FUNDRAISING – Bit on the side
THE SIDE BIT ON
Piggyback on your school’s events calendar with these fundraising side hustles
Sports day Don’t want to miss the egg-and-
spoon race? Set up a self-service cold drinks/snacks table with an honesty pot for the cash, or ask a local ice cream van to attend and give you 15% of their takings. Hit up the supermarket for free ice pops for the kids at the end of the day too.
School play Put a shout-out to your parent
community for a professional photographer who’d be willing to stay behind after the show to snap pics of the kids in their costumes. Use a themed backdrop designed by pupils, and charge for JPEGs so you don’t have to worry about printing or framing.
Harvest festival If your school holds a harvest
festival church service or event, be sure to offer pumpkin-spiced coffees to the parents and hot chocolate with marshmallows to the kids. If you’re feeling creative, you could also sell autumn-themed craft bags to take home, hold a pumpkin- carving competition or organise a pumpkin trail around town.
Book fair Set up a small craft table with
bookmark-making or silly spoons of favourite book characters. Get the kids going on a Bear Hunt or Where’s Wally? adventure by sticking pictures of said character around the room and charging £1 for a tick-box sheet.
Carol service Alongside plying audience members
with mince pies and mulled wine, hand out sheets for Name the Elf/ Penguin/Reindeer/Squishmallow at £2 a pop, with the winner taking home the titular soft toy (purchased from a budget supermarket). Why not also sell Christmas hamper raffle tickets or a turn at Christmas Cash Squares, where you print out a map of the town divided into squares and ask them to guess where Santa is hiding.
Nativity Create lasting memories by filming
proceedings (preferably the dress rehearsal as it’s less noisy) and charging for a password-protected link to download and watch. Make sure to get permission from the parents of all children filmed and issue a usage policy.
World Book Day Organise a sponsored read, run a
book-themed decorate-a-potato competition or raffle off book bundles. For something more ambitious, hold a storytelling night where kids come back to school in their PJs for bedtime stories and hot chocolate, while parents enjoy a glass of wine in the hall.
STEM week Sell STEM-themed keepsakes,
such as personalised Lego brick keyrings from
fab-bricks.com (for each £3.25 keyring sold, the PTA gets to keep £1). Hold a Super STEM raffle with experiences as the prizes, such as tickets to a live science show, entry to a museum or planetarium, a ride on a steam railway, a trip to Legoland or a visit to a race track.
Easter bonnet parade Run an eggcellent art competition.
Charge £1 for A4 egg templates to be coloured in by each child, with the best in each class winning a chocolate egg. Boost your takings with an Easter egg raffle and a scavenger hunt over the holidays.
pta.co.uk SUMMER 2024 25
WORDS: NUALA CALVI; IMAGE: ASIAFOTO/
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
