Why Host an In-School Holiday Gift Fair

By on September 22, 2022   /   Holiday Fundraising Tips  

Why Host an In-School Holiday Gift Fair

Hosting an in-school holiday gift fair around the winter season can be just the exercise children need to get into the holiday spirit. Holiday gift fairs help with budgeting lessons and financial responsibility, allows children to purchase gifts for their families and friends in an accessible venue, and provides holiday cheer and merriment all around. 

So why should your school invest in a holiday gift fair this season? We delve into what it takes to host a holiday gift far and how to set up a successful Santa Gift Shop that’s friendly for all families and children. 

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What Is An In-School Holiday Gift Fair?

An in-school holiday gift fair, also known as a School Santa Shop, is a seasonal gift shop hosted by the school. It is run by teachers, parents, and volunteers, offering low-cost gifts for students to purchase for their family and friends. 

Children visit the store, set-up on school premise, under a teacher’s guidance during school hours with a list of people they plan to buy holiday gifts for. Volunteers at the in-school holiday gift fair assist kids with the purchase of items, which kids then take home for their loved ones. There can be gift wrapping stations, a variety of products to purchase, and everything is low-cost and affordable. 

Why Host An In-School Holiday Gift Fair?

While it lasts only for a few weeks, an in-school holiday gift fair is remembered by children for a long time. School Santa Shops instill confidence and independence for kids by letting them shop with their own money for gifts for their loved ones. They feel excited to tour so many items and pick out their favorites all by themselves.

If you’re wondering why host an in-school holiday gift fair, these are just a few of the many benefits: 

  • Safe and practical space to buy gifts for the holidays
  • Hone children’s organizational skills.
  • Learn about budgeting, making a purchase, and finances
  • Practice mathematical skills such as addition, subtraction, and getting change
  • Sharpen emotional skills by learning the virtues of sharing, kindness, and spreading joy

How To Get the Most From Your School Christmas Shop

The Selection of School Santa shop gifts

The gifts for your school holiday shop should be affordable, low-cost, and speak to kids. Remember, while they are buying the items for their families, they want to buy things that get them excited. A great way to think about Christmas gifts for your holiday shop is to categorize them relationship-wise.

  • Mom, Aunt, Grandma: Feature lockets, roses, bracelets, and books
  • Dad, Uncle, Granddad: Sports goodies such as balls, whistles, and trophies
  • Friends, Teachers, and Neighbors: Photo frames, mugs, and stationery items with messages of love and joy printed on them
  • Siblings: Fancy lip-glosses and purses, racecars and fidget toys, as well as art and craft items
  • Themed Sections: Christmas Greetings, Sports Booth, and Letters and Postcards
  • Pets: Small toys, treats, and tennis balls or frisbees 

Appealing displays for gifts

All school Christmas shops have one thing in common – their displays are attractive and made especially for the eyes of children. Using L-shape and U-shape tables can leave enough room for kids to navigate their way around. For decoration, consider using confetti, balloons, Christmas posters, and stickers to grab the kids’ attention. 

To get the most out of your school holiday shop, have the kids help with set-up, decoration, and more so they see the value of what goes into setting up a shop each season. You can make this grade specific so every year the kids get involved in a new part of the marketplace. 

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Don't forget gift wrapping service

Wrapping holiday shop gifts is as much of a tradition as the gifting itself. Working with a volunteer, have the kids assist with wrapping paper, taping, and placing into bags. They will better learn how to protect their new gifts by being a part of the wrapping process, allowing them to feel pride at their contributions. 

Volunteers help make the experience Christmasy

As they say, the more, the merrier. Having volunteers handy is always a good idea for organizing a successful in-school holiday gift fair. You’ll need volunteers who can:

  • Attend to each table of gifts.
  • Help the children with budgeting from their lists.
  • Manage and monitor the room in general.
  • Help at the cash desk with transactions and queries.
  • Wrap up the gifts at the wrapping station. 
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Organizing An In-School Holiday Gift Fair?

With our expertise in school Santa shop gifts, we are the right fit for all your school holiday fair needs. We bring a diverse range of gifts to pick from for the students that help everyone feel included. Consult with our team on the best school holiday fair package for your school and let us help you outline planning, promoting, and executing your fair. 

Contact us for more school Christmas shop ideas today. 

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12 Easy & Creative High School Fundraising Ideas

By on March 11, 2022   /   Holiday Fundraising Tips  
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12 Easy & Creative High School Fundraising Ideas

Fundraising is critical for all grade levels to raise funds for school activities, trips, resources, and more. As students move from grade school to high school, finding interesting and creative fundraising ideas that don’t conflict with busy high school schedules can be challenging.

If you’re looking for high school fundraiser ideas for after-school clubs, sports organizations, field trips, and more, we’ve got you covered. Check out our 12 creative high school fundraising ideas that are easy and simple. 

