School Holiday Shops: The Basics of Getting Started

By Kids' Kastle Holiday Shoppes on December 9, 2021 / Holiday Fundraising, School Fundraising Tips

School Holiday Shops: The Basics of Getting Started

A school holiday shop is a great way to involve parents, teachers, students, and the wider community to come together and celebrate the spirit of Christmas. It also helps children get familiar with important life and social skills early on, making it a fun learning experience.

So, if you are planning to host your own school holiday store this year, this article will help you brush up on the basics to make it a success.

What’s a school holiday shop?

A school holiday shop is a place where kids can go to buy things for their family and friends. The shops are usually set up in the school itself or in an outside building nearby and sell items such as toys, books, and stationery that are affordable for students.

Also known as in-school gift shops, these shops may be run by charities, community groups or individuals, and small business owners. The aim of the shops is to help children pick out presents for their loved ones on their own and learn more about the responsibility that comes with shopping for the holidays.

Another beautiful thing about having a school Christmas shop is that it allows children to get familiar with important social skills in a controlled environment. They are a great opportunity for children to learn how to effectively communicate and interact with others when purchasing goods.

Tips to get the most out of your school holiday store

Before You buy the merchandise - Budget, Plan, Partner

Before you begin purchasing merchandise for the school holiday store, it is important to have a plan. First, you will have to decide where you will purchase your merch from. You can either handpick it by yourself, which is a very time-consuming task, or you can find a vendor that dedicatedly sells school Santa shop gifts.

Another thing to remember about buying your merch is that you need to decide on a budget and stick to it. Otherwise, you may end up with a lot of cool things that you may not be able to sell because there are too many.

That’s also why it is recommended that you partner with a school holiday shop company. You can select the items you want and the provider will deliver them to the school one week before the event so that you have enough time to set up your store. And if you don’t sell all your merch, you can always send it back to the provider without paying extra on freight costs.

Setting Up the Store - Location, Visibility, Accessibility

To get the most out of your school holiday store, you need to ensure that you get the fundamentals of selling right.

Make sure you book your stall early so that you can pick a strategic location for maximum exposure. A common piece of advice is to set up your store in a high-traffic area that is easily visible and accessible to kids as well as has footfall that is consistent throughout the day.

Another tip is to look at the past years’ sales of the stall and use that as a guide. It will not only give you information on how many people will come to your stall but also insights into how successful shops get the job done.

In addition, work on your signage. Make sure that is clear to read and has a color scheme that can draw attention to the stall. Also, ensure that the name of your store is visible to let people know exactly who’s running it.

Even if this is an in-school holiday shoppe, you want it to be visible, easily accessible, and inspiring! Get the students to help design signage and make the store accessible to parents who may visit, too.

School Partners - Teachers and PTA Members

To run a popular school holiday shop, you need a volunteer from the school staff to help you connect with the kids. Teachers can perfectly guide you on how to interact with the students and help you establish trust among your little shoppers.

You can also talk to the teachers about how much they think each student will spend and plan your pricing accordingly. For example, if each child is only going to be allowed $5, you can stock up on fewer items than if each child gets $25 for gifts because the budget will affect their spending potential.

Working with the teachers will also ensure you have enough people to man the stall on the days of the sale. Many schools will also talk to the PTA to get a better understanding of what the students want. School holiday shoppes like Kids’ Kastle even have a dedicated process for working with PTAs.

Promotion - Advertise Early and Often

Once you have outlined the responsibilities of each person, get to work on your marketing plan. Plan how you want to promote your shop. You can either individually talk to parents and families to let them know that you will be hosting a school holiday shop or send out messages or emails to simplify your promotion process.

Make sure you give out as many details to families about your store as possible, including the gifts that you are planning to stock and the dates you will be operating.

How working with elementary school holiday shop companies can make your job easy

Holiday shop services are designed to make running a holiday shop easier for you. The provider will not only supply you with merchandise but also provide you with materials needed to run the store successfully, right from bags to posters to tablecloths.

Therefore, even though you will not be creating selling or marketing materials yourself, you will still have a good-looking and inviting shop that will draw people into your shop. They will also take care of the shipping and returns so that you can focus on having a good time running your school holiday store.

10 Best Virtual Christmas Fundraising Ideas

By Kids' Kastle Holiday Shoppes on November 9, 2020 / Holiday Fundraising, School Fundraising Ideas

Top 10 Best Virtual and Creative Christmas Fundraising Ideas

Brainstorming fundraising ideas for this winter isn’t an easy task. Schools can’t rely on traditional holiday shoppe fundraiser, snifty pencils, dances, or other large events that involve gatherings. While some companies, like Kids’ Kastle, offer hybrid and virtual secret santa gift shops, this isn’t something that all schools have access to or it doesn’t pull in the same funds that schools need.

