Time flies when you’re volunteering for Parent Organizations. One second you’re planning the Fall Carnival in August, and the next it’s November! Wanting to make the most of the season of giving and joy, you may want to have one more holiday fundraiser before the holiday break.
There’s no time to waste! Here are 5 last-minute, easy as pumpkin pie, holiday fundraising ideas for schools.
One Sweet Holiday Fundraiser
A candy gram is such an easy last-minute holiday fundraising idea. All you need is a little organization and a lot of candy. What’s great about candy grams is that you can have multiple a year and it’s still just as fun for participants as the first time.
To organize a candy gram you will need a bulk order of the candy of your choosing and candy gram printouts. Your candy gram printouts will need room for the sender’s name, the receiver’s name, a place to write a special message, and the receiver’s homeroom teacher for organized delivery.
Your candy gram printouts will be given to students to fill out after they pay your set price, usually $1 or $2. The printouts will later be tied or wrapped around a candy and delivered to the recipient. If you are hosting a candy gram near a holiday, your candy can coordinate with the season: candy canes for Christmas, heart-shaped lollipops for Valentine’s Day, or you can switch from candy to flowers or a small gift. As long as you remember to adjust your price so that your Parent Teacher Group will make a profit.
Not only are these candies inexpensive, but also festive. It’s always best to schedule your candy gram near a fun holiday, such as Valentine’s, Halloween, or Christmas. Holidays give students a little push to open up about their feelings, and are more likely to take the opportunity to send something sweet to a friend, partner, or secret admirer.
A Holiday Fundraising Idea to Make You Laugh
One of the jolliest and most cherished holiday traditions is the “ugly sweater.” If your school has uniforms, you know kids constantly ask to wear their own non-uniform clothes. This is the perfect opportunity to give them what they want while also raising money with a funny holiday fundraiser. Your Parent Teacher Group can sell tickets or vouchers so that students can swap out the uniform shirt for an ugly sweater on an ugly sweater day!
If your students don’t have uniforms, how do you incentivize the event? Make it a competition or raffle as well! Students and teachers who buy an “ugly sweater” ticket can have their picture taken and the school administration can vote on their favorite sweater. Or if you’d like to make it a raffle, only students or faculty wearing an ugly sweater can receive a raffle ticket and your Parent Teacher Group can give away holiday prizes.
How to Wrap Up This Semester
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and parents thought they were done.
To their shock they saw not a present was wrapped, not even a one.
What to do now? They asked repeatedly on loop.
If only they had asked for help, from your Parent Teacher Group.
Many cultures celebrate the winter season with gift-giving. Whether a family celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Three Kings Day, Kwanzaa, or another holiday, there is often the exchanging of gifts involved.
With all the hustle and bustle that comes with the holidays, extra hands are always welcome. One task that is particularly time-consuming is the wrapping of gifts. If you choose this fundraiser, you can announce to parents and faculty to look no further for extra help because your Parent Teacher Group is hosting a Gift Wrapping Fundraiser!
Parent Organizations planning a Gift Wrapping Fundraiser will need to invest in wrapping paper, boxes, bows, and gift tags. Your PTA, PTO, or Booster Club can accept donations, charge a fee per gift or bundle of gifts, or charge by gift size.
If you’re running low on member volunteers, your group might also ask for student volunteers; this last-minute holiday fundraising idea requires many hands, so gather your holiday elves and start wrapping.
A Basket Full of Holiday Cheer
Many holiday fundraisers for schools need a lot of planning, but not all of them. If you’re pressed for time, you can quickly put together a “keeping cozy” gift basket to raffle off. The contents of the basket don’t have to be Christmas specific; foods, hot drinks, and more can help anyone celebrate the holidays by keeping them cozy in days to come.
Here are a few items that might go in your basket:
- A school mug or tumbler
- Hot drink mixes, such as tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or apple cider.
- Snacks, such as caramel popcorn, chocolate covered pretzels, or mixed nuts.
- A cold-weather cookbook
- Foods, such as sausage, cheese, or crackers.
- A gift card to a popular store
- A soft blanket
You can raffle off multiple identical baskets or one large basket and a few smaller ones. A basket with ribbons and other decorations will surely intrigue parents and faculty alike; you can get as creative as you’d like with your basket.
You’ll Be Stuck on This Holiday Fundraising Idea
Holiday fundraisers for schools don’t always need an abundance of supplies. Sometimes all they take is one willing and able school faculty volunteer. Of course, for this fundraiser, your volunteer will have to be willing to be duct-taped to a wall! The best candidate for this fun and unusual fundraiser is none other than the school principal. Students often see the principal as a stern, rule-loving, authority figure. Being able to show off the principal’s fun side is a great bonus. This could even bring your students and faculty closer together. How is this a fundraiser, you may ask? You’ll be selling duct tape by the strip. Everyone will want a turn or two to help duct tape the principal, or other faculty member, to the wall and will surely make this fundraiser a stuck-cess!
Before you stick it:
- Your principal should be fully covered by their clothes.
- Check to make sure the tape will stick to the chosen wall.
- Stick your volunteer in a high traffic zone.
This last-minute holiday fundraiser can actually be done at any time of the year. However, you can always put a holiday spin on it with holiday-themed duct tape colors.
Sometimes the Grinch Steals Your Supplies
Although these fundraisers involve items that may be inexpensive separately, together the price quickly adds up; and it would no doubt be troublesome if something were to happen to them. When you’re insured with AIM Property Insurance, you don’t have to worry about someone trying to ruin your holiday cheer. With AIM you can protect your fundraising merchandise from perils such as fire, lightning, windstorm, theft, and vandalism. Protect your items and more with AIM, so that every year can be wrapped up neatly with a bow!
AIM is here to help your organization succeed. Check out our other blogs for fundraising inspiration, tips, PTA, PTO, or Booster Club guidance, and more!