[cantthinkofone]

Hi all

My boys school is having their 21st birthday fete in March.

I'm looking for great ideas and ways to fundraise for it. Or even tell me things you've seen at other fetes etc that have been great.

We are having people who like to hold stalls etc come in also.

Thanks!

This post has been edited by Therese: 09/11/2012, 07:17 PM

[mindy05]

We have found that rather than let outsiders come in with their own stalls, we have had school run ones. For example, one parent had a face painting stall one year and would have taken home over $700. She only had to pay $30 to the school, so made a huge profit.

I would look into children's rides and book them now. The kids seem to love the jumping castle and giant slide the most. If you have several rides, then you can sell wristbands to the kids for unlimited access. Ours are $25 if bought before the day, and there are 5 activities to choose from.

Your basic stalls could be:

BBQ- sausages in bread, souvlaki (we're in a big Greek area), falafel .

Cold drinks/ icypoles

Coffee stand- We've just bought a coffee machine. It almost paid for itself on the election day 2 weeks ago.

Cake stall- send a paper plate in a plastic bag home the week before, ask parents to bring cakes, listing ingredients, the morning of the fete.

Lolly stall/ candy bar. We make up bags of mixed lollies and fairy floss.

Craft stall- I belong to a group which meets every fortnight for a crafting session and we make things to sell. Also get donations from other people in the school. This also includes a badge making area.

Secondhand books/ clothes/ toys.

Jams/ Fresh produce. We have lots of jam making sessions in the canteen through the year. People also donate excess vegetables and herbs from their gardens.

Kids' activities- hair and nail bar, face painting, sideshow games, lucky dips.

ETA One of our most popular stalls is the cupcake decorating. Lots of mums make uniced cupcakes. The kids can use frosting and lollies to decorate their cupcakes. We charge about 2.50 each.

This post has been edited by mindy05: 09/11/2012, 12:33 PM

[lisazee]

Great idea r: cupcakes

Sand art stall?

[FiFo]

One thing I've seen at local fetes which the kids seem to really love is badge making. If you can get your hands on a badge press (I think Officeworks sells them) then you can have magazines or paper and let kids design t\and rpess their own badge...

Good Luck!

[--binda--]

I live around that area (well blacktown).

Most of the school fetes we have been to have hair accessories, tupperware, kids clothes, toys, candles, etc.

[Natahs_mum]

We just had ours.. and we got each year level to be involved... as well as people outside with stalls and rides etc...

Also asked parents to volunteer on their child's year stall for some part of the day.

Preps didn't have to do+ much but they had a guess the baby photos where the prep teachers and other teachers put their pics up and you had to guess who was who.

Level 2 (grade 1 and 2's) had a cupcake stall, where parents (of this year level) were asked to bake some and bring them in and then peoiple could decorated them.

I think one year level had a 2nd hand bookstore.

Another level did cakes and thinks to sell.

We had a lot of arts and crafts stalls, intimo stall, clothing store, and also an area set up for smaller kids.

[Jenflea]

Plants are good. i bought some at a recent fete which were seedlings grown in newspaper tubes filled with soil. Most were 50c, bigger ones $1.50.

[no spring chicke...]

We've just had our fete and was a great success.
The big winners were the Chocolate Wheel, Tombola and Dunk 'em (where teachers and other volunteers get dunked into a small pool and people pay money to try to hit the trigger). I believe the school invested in the Dunk'em set up many years ago and it's always a money spinner and good fun.

[Mumsyto2]

We have found that rather than let outsiders come in with their own stalls, we have had school run ones. For example, one parent had a face painting stall one year and would have taken home over $700. She only had to pay $30 to the school, so made a huge profit.

Not understanding something here. Our stalls are all school run and we have a face painting stall also every fete year. The face painter(s) provide their services, are reimbursed for the equipment i.e. paint, sparkles, whatever and the school takes the profit - its all about getting people to donate goods/services to profit the school. In the example you use the face painter benefits but the school does not? The face paintings are deliberately kept smallish and are low cost accordingly in order to pump maximum numbers through and normally makes around 2K. All of our stalls run like this. Another big favourite is the cupcake decorating stall.

A big money spinner is the rides, the kids buy armbands before the day which allows unlimited rides - the prepurchase of armbands pays for the rides up front plus runs a profit. Theyn make even more of a profit on the day by kids coming who do not go to the school buying armbands or just paying for tickets for individual rides.

Another money spinner is the food stalls. The school canvases food businesses asking for donations for the day (such as spring rolls, satay skewers etc) and buys any perceived shortfall at cost. They hire deep friers/bain maries etc and this along with the traditional sausage sizzle makes a good profit.

We are a smallish public primary school of around 400 kids and after costs the fete usually brings in around 30-50K dependant upon weather on the day.

This post has been edited by Mumsyto2: 09/11/2012, 01:17 PM

[tothebeach]

We are a small school in a lower socio-economic area. Stalls that work well for us:
- plant stall (all donated plants from parents or school kitchen garden)
- toy and book stall (everyone always has heaps of kids books and toys that they want to clear out and kids love to buy these)

We also do the usual chocolate wheel and raffles/silent auction. They don't raise quite as much money as they could because parents can't afford to bid that high.

We get the local footy team in (Manly Sea Eagles) and kids pay to try to get the ball into a hole for the prize - always lots of boys waiting for this.

Oh, and pre-purchased mixed lolly bags. I think that they cost 50c to buy and we sell for $1.50.

This post has been edited by tothebeach: 09/11/2012, 01:34 PM