Top Trends for School Holiday Shops in 2024

By Coryn Diehl on October 14, 2024 / Holiday Fundraising Tips

Top Trends for School Holiday Shops in 2024

Are you excited for this year’s school holiday shop? We are too! School holiday shops are one of the most fun ways to help schools raise money while giving students a chance to buy gifts for their families.

In 2024, we’re seeing some cool trends that are making holiday shoppes even more exciting and successful for schools with all grade levels. If you’re helping to organize your school holiday shop this year, these trends could help get the kids and families even more excited.

Want more info? Request free info from Kids Kastle for school holiday shoppes near you!

What is a Holiday Shoppe Fundraiser?

A holiday shoppe fundraiser is an event where elementary schools set up a shop for a few days where students can come and buy small gifts for their family and friends. The cool part? Most of the gifts are affordable and perfect for young shoppers, with prices as low as $0.50 to $10!

The school benefits by keeping a portion of the sales, which goes toward fun things like field trips or new school supplies. It’s a win-win!

Kids Kastle offers easy school holiday shops for elementary schools that cuts back on worrying about planning, inventory, and ordering, so all you need to focus on is the latest trends to help promote your school fundraiser.

School Holiday Shop Trends for 2024

Personalized Gifts

In 2024, the kids holiday shoppes are buzzing with personalized gifts. Kids love picking out gifts that feel special, and nothing says “special” more than a customized item. From keychains with their mom’s name on it to water bottles with their sibling’s initials, these personalized items are flying off the shelves. Plus, it’s a thoughtful touch that makes the giver feel proud.

Eco-Friendly Merchandise

Our planet is important, and more and more schools are taking that into consideration when planning their elementary school holiday shop. In 2024, eco-friendly merchandise is a big hit at school holiday shops. Think reusable bags, bamboo keychains, or even plant kits!

These gifts not only make the earth happy but also show students how they can help the environment while giving awesome presents. Plus, schools and parents can even teach students a bit about going green while shopping.

More Budget-Friendly Options

One of the key trends this year in school holiday shop fundraisers is making sure everyone can join in on the fun. In the past, some kids might have felt left out if they didn’t have enough money to buy gifts. But in 2024, school holiday shops are making a point to offer even more affordable gifts without sacrificing quality.

Items like friendship bracelets, fun stickers, and cute bookmarks are some examples of gifts that cost under a dollar. These small but meaningful items let every student participate and feel like a superstar when they pick out presents for their family.

Fun Gift Wrapping Stations

Wrapping a gift is just as fun as buying it, right? Schools are starting to embrace the magic of gift-wrapping with special stations set up inside the school holiday shop. Students can choose from colorful wrapping paper, ribbons, and stickers to decorate their gifts.

Some schools are even making this into a separate fundraising opportunity, charging a tiny fee for the wrapping station. The wrapping area becomes an exciting final stop where students feel like real holiday helpers as they package up their treasures!

Teacher and Volunteer Involvement

A holiday shop isn’t just for students—it’s a community effort! More teachers and parent volunteers are jumping in to help with the holiday shoppe fundraiser. Schools are realizing that having familiar faces guide students through the shopping process makes everything smoother.

Teachers might create fun wish lists or even offer recommendations based on what they know about their students’ families. Plus, volunteers can help at the gift-wrapping stations or guide the younger kids so they feel more confident in their gift choices. This teamwork makes the whole experience even more memorable for the kids.

Online Shopping for Parents

For 2024, many schools are introducing a modern twist: an online holiday shop for parents. While kids can still enjoy shopping at school, parents can now also order some of the same school holiday shop merchandise online. This is great for parents who want to sneak in some extra holiday shopping while supporting their school fundraiser!

Plus, it’s super convenient, especially if schools are trying to reach families who can’t make it in person. This online option means more money raised for the school while making sure everyone can join in on the holiday spirit.

Shop Themes that Spark Creativity

Imagine walking into your school’s holiday shop and feeling like you’ve stepped into a magical world! Many schools are using themed decorations to bring their holiday shops to life. Whether it’s a “Winter Wonderland” theme with snowflakes and sparkly trees or a “Santa’s Workshop” theme with elves and toy-making tools, themed shops are a big hit with the kids.

Themes make shopping extra fun, and they also encourage students to dive deeper into the holiday spirit. Plus, who wouldn’t want to shop in a winter wonderland?

Exclusive School Spirit Merchandise

Another growing trend for school holiday shop fundraisers is the inclusion of school spirit items in holiday shops. Students love showing off their school pride, and what better way than with items that feature their school’s name or mascot? From water bottles to beanies and scarves, these items are a great way to mix school pride with holiday cheer.

