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Useful Links16 Ideas for Social/Fundraising Events
1. Sports Evening
Enlist the help of local sports coaches and enthusiasts and give everyone a chance to learn how to play or pick up some tips.
Every child/adult pays an entrance fee.
Provide refreshments.
2. Metre of Money
Give each child a metre length of cardboard which is to be filled with coins.
All completed cards are put into a prize draw.
3. One World Day
An evening of cultural celebration with food and drink from lots of different countries.
This idea comes from a PTA that had been through a bad patch and relationships had broken down. They decided that they needed to build some bridges and so came up with the idea of “an evening of cultural celebration”.
They recruited lots of people to help with food, set up and run stalls and even got local businesses to donate food and other items.
When adults and children arrived at the event they bought a passport which would allow everyone to sample food and drink from different countries based at stalls around the school.
There was curry from India, pasta from Italy, Baklava from Greece and even Yorkshire Puddings from England!
The entertainment included dancing and traditional songs from around the world performed by the children and local people. People could also take part in various activities such as henna hand-painting and lace making.
This sort of event would also be great to run alongside any classroom projects on other countries.
4. Hunt The Alphabet
An alphabet fundraising challenge for children.
Prepare a grid of the alphabet to be distributed to each child. The children will need to stick the grid to a piece of cardboard.
The challenge is for each child to collect an item for each letter and stick it to the board.
Children could be sponsored for the collection of an item for each letter of the alphabet. When the task is complete, the boards are checked by a member of the PTA and each child receives a certificate on completion of the challenge.
You could even give prizes/certificates for the most unusual items.
5. Supermarket Sweep
Have you ever got to the end of a big shop at your local supermarket only to be confronted by youngsters wanting to throw things in plastic bags?
Well, rather than packing bags, have you every thought about unloading the trolley instead? This would leave the customer with more time to carefully pack their shopping.
You will need a team of adults to supervise children and of course, you will have to get permission from the supermarket. They will usually give you an allotted number of checkouts to work at. In return for all this hard work, customers are asked to put some spare change in your collecting buckets.
It’s a good idea to wear a school T-shirt or sweatshirt and you could ask to put up posters to explain what you are doing and maybe what you are raising money for.
Arrange a rota so that a team of helpers can operate throughout the day/evening.
6. Got Any Change? Get parents, families and friends to dig around at home for spare change; you know the best places - down the back of the sofa, lying in that bowl on the table, etc.
You could send a note home telling families that on a specific day the PTA and children will be collecting change before school. Ask some of the older children to stand at the entrance to the school with buckets as everyone arrives in the morning.
Afterwards, bag it up and off to the bank!
7. Bonus Ball - yes, it could be you!
This is a variation on a theme - a bit like running a 200 club. Parents and teachers choose a number from 1 to 49. Numbers are sold on a first come, first serve basis. Everyone is asked to buy a minimum number of bonus ball numbers - three month's worth, for example. As you may have guessed the game is based on the National Lottery. Choose one game from either the Wednesday or the Saturday draw and when a number matches the bonus ball, then the winner wins that week's total - this would be £24 if all the numbers have been sold. Half the proceeds would then go to the PTA/PA.
You will probably need a lottery licence to run this, so check with your local authority licensing department.
8. Shopper's Night
Invite local businesses, crafts people and others such as reps for book companies to come and "sell their wares".
Each trader pays for a table eg, £5
Sell refreshments.
9. Gruesome Gash
Invite a local St Andrews or Red Cross Group to a fundraising event such as a Christmas Fayre. Children can pay to have a "gruesome gash" put on their face or arm.
10. Family Games Night
Charge an entrance fee for each family group.
Give each team a score card and have a hamper as a prize, (you could ask for donations for this before the event).
Games could include: Themed quiz; Whose Baby?; Guess the personality; Guess the smell/noise; guess the intro to a song.
11. Pick A Straw
You will need: 100 wide drinking straws; a large tray of sand; raffle tickets; selection of small prizes.
This works on the same principle as a bottle stall; you pay for a chance to win.
Roll up the raffle tickets and poke them into the straws.