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Quiz Competition

A quiz competition can be a great way to raise funds in high school. Not only is it fun, but it’s also educational and aligns well with practice for AP courses and SATs. 

To host a quiz competition, you must first decide on a theme and it’s best if students are involved in the process — do you want to focus on SAT prep or something fun like Pop Culture? Then, all that’s needed are the invites. 

You can fundraise by having an entry fee per team and then a small entry fee per audience member. Be sure to get a great MC host to make the night fun and have prizes for the winning team. Partner with a local restaurant or cafe if you want to boost promotion and participation, too. 

Sports Day

Nothing gets students and families more excited than sports. For a high school fundraiser, arrange a sports day where you set up various games and activities. This can include classics like field day activities or you can create tag-teams for basketball, soccer, football, volleyball, and more. Use indoor school space for E-sports as well and get even more participants involve. 

As a fundraiser, charge spectators a small entry fee and sell merch like snacks, drinks, and custom shirts and more. 

Yard Sale

Yard sales are a classic fundraiser you don’t want to miss out out on! Don’t keep those yard sales limited to your house.

Ask students, teachers, and parents to donate items that aren’t extensively used. Along with that make sure you double down on marketing — post on social media, send home postcards, and promote across your community that the local school is having a yard sale for their newest fundraiser. 

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Art and Science Exhibitions

Organize multiple exhibitions, such as art exhibitions or science exhibitions, for a creative high school fundraiser. Make it competitive, declare a winner, or the best presentation to encourage participation. 

Charge visitors with a ticket & give a discount for people who come in groups. By doing this you not only have an amazing fundraising event but also make it creatively enriching for the students, it’s a win-win. Plus, high school students can add the exhibit to their high school resume when searching for creative jobs after graduation. 

Food Stalls

What better way to have fun and raise money than with good food. Allow students to set up food stalls -by themselves or with parents- for a fun fundraising event. 

Don’t fail to expect a big crowd, because no one is saying no to food. After subtracting the costs incurred, all the profits raised can go towards fundraising. To make even more sales students can sell packaged items like healthy chips and cookies. Encourage bake-offs, creative recipes, and more. Plus, food stalls can be active at all other high school events. 

Talent Show

A talent show is probably the biggest event that can be performed at scale. We all know, no school is deprived of talent, if anything, it’s overflowing. Your students know how to beatbox, teachers are somewhat of a magician themselves and who knew a parent is a melodic singer. 

Sell tickets in advance and possibly charge the participants as well for a small entry fee if you rent out a large venue or theater. Also, to make it even better try to find a local sponsorship for the event to partner with and help promote.  

Costume party

Every day can be Halloween if you let it. When the season is right, host a costume party with music, gifts, and costume prizes. There can be a small entry to enter the costume contest and a small fee to enter the dance.

Encourage everyone to participate, including teachers, for this fun seasonal high school fundraiser. 

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Car Wash

Set up a small car washing station at your school during the warmer months. Advertise it outside the school gate and on the street to help boost awareness in your local community. Have teachers, parents, and other students bring their cars and charge a small fee. This is fast, fun, and a great way to raise money. 

Yoga day

Over the last decade, yoga as a form of exercise has received a lot of attention. Not only are parents doing it but so are many college-going students. But there are also many who want to do it but haven’t yet. 

Dedicate a day to yoga: where an instructor will run everyone through the basics of the discipline and perform the required introductory exercises. Everyone can be charged a small fee and a voluntary donation box can also be set up. Include tips on wellness, sell healthy snacks, and more to help boost even more sales. If you can, partner with a local group for puppy yoga or goat yoga. 

Virtual Concert

In the past year, a lot of big artists arranged virtual concerts and the craze for them was no less than the stadium ones. To organize a virtual concert, contact a local band and ask them to donate a performance. 

Students, from the comfort of their home, can attend it by giving a small fee. Also, the supporters of the band wouldn’t mind paying extra to have a Q&A with the performers, and that’ll make for some extra bucks. This is a great way to reach students and parents all across your community. 

Auction

This could be a great opportunity for people who’ve been procrastinating on getting that art piece to a pawn shop. Every family has an item they wish to exchange in return for money. 

Organizing an auction can be done offline and online. Collectively everyone lists a certain item and a decided percentage of the sale goes towards the fundraising. If done right, this can be a great success and gets everyone involved with the bidding. Also donate parking spots, gift baskets from local stores, and more. 

School Calendar

One of the best ways to raise funds and at the same time promote your brand is by creating a school calendar. A school calendar can be targeted towards students and parents involving students’ artwork, class photos, and pictures of school events. All the profits can be dedicated towards the fundraiser. Make sure to include notable school days and easy reminders so the school calendar is functional and fun. 

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School Holiday Shops: The Basics of Getting Started

By on December 9, 2021   /   Holiday Fundraising Tips  
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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.

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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. 

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