These exclusive items also give students a chance to buy gifts for themselves, while still contributing to the fundraiser. And of course, every time they wear or use these items, they’ll be reminded of their school and the fun holiday shop experience.

Inclusive Holiday Merchandise

Schools today celebrate many different holidays, and the 2024 trend is making sure everyone feels included. Instead of just focusing on Christmas items, holiday shoppes are featuring gifts for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and even non-religious options. This inclusive approach makes sure that every student can find something that feels right for their family. By offering a wide range of gift options, schools can celebrate diversity and help teach kids about different cultures while still raising money.

Interactive Shopping Experience

Finally, holiday shops are becoming more interactive in 2024. Schools are incorporating games, holiday music, and even scavenger hunts to make the shopping experience more engaging. Kids don’t just shop—they get to explore, play, and have fun while picking out gifts for their families.

This interactive approach makes the holiday shop feel like more than just a fundraiser. It’s an event kids look forward to, where they can make memories with their friends and feel proud of the gifts they buy.

Change Up Your School Holiday Shop This Year with Fun New Trends

School holiday shops are full of exciting new trends that make fundraising easier and more fun than ever before. From personalized gifts and eco-friendly merchandise to fun gift-wrapping stations and online shopping for parents, there’s something for everyone. Whether you’re a student, a teacher, or a parent volunteer, these trends will help make your school holiday shop a huge success!

So, if you’re ready to set up your own holiday shoppe fundraiser, remember—it’s all about making the experience enjoyable for the kids while supporting your school. Get in touch with Kids Kastle today to see how we can help your bring school holiday shop to life.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a holiday shoppe fundraiser?
A holiday shoppe fundraiser is a temporary store set up at schools where students can buy affordable gifts for family and friends. The school earns a portion of the sales to help with things like school supplies, events, and trips. It’s a fun way for kids to learn about giving and for the school to raise money at the same time!

How much do the items at the holiday shop cost?
Items at a holiday shop are budget-friendly, with prices typically ranging from $0.50 to $10. There’s always something for everyone, no matter the budget, which helps all students feel included in the shopping experience.

What kinds of gifts are sold at the holiday shop?
The holiday shop offers a wide variety of gifts, including items like jewelry, toys, mugs, stationery, and even personalized gifts. Some shops feature eco-friendly products, school spirit merchandise, and holiday-themed gifts for Christmas, Hanukkah, and other celebrations.

Can parents get involved in the holiday shop?
Yes! Parents can help in many ways, from volunteering to set up and run the shop, to assisting kids with gift selection. Many schools also offer online shopping options so parents can purchase gifts too, even if they can’t come to the in-person event.

Do schools offer gift-wrapping services?
Many school holiday shops now feature gift-wrapping stations where students can wrap their presents after buying them. This is often a small additional fundraiser, and it’s a fun way for kids to feel extra special about the gifts they’re giving!

How can we make our holiday shop successful?
To make your holiday shop successful, focus on offering a variety of affordable and thoughtful gifts. Make the experience interactive with decorations, games, or gift-wrapping stations. Involve teachers, parents, and volunteers to create a smooth and exciting event. Most importantly, keep it fun and inclusive for all students! Contact us for more info and browse our catalog.

How to Use Social Media for Spring School Fundraising 2024

By Coryn Diehl on March 12, 2024 / Holiday Fundraising Tips

How to Use Social Media for Spring School Fundraising 2024

Springtime is coming our way and with it comes new Spring fundraisers for 2024 – Easter eggs, special treats, Smencils, pretzel snacks, and more. This time of year, we get a lot of PTA members, teachers, and even students asking how they can better improve their high school fundraising promotion.

One of the top ways to promote your school fundraiser this year is with social media. Social media for school fundraisers is fast, affordable, endless, and can get everyone involved in the event. Take a look at some of our top tips on how to use social media to promote your school fundraiser this Spring 2024.

11 Ways to Promote School Fundraisers with Social Media

Boost Your Spring School Fundraiser on Different Platforms

The first tip to using social media to promote your school fundraiser is to use different platforms. Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok all offer different avenues, audiences, and content creation.

To pick the right platforms, you want to consider who your audience is and how you plan on promoting your Spring school fundraiser. If you are selling primarily to the community or parents, Facebook and Instagram are very popular.

For more commercial-focused goods that benefit local businesses, LinkedIn offers a good opportunity. If you’re trying to reach an audience beyond your local community, Twitter/X and TikTok offer viral opportunities and a larger audience.

Involve Students in the Marketing Creation

Content is best when it’s exciting and engaging and the best people to help with that are the students. Students who are involved in the fundraiser, marketing, tech, or art programs are a great source! And it helps them practice real-life marketing and content creation scenarios.