Stand the straws in the tray of sand.
As with the bottle stall, if you reserve tickets that end in five or zero for the prizes it makes finding them a lot easier.
You could add another variation by including a free shot for any ticket ending in a three.
12. Key to the Door
Equipment:
- a clear-fronted box with a Yale lock and two keys
- a large box filled with as many Yale keys as you can get hold of
- a prize that fits in the box
Charge for a chance to pick a key and try the lock. The person who opens the box wins the prize.
The unlucky ones replace the key so others can try their luck.
The more keys you have, the harder it is.
Remember to keep a spare key for yourself so that you can open the box if no-one is successful!
13. Catch the Rat
Equipment:
- Long, substantial tube. A five foot length of guttering downpipe would do well.
- Wood and gutter brackets
- Long handled mallet. This needs to be pretty hard-wearing as it will come in for some heavy punishment
- Wooden ball or a supply of plastic balls to roll down the tube
How to make your Rat Launcher
Fix the tube to a framework of wood using the gutter brackets allowing a 60 degree angle to the ground. The tube should leave a space between the end and the ground twice the diameter of the ball and should be open at both ends. Paint an 18 inch diameter circle on the ground in front of the end of the tube. You can experiment to find the best place, depending on the degree of difficulty. You could paint a rat's face on the ball for added authenticity.
How it works
There should be one shot per charge or you could have three shots for a discount. The "catcher" grasps the mallet, looks at the circle and says go. The operator releases the "rat" at the top of the tube and the punter has to try to smash it before it leaves the circle when it appears at the bottom of the tube.
This may sound easy, but it's really difficult to hit the rat in the circle. You really do need superhuman powers of concentration and reflexes.
Instead of a ball you could use a bean bag with a painted face, string tail and ears. Fix your downpipe to the base board but leave 18 inches of wood below the opening. The "catcher" has to thwack the rat against the board, using a baseball bat or similar, before it hits the ground.
14. Back to School Night
This is a great chance to get parents into school to find out what really happens in class.
Split parents into groups and give them a timetable of classes to attend, changing classes at 10 to 15 minute intervals. They could be escorted by pupils and/or teachers.
Parents walk about the school as their children would change class. They could meet teachers, have a go at some of the ICT equipment and have a lesson via a whiteboard.
Publicise Your Event on a T-Shirt
A beleagured PTA secretary was finding it hard to get her news across to the majority of parents, particularly as she wasn't getting much support from the Headteacher. So, she found a plain white T-shirt, wrote on it all the information about the meeting – time, place, venue and purpose – and then wore the T-shirt up to school when she went to collect her children.
Ignoring the fact that her son was mortified and did not want to be seen anywhere near her, the strategy proved very effective. Not only did parents come up to her in the playground offering both their apologies and suggestions, the evening of the meeting proved to be the best ever in terms of attendance.
The message is “if you want to communicate, get a T-shirt!” Think of the possibilities: you could have a squad of parents all kitted out in appropriately messaged shirts, distributing the PTA newsletter.
15. Reindeer Food
What about selling reindeer food at your Christmas Fete - younger children love this idea! Mix some bird food or oatmeal with a little glitter and put it into a small bag. Label with a picture of Rudolph, (get someone to do this on the computer), and write the following instructions:
"On Christmas Eve take and sprinkle on your lawn or garden path. This mix of oats and magic dust will guide Santa's reindeer on their way so that he can leave you lots of presents when you wake up on Christmas Day. When you look for the food in the garden all that will be left is the magic dust to show that the reindeer have visited."
16. A Free Lunch
This idea comes from a primary school PTA in England and could be a great way to recruit more people onto the Committee! At the start of a new school year host a "new parent's lunch for all parents and children in P1. Try and get as many teachers as possible to come along. This particular PTA held the lunch on a Sunday afternoon between 1 and 3pm and provide a free light lunch plus a children's entertainer. "The PTA feels that the event creates a community spirit in the school, helps new parents to feel welcome and gives the opportunity for them to meet other parents. We also hope that meeting some of the members of our PTA Committee will encourage new parents to support our various events and maybe even join us."