New, New Thirfty Gifty for Christmas and All Ocassions 2011..Santas Challenge...

mum2one

susan42 wrote: »

Gosh rufus - do i remember them. I used to have 8 jelly teddies for 1/2p ....

Mum2 one - I didnt know you could do that with vouchers, i put all my sainsbury ones in the bin

Well I just came back from the craft fair...it went really well had some fab comments about my makes and nothing was over a £1....I try really hard to source things for free or cheap. I didnt sell out but I made £70 which was amazing, didnt think there was many people there. I sold out of somethings which amazed me, and alot can be adapted for christmas.

They invited me back at christmas but they didnt know the date so hopefully it wont be when I`m away.

Mary - I like those flat canvas shoes, I found some on hte market, as they wasnt very popular they were selling them off for a £1. My favourites though are the ones like crocs but more "feminine" for want of a better word. They more fitting than big clumpy crocs. They`re £3 and come in all colours, I use them for slippers as well as they`re so comfortable.

wow that was a brilliant sale, and with everything under £1, you did brilliantly,
Can I rack yours and everyones brains, as you know I'm on the PTA, and were really trying to work our rear off to bring it back up, fell flat for the last year,
Got summer fayre - July, but any ideas for that, any events, and suggestions, way, shape or form, (esp any for design and technology - class has to have a table), any ideas for events would be brillaint.

Our downfalls
Low income area (single parents, low income family, eldery area)
Volunteers - few and far between (that bad dragged dad in to make numbers up!!, my mate dragged her hubby in!!)
Spending - people in the area don't like spending money
Liquor licence - thats a complete no no for the area were in.

I don't do things by half!! xx

susan42

Hi everyone

I got my thinking cap on....

Not sure where you live (i completely forgot) but mcD`s do grants for kids activities, could you not get them to donate or pay even pay for hire of bouncy castle . Kids can then go on for nominal amount and put the drink and food stall next to it so peeps buy their kiddies a drink./food

Ask an ice cream man to come and charge him a fee or percentage for his pitch.

Ask parents for donations, tin, bottle or unwanted item and make hampers out of them.

Make sure you get a cake stall, they took £270 on last saturdays one

Bag pack at supermarket`s another way to make money, for any things you need to buy.

My biggest seller was a 6p notebook from asda, covered in backing paper, plenty free on tinternet and school has a printer, put in a cello bag with pencils from asda, covered in matching backing paper and rubber. The design team could be in charge of this.

Have you a premier league club or big football club near you? Take a couple of balls and get them to sign the balls. I used to stalk newcastle training ground and get them to sign, then turned up at the pubs on saturdays selling raffle tickets(made 300££ that way) might have to wait till september for that one though

What about approaching a craft shop and asking them to donate materials, they usually find a box of something they dont want and give to you, if you do it in person, take a headed letter from school clearly saying who you are.

Ask the local fire station to come with one of their fire engines for kids to crawl over, they usually do.

I could keep going, give me a shout if you need any help. If you want I could design you a program say of events, timings and tell the people you`re getting things off its free advertising for you.

Have some competitions for the kids, like best baked cake...

And if you PM me your address I`ll post a craft box starter kit for you ...lol

One thing you have to do to get the parents to come is organise an event type thing say. A choir (kids, parents love to see their kids perform) to open the fayre with some songs. Or a 5 a side footy comp. (Mams and dads have to come then) Or have a summer fayre queen with attendents, crowned with a tiara. You have to have performing kids to gaurantee the footfall of parents.

Get the paper to come or email them photos of the events of the fayre....

KiWi13

Hi folks havent had much time to catch up yet but just spotted on play.com (although presumably you can get it anywhere) that there is a new game on preorder for the Wii called ...
We wish you a merry christmas

The Perfect Stocking Stuffer!

Santa Claus, reindeers and elves are all coming to town this Holiday season, but they're not coming down the chimney! They're coming to Wii in the first ever mini-game and activities collection designed to get you in the christmas spirit. With holiday themed mini-games unlike anything you've ever seen, We Wish You A Merry Christmas is the perfect gift for anyone to find under the tree this holiday season.

Play have it for £9.99 and just thought if anyone was buying games early this might be the opportunity before Christmas gets closer and the prices rise!

hope it helps someone catch you all soon

KiWi

KiWi13

sorry just to add to the above post... it would seem play is the only place at the moment selling it on preorder but found another description that i thought would give us all a smile thinking about Christmas (well it put one on my face anyway)

With 7 gameplay modes and 5 Holiday-themed activities, We Wish You A Merry Christmas includes games like Elf Bowling, Present Catch, Reindeer Races and more!Race to deliver presents by the end of the night in "Santa's Sleigh," Serve thirsty elves in "Hot, Hot Chocolate," match three of the same decorations to clear the board in "Deck the Halls."Join the festivities with an animation style reminiscent of your favourite Holiday specials like "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."The Holiday spirit doesn't end when you're done playing! Count down the days to Christmas in the included Advent Calendar. Turn your television into a fireplace with the burning "Yule Log" feature and lead your family in beloved Christmas Carols with the "Holiday Sing-a-Long" mode. Use the pop-up keyboard to write a letter to Santa and you may even get a response!