Reach out to other classes, grades, and student groups to get students involved. Offer tasks like writing ad slogans, sharing the media, creating videos, and more to engage everyone in the program. This also takes tasks away from the PTA and parents while giving students valuable experience and learning opportunities.

Take Behind the Scenes Videos

If you need content ideas, behind-the-scenes videos are always a huge success in promoting school fundraisers on social media. Behind-the-scenes videos are personable, easy to make, and make the audience feel a part of the action.

Whether it’s unpacking the products, showing set-up for the fundraiser event, taking videos of the planning process, or something else entirely, get people in on the action with behind-the-scenes sneak peeks.

Share Photos of the Products

The best way to promote what you’re selling is to show what you’re selling. Share photos of the products or events you’re hosting as part of the Spring school fundraiser. This could be photos supplied by your school fundraising company or photos you and the students take yourselves.

Be sure to highlight the key aspects that everyone wants from your fundraiser. Focus on the details of sweet treats, the fun of an in-person event, or the solution a product can solve. Get creative, have fun, and keep it simple.

Remind Everyone Where the Money is Going

People want to be connected to a cause, and social media allows you to boost your cause with ease. Remind people where the money is going from your Spring school fundraiser. This can be done via photos, videos, links, or any other promotional materials.

At the end of the day, remind people why they’re getting involved and how their money makes a difference. The better people feel, the more involved they want to be.

Feature Your Top Donations and Contributors

As you start taking donations, feature your top contributors weekly or monthly. It’s important to give a big thanks to everyone who gets involved and the best way to do this is through mutual promotion on social media.

Take photos with top donors and ask them to share their contributions online. Tell a little story about their involvement, give a big thanks, and remind everyone they still have time to get involved. The more you feature those who help your school fundraiser, the more the community grows and expands.

Link to an Online Donation Shop

Part of social media for school fundraising is to make it easy. Work with your school or fundraising group to create an online shop for easy donations so people can make a contribution directly from their smartphone or computer.

If you can’t set up an online donation link, make it really easy to tell people how to get involved. School media for school fundraising promotion is all about convenience, so make it easy for people to find you and get involved.

Have a Branded Hashtag

School fundraisers do best when people know more about them and one of the easiest ways to do that online is to have a branded hashtag for the event. Hashtags on social media help people show their support and spread awareness with ease.

Create a hashtag that is catchy, easy, and sums up what your school is doing. It makes it fun, easy to find, and helps spread the word to get people engaged with the movement and the cause.

Partner with the Community

If you have partners in your school fundraiser, like a local restaurant or business, tag them online and ask them to share your fundraiser on their social media, too.

Social media lets you reach a wide range of users when used correctly. Use your community and school fundraising partners to tag those who are involved. This will show your school fundraiser to their followers and help broaden your reach without having to do so in person through other advertisement means.

Go Live

Social media promotion allows you to go live and this is a fun chance to connect even more with your community and followers. Go live during the set up, when planning, or as the fundraiser is happening. Show the fun, the hard work, and everyone who is involved.

Going live online also helps you answer questions, explain more about how to get involved, and feels personable to all who follow you. Even one go live on social media can help connect you to more parents, teachers, and community partners who want to be involved.

Show Positivity from the Students and Faculty

Remember, social media should be an extension your school fundraising efforts, so make it fun and show the support you’re gaining from the school and from the students. You want it to be fun, autnethic, and easy.

Don’t overthink it, don’t get too fancy – just embrace the theme, let the cause speak for its self, and make it easy for everyone to get involved.

Fast Tips to Promote Your Spring School Fundraiser on Social Media

Post daily
Involve the students
Be thankful
Make donations easy
Remind people to share
Respond to comments
Answer messages

Get Started on Your 2024 Spring School Fundraiser Today

Fundraising season is an exciting time of year at any school, for any grade level. The money helps with dances, technology, arts programs, sports, school resources, and more. You want to share that excitement with others and social media is the perfect way to do so.

Using our 11 easy tips to share your school fundraiser on social media, it should make promoting your school fundraiser a breeze this year. For more tips, check out 10 more ways to market a school fundraiser and 12 new high school fundraising ideas.

If you’re ready to get your fundraiser started, contact Kids Kastle in New Jersey for our 2024 Spring fundraiser catalog.

School Fundraising Dos and Don’ts

By Coryn Diehl on January 23, 2024 / Holiday Fundraising Tips

School Fundraising Dos and Don'ts

School fundraising is a fantastic idea for all grade levels. Students, faculty, and families get to join together to celebrate their school pride and raise money for activities, supplies, growth, and more within their school system. School fundraising is about community and achievement as much as the funds raised.

