Why Host an In-School Holiday Gift Fair

By on September 22, 2022   /   Holiday Fundraising, School Fundraising Ideas  

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   /   High School Fundraising, School Fundraising Ideas  
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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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10 Best Virtual Christmas Fundraising Ideas

By on November 9, 2020   /   Holiday Fundraising, School Fundraising Ideas  
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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. 

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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.

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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.

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