course what you can get to auction depends on your contacts and your catchment area as does the amount bid for items but I have heard of many schools who have found this quite successful.

Good luck!

tamlem

Freebie queenie and I are obviously on the same wavelength!

Janepig

I don't know if any Indian restaurants near you do a similar thing, but all the ones around here do special Monday night buffets where a school PTA/church/charity, whoever, books the restuarant for a minimum of 50 people, they sell tickets at £10 a go, £5 goes to the restaurant and £5 goes to the charity or whatever you're raising money for. I went to one afew weeks ago to raise money for a local church that a friend's mother goes to and it was great. The restaurant was packed (unusual for a Monday!!), there was plenty of food and you could go up as many times as you wanted, and there was also a raffle. In total I think they raised upwards of £600. I thought it was a fantastic idea.

Jxx

freebiequennie

great minds think alike tanlem!!

HappySad

Great items. more are very much welcome.

whitty999

a balloon race each child buys a balloon release them with there name tags on the furthest wins?
just an idea

wornoutmumoftwo

Ours do;

Shopping night (charge local shops 10% of nights taking)
Karaoke
Race night (good earner - get local shops to sponser a race)
Boot Sale
Fayre/Fete
Rag Bag (£200 a tonne)
Easyfundraising.org.uk (Shop online the school raises money)
Raffles]
Bonus Ball (Lottery - school gets half - winner gets half).

That's all I can think of for now

tamlem

Another thing we did was the personalised calendar/tea towel thing and a really good art gallery event.

Every child painted a picture and they were framed by the guy who ran it, then the hall was turned into an art gallery with stands and the kids came- were given the number of their art work and could take family to see it with the option to purchase. I think they were £5 per painting and the man who did all the organising and framing charged 2.50 so the school made 2.50 per child (not bad in a school of 500, there were no paintings unsold!).

msb5262

I've been involved with fund-raising mostly for after-school club. We found that for ordinary coffee mornings/jumble sales/bring & buys, we could do a fantastic tombola and raffle and make lots of cash. The method is very simple - with the agreement of the headteacher, the school has a mufti day one Friday and instead of pupils bringing 50p or £1, they each bring an item for the tombola. The following Friday (or 2 or 3 weeks later), another mufti day is held for raffle prizes. If you want to continue with this theme, you can do a luxury food hamper with each child bringing a single item for that, pamper baskets with everyone bringing something on the bath/shower theme etc etc.
What I liked about this method of stocking the stalls with prizes was that it doesn't have to be expensive - some people send a tin of beans or a packet of crisps for the tombola, others send a bottle of wine or spirits; it's also fine to pass on unwanted gifts etc in this way as they will be brand new.
A very social way to raise money is to do a bingo evening and use the mufti method to create a fantastic raffle for half time. Pub quiz is also a good one (again with raffle at half time). Another to investigate is either a table-top sale - held inside the school , you charge say £5 per table and sellers keep their own profits but you run a raffle and/or sell refreshments - or a car boot sale on the school grounds, on the same basis.
If you have lots of outdoor space, you could consider a one-day car wash and valet where people pay say £5 for washing and £5 for valeting. Obviously this needs careful supervision from the health and safety point of view, but it worked very well for a group near me. Another possibility is a fun run, where participants are sponsored and again you run a raffle and/or sell refreshments.
In all your fundraising, don't forget to ask local businesses to sponsor you and make sure you get photos and details into the local press.
Best of luck - hope you raise lots of money and have a great time.