In order to ensure your school fundraiser goes off without any issues, take a look at our expert list of Fundraising Dos and Don’ts. By keeping track of what works and what doesn’t, you can better optimize your time and energy, budget, and community effort. See more success and more enjoyment with your school fundraisers by checking out our fundraising dos and don’ts tips.

The Dos of School Fundraising

Here are our best tips on what you should be doing for your grade school and high school fundraising events. Share these with your faculty, volunteer families, and students to optimize your success. Remember, the more efficient and streamlined your school fundraiser, the more fun your students can focus on having during the school fundraising event.

1. Strategic Planning

Before starting on your next fundraiser, you want to have your fundraising strategy created. Work on a detailed roadmap that outlines your goals, target audience, and fundraising methods.

Think of what event you want, brainstorm marketing methods, write down what audiences this is geared towards, and how all students, faculty, and families can play a role. The better your upfront planning, the better success you can build towards.

2. Engaging the Community

A successful fundraising campaign involves the active participation of your local community. Foster relationships with local businesses, parents, and community leaders to get them excited about your fundraising and goals.

Their support not only contributes to financial success but also strengthens the bonds within your school community. Work with news stations, radios, businesses, and more for sponsorships to help promote you, hold space, or donate fundraising items and events.

3. Utilizing Online Platforms

Work with your tech-savvy students to establish a strong online presence through social media, dedicated websites, and email campaigns for your school fundraisers. Students who are working towards a career in tech will be excited to practice their skills and be a part of the marketing and promotion. The online presence will not only help share the word about your fundraiser with easy-to-find details, but you can also optimize it to accept online donations directly.

4. Diversifing Fundraising Channels

Avoid putting all your eggs in one basket when it comes to school fundraising. Explore various fundraising channels, including events, product sales, and donation drives. School holiday shoppes appeal to grade school students while active charity events and dances are great high school fundraising ideas. Be sure to switch up your fundraising to engage new community members and raise new interest seasonally.

5. Transparent Communication

Maintain transparency throughout your fundraising journey with all faculty, volunteers, students, and engaged audiences. Clearly articulate your goals, how funds will be used, and the impact on the school community. Build trust by keeping stakeholders informed and engaged. Always let people know how their money is being used, where the energy is going, and if you have any roadblocks along the way.

The Don'ts of School Fundraising

Even with a perfect plan in place, you want to be aware of common school fundraising pitfalls that could be detrimental to your event. Be sure to check out our don’ts for school fundraising so you can stay compliant, safe, and successful throughout your event.

1. Overlooking Legal Requirements

Neglecting legal considerations can lead to severe consequences for your school fundraiser. You want to ensure compliance with local laws and regulations governing fundraising activities. This not only protects your school but also builds credibility among potential donors. Talk to your faculty and other fundraising groups to source what you can and cannot do under your school’s umbrella to raise money.

2. Ignoring Data Analysis

Your school fundraiser relies on data just as much as any other business. If you run a continuous school fundraiser year after year, make sure to save and compare data so you optimize your school fundraising event for the most success.

Do so by seeing which businesses are most active and why; better target your marketing towards donors of the past; and see what items or events sold out. For high school fundraisers, you can have your marketing and tech students help compile the data and create new marketing strategies.

3. Relying Solely on Traditional Fundraisers

Virtual events, online auctions, and crowdfunding campaigns can breathe new life into your school fundraiser. You don’t need to stick with traditional ideas like dances, car washes, or bake sales.

Explore how new technology allows for virtual holiday shoppes, online auctions, 48-hour movie streams, and more. Take into account how virtual fundraisers can maximize your budget to allow for more fundraisers a year.

4. Neglecting Donor Recognition

Donors appreciate recognition for their contributions, especially in local communities. Implement a robust donor recognition program to express gratitude to those who pitch in a high or consistent dollar amount.

Personalized thank-you notes, acknowledgment in newsletters, and public recognition events all play a role in fostering lasting donor relationships. Make sure to work out advertising and sponsorship deals to allow your fundraiser to go further.

5. Inconsistent Marketing

Consistency is key in the world of fundraising. Maintain a cohesive marketing strategy across all channels. From social media posts to event promotions, presenting a unified front strengthens your brand and resonates with your audience. Be sure your school fundraising event has a color scheme, clear message, and recognizable promotion.

You’re Ready to Begin Your Easy School Fundraiser

Mastering the dos and don’ts of school fundraising requires a thoughtful and strategic approach. By incorporating these principles into your campaigns, you not only enhance your chances of success but also create a positive impact on your school community. You can easily integrate students into your fundraising planning and have them aid you in your marketing, ideas, data, and more.

Explore new fundraising ideas, school holiday shoppes, and more with the help of Kids’ Kastle. We’ve helped schools fundraise easily and effectively for years, taking out all of the stress so you simply have the joy.

Holiday Fundraising Tips