To help get motivated and create some holiday cheer, we’ve put together 10 virtual and creative winter fundraising ideas any school can take advantage of. We focused on low-cost, easy set-up, and maximum interest levels. We hope that these holiday fundraising ideas excite all students from elementary school to seniors, and can complement your normal holiday gift shop fundraiser.

A Snowman Building Contest is a Fun Holiday Fundraising Idea

We love the snowman building contest because it’s flexible for virtual and online school set-ups! If you’re having an in-person school holiday shop fundraiser, you can schedule the snowman building contest to run the same day. This allows your visiting student and family groups to keep social distance as they build outside and shop inside, and it creates decorations everyone can enjoy!

Even if you’re not doing a Christmas shop fundraiser, you can run your snowman building contest one of two ways. Invite families out to build their snowman at safe distances on the school grounds, or have families make the snowmen at home and send in pictures with the students standing by their creations!

A small fee to enter with an affordable prize will get families active, involved, and raise funds easily for your school.

Host an Ugly Sweater Contest

This is another Christmas fundraising idea for schools that works for schools on-line or in person. For students and families who come on-site to shop your school Christmas shop, have them dress up and pay a small fee to enter the ugly sweater contest. Have a few different prizes you can reward at the end of the shopping day to celebrate the winners — people can vote, or you can have a panel of judges from the PTA or student council.

If all of your school holiday fundraisers are staying online, host the contest virtually! Students and families can either submit photos that everyone votes on, or you can do a virtual video session, like a fashion show! Either way, everyone will have a great time voting, dressing up, and chatting about the holiday.

Think Outside Traditional School Christmas Shop Ideas and Involve the Family Pets

One great thing about virtual fundraising ideas is that you can think about how to include the pets of the students! Have students and families submit photos of their pets dressed up in holiday outfits, celebrating winter holidays, or matching their owners in look-a-like contests.

Families and students will love showing off their pets and getting creative with photography and outfits. Post the photos online and let the voting begin! Have a small fee to enter with fun prizes families will want to win — maybe it could even be a free gift from your school’s Santa gift shop or something for the pets themselves.

Make Your Holiday Gift Shop Fundraiser a Virtual Silent Auction

A fun school Christmas shop idea is to create a virtual silent auction! Students love the traditional holiday gift shop fundraiser, and this adds an additional element to help get parents, families, and community members involved.

Work to create partnerships with the community, and offer prizes like gift baskets, gift cards, discounts, meet and greets, and more. The great thing about a holiday virtual silent auction is it can run for an extended period of time, it can raise plenty of funds, and it shows a community connection.

These also offer gift ideas to those placing the bids, so you’re more likely to see people engaging and promoting the sale.

When in Doubt, You Can’t Beat a Raffle for a School Fundraiser

Raffles are a tried and true school fundraiser idea, and it’s one everyone can take advantage of, online or in person. Just like with your silent auction, team up with local community businesses or creatives for some fun and exciting raffle prizes.

Whether these are tailored to the kids and come from your holiday gift shop, or you create something for the parents, it’s sure to create a buzz of excitement.

Raffles can be hosted both in school and virtually, and you can choose between shipping the items or having local pick up stations. Raffles have the potential to be limitless with funds, and are easily promoted. No matter how elaborate or simple you decide to go, look into your options for a raffle this season.

A Fun Holiday Fundraiser Idea is Wreath Sales

Consider the members on your school’s PTA and other teachers and parents that get involved each year with the fundraisers — chances are, you know more than one crafty and artistic person who is a wiz with homemade items. A wreath sale is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of those crafty skills from the parents and teachers in your community!

Pull together a group to create holiday wreaths, and involve the help of the students! These can then be sold online or in person to raise money for your school. This is a great holiday fundraising idea because each wreath is unique, handmade, and comes directly from the local community and even from the students themselves. It may involve a bit more prep, but is well worth it for the fun.

Keep Your School Fundraiser Simple with a Movie Night

Movie nights are a great holiday fundraising activity for families from your school because you can host them outdoors with minimal investment or planning. With a quality projector and a large lawn space near the school’s exterior walls, you can project any movie you wish onto the side of the school.

Set up can include chairs from the school, or make it picnic-style if the ground hasn’t gotten too cold, and ask families to bring blankets as the night grows chillier. Snacks can be bring-your-own, or you can sell treats that families have made as part of a concession stand to increase fundraising funds. This is a great way for kids to take a break, get outdoors, and for parents to relax, all while helping your school.

An Interactive Holiday Fundraiser for the Kids is a Scavenger Hunt

While families are waiting on their school santa shop gifts, ask them to take part in a scavenger hunt. Once your local area is seeing a lot of Christmas and holiday decorations, have families drive or walk around and look for items on the homes, like icicle lights, an inflatable Santa, a depiction of Rudolph, and others! They can take pictures or cross the items off of a list and submit them after a couple of weeks.