KiWi

mary-op

Hello all :j

mum2one - I thought OH's stomach cramps might be IBS but then later in the evening they turned into really sharp pains so in the end I had to get the ambulance and go off to A & E.....midnight by the time we got there ! Doctor scratched his head, did the usual blood and urine tests and eventually, when I pushed to know what was wrong he said he thought 'pancreatitis' .........no treatment for it he said but they'd keep OH in anyway. So I get taxi home and get to bed about 5am
Ring hospital this morning and turns out its appendix ! He was on the list for theatre............went about 12.30pm and now still in recovery. Seems a long time but nurse says its normal. Got to ring again in about hour.
So been a bit of a weird day to say the least. I've done nothing except be on the phone one way or another and as for the complaint I made about the xray that OH never had and should have, reply from that was all apologetic but no refund for taxi fare to send him home, they want paying for pills he didn't want or need and if I want to pursue it I have to consult solicitor !:eek: Anyway, got complaints leaflet out and have not contacted ICOS and they've got details and sending forms for me to complete so here's hoping. I'm not giving up on this one.

Sorry for winge/rant............one of those days.

Hope you're all ok:)

Pixie_Fairydust

Mum2One - I was the secretary on my kids PTA for 7 years, I helped set it up from scratch as it was a brand new primary school, reception to yr 6.

We were in quite an affluent area, but don't let that fool you, parents were tight with money and even more so with their time! It was always the same few people who volunteered. It was hard work, but great fun, I wouldn't have missed doing it for the world.

Most parents were really grateful for us organising things, but when they were asked to help they always had an excuse! Once at Easter we had an Easter Egg hunt, you had to take your ticket to the table and choose an egg, they were kindly donated by our local supermarket, they were not tiny ones either, but they only donated 2 varieties, the amount of parents who moaned and complained that their children didn't have 'much of a choice' :mad:

Summer Fayre ideas

Raffle, make up 2 big hampers in wicker baskets as the main prizes, one for the adults, wine, chocs, DVD etc and one for the kids for summer, bucket, spade, water pistol, beach towel etc, they look really great on the raffle table, then you can pad it out with lots of little prizes - donated by stores/companies and parents.

Ask local supermarket if you could have a trolley dash as a prize, if not ask what they can donate, more often than not they are quite generous, especially if you promote the supermarket.

Could you do a bar-be-que? Food for us was always the money spinner, chips, nachos with cheese, etc.

Cake stall was very popular too, always sold out!

We didn't have an alcohol licence either, but bought cheap sugar free pop & squash for the kids and did teas and coffees too.

Items donated that aren't good enough for your raffle could be on the tombola stall.

Get one of the older kids to walk around the field and ask parents for a £1 and their guess what the bonus ball will be on the Sat lotto draw, you will make £49 really quickly, school gets £29 and the winner gets £20! really simple and easy.

Guess the weight of the cake, guess the number of sweets in the jar, they are quite simple to do.

I could go on but I won't! Hope that helps. Good luck :T
Pixie

elysia2003

Hi Pixie - some great ideas there. I really like the sound of the bonus ball one - fab.

Mary - nope I haven't got appendicitis. lol. I hope OH feels better soon. My goodness, you pair have gone through the wars this year!

Mum2one - Docs can't come up with any ideas, but everyone not medically trained say IBS or Gallstones. My sis had gallbladder out about six years ago, and she's five years younger than me. Not sure what it is, but when it flares up, my goodness me, it's painful. sorry for moaning.

Susan - great ideas there hun too. How do you come up with them all?

Kiwi - I ordered that wii game last october/november, but when I realised it was going to be for this christmas I cancelled it. I know it's on pre-order but 14 months is a bit much . I doubt she'll want it this Christmas, she'll be nearly 9.

mum2one

Thank you for the fab ideas, getting them filed ready, as the PTA meeting next week is to discuss the fete.... (help!!!).

Mary - Hope hubby goes on ok, glad they finally got to the route of the problem, but its taken long enuf, and everything u and hubby have been throu. Def go ahead with that complaint. xx

rufusdog52

Morning all

Had a bit of a disaster morning. Youngest daughter is doing a mosaic project for her final art piece for school exams. She had a load of pottery that needed breaking up into little pieces so I got up early, waited till OH went to work and then set to it with a hammer. Only trouble was I forgot that the work top in the kitchen was tiles underneath and when I finished we found a load of the tiles smashed. Luckily I had some spares left in the shed so had to go and dig them out, not easy when it was full of junk and the tiles had to be right at the back in the corner.

Didnt have any tile cement so have stuck them down with grout and hope they dont move about when its dry. Our grout we used before was a dark grey and its been painted over with a brown paint over the years and all I had was white grout so have made it all look ok and left it to dry. Found a small pot of brown paint in cellar to use later just need to find a tiny brush.

Hopefully OH wont notice when he gets in tonight, he would have had a fit if hed seen it earlier lol. He is so house proud and we have his mum coming tomorrow for the weekend so everything has to be perfect.

elysia2003

OH NO RUFUS!!! That's what I do, fix it asap and pretend it never happened.

Funnily enough, I bought a load of tiles the other day from B & Q, there were reduced to 50p a box. I plan to smash them up and mosaic-ing some plant pots.