I'm joining the PTA. Fundraising ideas please? (x-posted)

Good people of hitched, help me please. I'm attending my first PTA meeting next week. I know they're going to mention fundraising. Could anyone please give me any ideas? It's only a small school and has had a big budget cut this year so fundraising is essential.  

Thanks so much in advance. 

(I'm so sorry, I always seem to be asking questions lately)

The quiz night always goes down well.

Also, we have a ladies indulgence night which is popular.

Christmas craft fair, with cakes/cards/gifts for sale.

Hi, really depends on what people would lie, in my previous school Spring bingo was a huge seller, where as that would not go down wel with the current place!

Apart from Summer and Christmas fairs, we have done sponsored bounces - have to be careful health and safety wise with this though, we havn't done it for a few years, at the fairs the children get to come to school in odd socks if they bring in chocolate/ bottles etc for the tombola stall and we always get a stall matched by the local banks.  We have just drawn our portraits for a shool calendar, but this would have to be researched asap as it would need to be printed, same for class christmas cards athough these didn't do as well as they were quite expensive.

In reception we did a sponsored obstacle course when te rest of the school did a sponsored spell!  Will try to think of other things.

People seem to go crazy for chocolate bingo at my school...the children all bring in chocolate in return for wearing non-uniform and then in the evening come back with their parents and play lots of games (including bingo) with the prizes being the chocolate.

We also have a christmas fair with the usual stalls but also the children make their own games and some of them get chosen to run them at the fair.

Umm...getting involved in sports day, country dancing day (don't ask!) all those kinds of things by selling teas, coffees, ice creams to the parents who come and watch.

100 club - most PTAs do that, I think.

Good luck, and well done for joining the PTA, most really need help and they make such a difference to school, believe me. Ours managed to pay for most of a huge  whole school trip last year - the children had a fantastic time.

Have you got someone that is a bit handy with making things?

Our Dad made a huge wheel and taped it into sections, each sectioned was numbered.

He then fixed a ratchet to it, with a wooden arrow, so that it could lay on a table and be spun round - still with me!

He then made some numbers to match the numbers on the wheel.

Sell the numbers for say 25p each and who ever has the winning number wins say a football if its the kids or a cheap bottlemb of bubbly for an adults evening - putting the numbers up to say £1 each

We've raised hundreds of pounds with this over the years!

footballs can be bought really cheap at warehouses

Our PTA arrange a couple of big events each year - we have a summer fair with stalls (eg tombola, crockery smash, white elephant, raffle) and a bouncy castle day.

This year we've got a circus coming - tickets more than cover the cost of the circus, then there'll also be a barbecue and raffle on the night.

There are 2 discos per year group each year.  One of the teachers DJs, there's a small charge for a ticket which includes a snack and a drink, but there's also a tuck shop which makes a bit of money.

Coffee mornings always go down well.  We've also had quiz nights and shopping evenings, "bags to school" days and sponsored events.

Another idea which is very little work is "Yellow Moon" catalogues (www.yellowmoon.org.uk) - they're craft catalogues that go out with a sticker which has your school's reference.  Parents place their orders direct with Yellow Moon and you get a cheque sent through twice a year for the commission you earn.

edited to correct web address - sorry!!

Fantastic ideas here. Thank you so much, I really appreciate your help. 

Whats 100 club?

We are doing letters from Santa, a letter with details (childs name, sibling,teachers name and their home address) is going out to the parents in sealed envelopes, parents can fill in the details and return with £1.50, we are making the personalised letters and putting a north pole franking mark (£2.50 off eeee.bay!) and posting to their home address. This is time consuming but worthwhile!

Jam Jar tomola, children bring in jam jars filled with sweets for a tombola.

HTH x

Am I imagining things or has MrsJess written a book about fundraising that you can buy online?

For a fayre of some description, a few of the favourite stalls we have had are:

Teddy Tombola (families donate unwanted soft toys, which volunteers take home and wash, to spruce them up a bit).  You can package them up with ribbons and stuff if you want them to look extra special.  Then you run a tombola stand as normal, and the kids LOVE it.  We did one in the spring, and there were loads of soft toys donated (people love the chance to clear out), but none of them were left at the end of the night.

Guess the Malt - if someone is prepared to donate a nice single malt whisky, you put it in a nondescript box, and come up with a list of malts for people to choose from.  I think we charged £1 a go.

Guess the serial number of the £20 note (as above)

We also do a calendar - we ask local businesses to sponsor a month for a fee which covers the printing costs - that way any sales are pure profit.

Beetle drives can work well too.