I don't buy any of the food/junk, but I do buy books from either Usborne or Scholastic book sale fundraisers. I think a kid sale would be popular, but would take alot of work!

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A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt

There was an article in the most recent Family Fun magazine about this! I was going to type it all out, but I realized it's probably on the site and YEP it is! Here you go.

Family Fun's America's Best School Fundraisers

There are others I've heard of too. Our school did those entertainment books, but what was more popular (and garnished a LOT of profit) was the school's Music Booster Bonus Card. They went to local businesses and asked if they wanted to put an offer on the card. For instance, the local pizzeria's bonus offer is Family Meal Deal: Buy one large pizza, get a small pizza and 2 ltr pop FREE. There are offers for free coffee from the dairy and a free movie rental with paid rental from the movie store, etc. They are all local businesses though - they didn't put any major corporations on there. The local print shop printed the cards and put a little plug on the bottom for their business. The local businesses get traffic, the school gets support and the customer gets a deal. Everyone wins. They print out the cards in credit card size, with the bonus offers on both sides, and then laminate them. Easy to carry in your wallet. And - it only costs $5! With the cards donated by local print shop, it is pure profit and your investment is paid for in one use. This is the biggest fundraiser for the school - it brings in insane money. (There is a time frame on them of a year; an expiration date is on them. For instance, it goes from Oct 1st 2007 - Sept 31st 2008, and then they have to buy a new card the next year)

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When I was a kid, my school always did the great halloween carnival. The teachers would be dressed up at the doors to the classrooms for the kids to trick or treat and in the caffeteria was the carnival part. They would usually hire some kind of inexpensive kid's entertainment on the stage, or at least music playing or a movie. Then there would be games all over the place. Nothing was very expensive, but since it was a safe place for kids to be, it was a big draw and we'd make a killing on it.

Best part, was that where the lunch line usually is, the PTA set up a bake sale full of goodies.

If you want to do something similar to this, I can help you out. My mom was on the PTA so she and I remember quite a bit about the event and the games and such.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

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Christine's Corner



Mom to Matt, 3 years and Catie, 7 months!