MEMBERS’ TOP TIPS

SUMMER fundraising sensations!

The PTA Summer fair is as traditional as strawberries at Wimbledon and rain on a bank holiday! Tried and tested attractions are a must and no summer fair would be complete without a bouncy castle, home-made cake stall and a Beat-the-Goalie! But if you want to boost your fundraising efforts this summer, here are some innovative suggestions from PTA-UK members.

“A recycled teddies stall using unwanted, donated, washed and beautifully wrapped teddies. It’s just like a tombola. For £1 everyone wins a teddy. The kids love it!” Louise Parkinson, Crown Meadow First School Association, Alvechurch, Worcestershire.

“We give out ‘food pledges’ for people to bring food for the buffet and then charge a fixed amount for a plate of food.” Helen Cowley, Friends of Marlborough Schools, Cardiff.

“Water and Wine. Fill some empty screw top bottles with water and wrap them up in newspaper. Then wrap a proportion of donated bottles of wine in newspaper. Mix them up; parents pay £1 to try their luck. We usually go for a 1 in 4 chance of winning!” Gwen Young, Friends of Whickham Parochial, Gateshead.

“Last year we had a fun fair. They came and set up their rides and gave us a percentage of what they made on the day, so it looked great, but we had no outlay which worked well for all!” Bev Knapper, St Augustines PTFA, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs.

“Jolly Jar - we hold a ‘wear what you like day’ in exchange for a jar filled with sweets, hair bands, coins etc. These are then collected and labelled up with draw tickets for 50p each. One go per person ensures that each child gets a chance to win. 120 children in school so £60 raised with no expense to the PTA”. Shelley Connop, Kingsland Primary School, Kingsland, Herefordshire.

“‘Guess which hand belongs to the teacher?’ We took a photograph of all the teachers’ hands and placed these on a wall. The kids had to guess, which pair of hands belonged to which teacher!” Catherine, Mosely School, Essex

“Wet sponges with teachers in the stocks!!” Jo Clayton, The Friends of Charborough Road PS, Filton Bristol.

“Tie-dye t-shirts. Pre-selling the t-shirts or asking the children to bring t-shirts in before the event so that we can have some already done.” Julie Banks, PTFA St Nicholas School, New Romney, Kent.

“Throw a Welly. We had three age-groups adult, primary and secondary and we used a large white board to display the leaders. We had small wellies sprayed gold as prizes for each age group”. Louise Thompson, PTFA, Alexandra Junior School, Sydenham, London.

“We have a stall called trash or treasure, a bit like deal or no deal! We use boxes, donated from a local shoe factory. These are then covered in paper. The idea is to put a prize in every box, charge a pound a go to see what you win. It may be socks or a bag of sweets, usually things we have not got rid of from previous events!” Denise Read, Loatlands Primary School, Desborough, Northants.

PTA-UK Magazine April 2012

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