How to Plan a School Fair or Charity Event
If you are finding it difficult to think of school fundraising ideas, a school fair is a great way to generate funds for your chosen charity or cause.
The importance of charity events being organised and planned well in advance to maximise those important profits cannot be denied. However, there are many factors that your charity event success rate can hinge on – so this useful article gives tips and suggestions to ensure that a great day will be had by all, including the (exhausted?) organiser!
Firstly, setting a convenient date is of paramount importance to your fundraising efforts. Aim for a date near to national holidays so the maximum amount of people can attend thus creating the maximum amount of funds. Of course, picking a day during the summer months is more likely to result in more money being raised, as people are less likely to enjoy a charity event during a damp and dreary day! Unfortunately the Met Office are unable to give you an exact date for the perfect sunny day for outdoor events, but you can work the odds in your favour by selecting a day in July or August. Events during winter months are best to be held within the school hall or gym.
The ‘bread and butter’ to a successful school fair is having a variety of stalls that appeal to all who attend. But while you may overspend on a headline act or attraction, the rest of the fair needs to be self-sufficient. Here are some great stall ideas which are certain to bring in the money at a relatively low cost to the school;
Tin Can Shooting Range
Remove the back from a bookshelf and mark out a line on the floor behind which your shooters stand. Patrons have to knock down as many cans as they can using water guns. Prizes are won once all their water has been used up – the more cans they knock down, the better the prize. Have at least two people working at the stall at all times, as there needs to be someone to fill up the water guns and take money, and another to put the cans back up after being knocked down.
Paint the Pout
Take photos of the school’s staff pulling funny faces or pouting and enlarge them so that they’re life size. Then laminate them and stick them to a board. Patrons must then attempt to draw on their mouths using lipstick after being blind folded and spun around for ten seconds. Ask parents to donate their old lipsticks and wipe the children’s attempts off using baby wipes, the lipstick should come off the laminated surface easily. This is a really popular stall, as children love to make their teachers look silly.
Pull-A-Prize
Children love to play this simple game. Make up a shallow box of sand and put some lolly sticks in colour side down. There are two ways to play, you can either take fifty lollypop sticks and colour the tip of each stick in different colours, if the participant pulls out a yellow stick they get a yellow prize, a red stick a red prize or a blue stick a blue prize, and so on. The second way to play the game is to only colour ten of the stick tips so if the participant picks a coloured stick they win a prize.
Olympic Balloon Throwing
This is a hysterical game that kids will love and is a good way to raise extra funds for your chosen cause. Fill plenty of balloons with water and have people enter in pairs, adult or children. The ‘course’ is set up with markers at measured intervals. The people stand apart, one throws to the other and back without dropping it or the balloon bursting. If successful they move further apart and so on. Charge 50p or £1 per team to enter and have a decent prize for the winners in each group. Best to do this with really cheap thin balloons, not big ones that won’t burst.
Promotion is essential. You don’t want to organise an event and have nobody turn up! Send out newsletters, update the website, post on social media channels, and send letters to parents. It is also good practice to get art students to work on a promotional poster to be placed around the school and one the school gates! Contact the local media to see if there is a chance for them to help promote the school’s event.
In conclusion, these fundraising ideas for Schools should ensure that your event is in safe hands.
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