If you prefer to stay indoors, make the scavenger hunt happen online or in students’ homes. Have them submit photos of holiday decorations and ordinary objects around their house, instead. A small fee to enter with affordable, enticing prices can do a lot. Plus, the kids will want to participate and the parents will enjoy the activity.

Consider Cooking Lessons for Your School Holiday Shop Fundraiser

Many school fundraisers include food, dough, and similar items during one season or another. If a member of your PTA or a teacher is a wiz in the kitchen, take your food holiday fundraiser one step further and offer cooking lessons. The great thing is, these can happen online, right over video chat.

You can tailor your food fundraiser to parents with quick dinner ideas and healthy lunch items made in under 15 minutes, or you can make an activity for the kids, like holiday cookies or other fun treats they’ll want to make. This is a great option for every family and provides a skill many people are interested in.

Wrap Up Your Christmas Shop Fundraiser with a Virtual Talent Show or Telethon

Don’t let your holiday shop fundraiser be the last hoorah of the year. Take your student’s talent show online with a fun telethon! Kids can record their acts right in their living room, and you can have teachers or parents provide informative and fun craft projects, educational moments, or comedy sketches inbetween acts.

Think back to PBS when viewers would pledge money and be entertained as they watched the show. You can even note that you will have a parent or teacher complete an incredibly goofy act if certain funds are raised while the telethon is happening, like pouring ice water over their head or cutting their facial hair. Be creative! A lot can happen online.

Your Holiday Gift Shop Fundraiser Can Be More Online

Just because normal fundraising activities are out, does not mean your school is going to lack the proper funds and holiday cheer this year. Use virtual learning and online tools to your advantage, and think about simple ways to keep kids engaged that excites families and parents. With a little community effort, your holiday fundraising this year can go a long way.

The Complete Holiday Fundraising Guide

By Kids' Kastle Holiday Shoppes on June 29, 2020 / Holiday Fundraising, School Fundraising Tips

The Complete Holiday Fundraising Guide

Tips and Tricks to Ensure Fundraising Success

Fundraising can be a daunting task. The planning, executing, and collecting of funds can seem like an overwhelming process. The good news is that when done properly, a good fundraiser can bring in money, donations, and create projects that you never thought possible.

The best news is in this complete guide we will break down fundraising from start to finish to ease the process and set you up for success no matter what your goals are.

We will start by breaking down the reasons it is best to fundraise during certain times, like winter fundraising and holiday fundraising. Then, we will take you through the process of planning a successful fundraiser. Lastly, we will give you some ideas to separate your holiday fundraiser from any other.

Why Do Holiday Fundraising This Winter Season

Everyone knows that Christmas and winter holidays have been coined as the time for giving and research backs this up as well. According to a study by NeonCRM, 31% of all giving is done in December. When you consider December only makes up 8.4% of the time in a year, that is a drastic increase in giving.

Even more shocking, the last three days of the year make up 12% of all donations and gifts received, according to the same study; remember that donations, giving to fundraisers, and gifts are all tax-deductible. People at the end of the year who are looking at tax often make the decision to donate to someone they know and recuperate the money during tax season rather than just losing it to taxes.

It is important to know this and to take advantage of it during your fundraising. During winter and the holidays, people are in a giving mood. It doesn’t matter if it is the holiday spirit or tax incentivized, setting up and running a proper fundraiser during this time will maximize how well your fundraiser does. Now it’s time to set up the fundraiser for success.

Steps to Maximize Your Fundraising’s Success

1.) Define Your Holiday Fundraising Message & Cause

Your message, often times called your cause, needs to be precise and deliver a message that makes people want to help you. Having a message that resonates will not only help out your fundraising cause but will help you create the optimal strategy when you fundraise.

Here is an example:

Message A – We are running a toy drive at school X on December 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th and all toys will be donated to Children 4 Toys.

Message B – There are many kids this holiday year that will not receive any presents or gifts. Bring the holiday joy and spirit to those kids by donating toys you no longer use. We will be accepting toys on December 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th to bring holiday cheer to those who need it most this season.

In message A, all that was defined was when toys were being accepted. While it’s important to define to your audience how to help, nothing else was conveyed.. In message B however, the cause is defined, a reason to donate was given, and how to donate was told. This message is far more impactful and will lead to higher success in fundraising.

2.) Plan Your Winter Fundraiser Before You Start

After you have your cause or message, it’s time to start planning. When you are planning, some key decisions will need to be made:

Define your target audience
Create a realistic goal
Define any spending budget
Determine how people will be able to help
If you are handling money, what will be your payment processing
If you are hosting events, picking the venue
When the fundraiser will start and finish

Knowing who you will be focusing your efforts on, i.e. your target audience, is critical. For the most part, a one-size-fits-all message doesn’t exist: defining a target audience will allow you to tailor your message. The basics is to figure out who will donate or give often or in large amounts.

An example would be if you are running a fundraiser to improve drunk driving awareness among teens, target audiences could include parents age 30-45, teens ages 16-19, and high school teachers. Each one of these groups would have a different message you would want to deliver and target in different ways.

3.) Create a Realistic Budget

Next up is creating a realistic goal and budget for your holiday fundraiser. A lot of fundraisers fall short because of budgetary reasons. As a matter of fact, as many as 43% of organized fundraisers fail because of misuse of the budget, according to a recent study. According to the study, the biggest misuse of funds came from overestimating incoming dollars and donations.

When you are creating your budget, it is very important to use dollars you actually have and not to base it off of future donations or fundraising. If you do want to create a budget based on future dollars, then set goals and only use the money if certain milestones are met.

An example would be if we hit X dollars then we are going to host a dinner but if we hit Y dollars then we are going to host a gala; only start planning the events when you hit the right dollar amounts. The most common mistake is to host an event or spend money you don’t have, thinking the dollars spent will bring in a return on the investment. If your event doesn’t get you what you thought, that is when your fundraiser fails.

This is true even for smaller fundraisers or events. If you are raffling off items, offering rewards, or doing giveaways, make sure minimum thresholds are met and that those thresholds will cover the costs of your giveaways.

Holiday Fundraiser Ideas

Now that you have a defined message, a black and white budget, and realistic goals, it’s time to determine what type of fundraiser you want to do and we will give you school holiday shop ideas or holiday fundraising ideas that will blow people’s minds.

Holiday Gala

This is one of the go-to event fundraisers for a reason. Holiday Galas can achieve so much for a community and have everyone leaving feeling good. When you are doing a holiday gala you normally have food and blind auctions for your guests, along with some entertainment.

What you can do is set a holiday theme and then go around your community and ask businesses in the area if they want to donate something to the silent auction. It is a form of advertising for them and at the gala, they get to network. You, on the other hand, get to keep the proceeds from the silent auction for your cause.

School Concerts

If you are fundraising for a school, then concerts can be an amazing way to reach your goals. Meet with the music departments and do one concert a week highlighting the band, orchestra, choir, and school talent. You can charge a small amount at the door and do a raffle at the concert for extra money.

Decoration Workshops

Decoration workshops are a great way to provide relief to parents while helping your cause along the way. For a small fee, offer ornament or gift wrapping workshops for children.

Parents can drop off their kids and you can teach them how to create ornaments to hang on the tree or, if parents drop off presents with the children, they can learn how to wrap gifts. As a parent, nothing is nicer than to take a break from the kids for 15-20 minutes and also get all the present wrapping done in one trip.

Santa’s Workshop

An oldie, but a goodie. Creating Santa’s workshop for children to come let Santa know what they want for Christmas is a great fundraiser. Getting in line and telling Santa their Christmas desires is free but be sure to take photos and charge a small amount for the photos. Parents will love being able to put the picture up on the fridge and the money earned will help your cause.

Bonus Tip: Hot Chocolate, popcorn, and other refreshments while waiting in line is a great way to earn a little extra during your workshop.

Holiday Fun Run or Walk

These are always fun and you can add fun prizes to make it even better. Fun runs and walks are perfect for charity causes but can work for any type of fundraising. Charge a fee to enter, walk, or run, and encourage people to dress up in a holiday outfit. Give out prizes for different categories. You can also ask around your community to see if anyone would want to sponsor the event.

If you are doing a school fun run and walk, have your students go out and get pledges. A great way to raise money is to ask for donations per step and hold a timed walk. Then your students can go back and tell friends and loved ones how many steps were walked or ran during the event and collect donations along the way.

Coin Collecting

This is often overlooked but a coin drive can bring in large amounts of money for your cause. Run contests among workers, students, or whomever you are getting to participate.

Everyone is to bring in coins and ask around for coin donations and the group with the heaviest Santa Sack full of coins wins. Competitions bring out the best in people and are a fun way to liven up your office or school.

Lastly, the Plain-and-Simple Year-End Ask

If you have the right message, simply asking for holiday, winter, or year-end donations can do the trick. Remember, we talked about this being the season of giving and a good time to donate for tax deductions. Simply asking for people to help out your cause during the end of year can be surprisingly effective.

Conclusion

We hope these tips and tricks put you on the right track for your holiday fundraiser. If you are reading this and it is not the holidays, you can still put a lot of these tips to good use. Remember to craft a message that will resonate with people, properly plan, and liven up your fundraising and you will get the results you’re looking for.

If there is something you think that we might have missed or have questions or comments, do not be shy to leave it in the comment section below and we will get back with you as soon as we can!

Holiday Fundraising