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17 Festive Holiday Fundraiser Ideas for your School's PTO PTA
Winter magic is in the air! Christmas lights are starting to twinkle, the nights are snowy and cozy, and the anticipation of santa is in every child's mind. The holidays are right around the corner. This time of year is perfect for hosting a memorable and special holiday fundraiser to raise funds in anticipation of events and activities for the remainder of the school year!
Every year, school PTO/PTA groups need to make decisions on their major seasonal fundraisers. The holiday winter season is especially important since it's the time when people usually feel the most charitable and are likely to attend and contribute to the causes and organizations closest to their hearts!
If carried out the right way, these fundraisers have the potential to be magical, fun and profitable all at the same time - while also helping develop a sense of community amongst parents. With just a little bit of creativity and planning, you can help your own PTO/PTA host a holiday fundraiser that not only meets your goals, but also gives parents and kids an event to truly enjoy! With TidyLady Printable Flyers, you can infuse just this kind of charm and creative flair into your seasonal Christmas and holiday fundraising events!
There are so many holiday school fundraising ideas for you to choose from! Some of these winter Christmas fundraisers are surprisingly effective. Others, not so much. The correct choice is often based on your particular school, its location, and the time you want to invest, along with many other factors such as how many volunteers you have, your budget and the overall purpose or goal of the event.
In this article, we break down 17 AWESOME winter holiday fundraiser ideas for your school PTO or PTA Group:
1. Host a Holiday Charity Drive
Toy Drive - Book Drive - Coat Drive - Food Drive
With a good group of committed volunteers, there’s no limit to what you can do with a charity drive event! Enlist parent or teacher volunteers to setup donation points around the community. Get a tree and put it in the school's main lobby or cafeteria for donated gifts or items to be placed under. This is a great way to show kid's the true spirit of Christmas.
The key to any successful fundraiser event is marketing so you get a good turnout! Do this by creating knowledge of the event by sending home customized invites and flyers. Have kids bring them home to their parents, post them in the school hallways and on local church, community center, coffee shop, grocery store and gym bulletin boards.
2. Host a Winter Festival or Christmas Carnival
The holidays are a time for joy, community and celebration. Which makes it the perfect time for your PTO or PTA to host a winter festival or Christmas carnival!
If you want to host a holiday fundraiser that attracts large pools of supporters, organize a Holiday Festival or Holiday Winter Carnival event to raise donations and awareness for your school, cause or organization. Sell tickets for admission, with the money going into the funds. Partner with local retailers who are willing to donate to a good cause and set up a raffle.
Organize holiday or winter themed games that require tickets such as snowball toss, candy cane races or a snowman building contest with ticket sale profits going to the school. You could also set up cookie decorating and face painting stations as well! These signs are perfect for fall carnival stations and game areas.
Go one step further and hire a company to setup a snow machine and bring in food trucks or have food catered by a local company. Don't forget to have warm drinks such as hot chocolate, coffee and tea so the guests stay warm! Be sure to hire a band to play live music to encourage visitors to stay longer and have a great time! There are so many great ways you can use this event to successfully raise money for your holiday fundraiser!
3. Christmas Candy Grams:
Need a winter Christmas fundraiser idea that's a little more simplified this holiday? Santa Candy Grams are absolutely perfect for that! Christmas Candy Grams are holiday candy grams that are sent to students and teachers during the week of Christmas.
About 2-3 weeks prior to Christmas send this Holiday Santa Gram Form home with students and have set treats for a set price. For example your school could bulk buy candy canes as the candy treat and attach a one to the candy gram that sells for $1 each. The student will fill out the form of who they want to send their candy grams to and return the completed form with money to your school office 1 week before Christmas. Your school PTO or PTA members could then hand them out to the student, staff and teacher recipients the week of Christmas!
This is a very easy, quick, fun and effective fundraiser to pull together last minute during the holiday season and all proceeds go directly to the PTO or PTA Fundraiser!
4. Winter Holiday Dance:
What's more fun than getting together and having a holiday dance full of festive and fun Christmas music? Host a winter-themed cozy barn dance and have everyone dress up in ugly sweaters, plaid or flannel! Have an ugly sweater contest and hire a DJ. Decorate the event space full of paper snowflakes, rustic wood and cozy blankets - with green and red Christmas balloons and streamers. Keep energy levels high with hot cocoa refreshments and cookies available for purchase so your school can raise as much money as possible and the students will have so much fun dancing the night away!
Sell tickets for admission to the dance and the proceeds will go to your school, church or PTO/PTA group. Like any successful fundraiser make sure the winter holiday school dance flyers are sent out early to ensure a good turnout.
5. Have a Holiday Product Sale
Ponsettia Sale - Wreath Sale
Nothing screams the holidays like wreaths and pretty red poinsettia flowers! This is why a holiday wreath sale or poinsettia sale fundraiser is the perfect holiday fundraising idea. Not only is it simple to organize, hosting a poinsettia or wreath sale is a very effective fundraising idea.
To organize a winter holiday product sale to benefit your PTO or PTA, order poinsettias or wreaths in bulk from a trusted company. Then, sell all those pretty holiday wreaths and poinsettias at a higher price to raise funds for your school or organization.
Make sure parents and community members know about your sale by sending home fall product wreath or poinsettia sale flyers early with students as well as posting them around the community!
6. Host a Holiday Craft Market or Christmas Shop
The holidays and shopping go together like Santa Claus and cookies! Hosting a holiday Christmas shop at your school is such a great fundraiser idea! Have parents or local vendors donate small trinkets and crafts. Or better yet, have students make their own. Students can go shopping at the event for gifts for their parents, friends, aunts, uncles or grandparents since they can't go to a regular store. The money also gets spent towards their school, church or organization!
In addition to hosting a kid's Christmas shopping event, you can also host a community Holiday craft show or Christmas market open to the public. Pick a weekend well before Christmas is in full swing so that people's calendars aren't too full and make sure to advertise early with flyers and invites so that you have good attendance at your holiday fundraiser!
Gather vendors and set up an festive holiday market in your school or church's parking lot, cafeteria or gymnasium. Feel free to also offer food and refreshments for sale at this event to create more profits for your organization. Great choices include holiday treats such as cookies, hot cocoa and hot cider to get people in the holiday mood and full of Christmas cheer. Vendors can also be charged to set up a booth or table at the craft show. Make sure to decorate with snowflakes, tinsel, garland and Christmas lights to set the mood for your holiday market fundraiser event!
7. Holiday Bake Sale
Bake sales have long been one of the most popular ways of raising funds for schools, teams, churches PTO/PTA groups and organizations of all kinds. They can be great at raising funds during the holidays because there is little capital required as volunteers and parents can supply all the baked goodies. You could also have the items for sale donated by a local bakery.
Holiday bake sales also make for good community social events because people always enjoy getting together over a common goal... and FOOD! Christmas is also a time when the treats and baking is plenty and people love to buy these things to regift and also to bring to the many holiday parties they attend as gifts!
When it comes to arranging a successful bake sale - keep in mind that presentation is everything! Set out organized and nicely decorated tables. Divide the baked goods according to serving size (individual cookies, whole cakes) and type (cookies, cakes).
To ensure ease during the holiday bake sale, label all your items for sale with these editable bake sale tags so people know the pricing and what the bakery item is. This is also great for labeling a product gluten free, allergy free, nut free etc. and for pricing items as well! Be sure to also have a sign that also says what type of payments are accepted - cash, credit, debit, etc. to avoid common questions and focus on making sales!
Flyers and signage are a huge way to market and attract potential buyers to your Christmas bake sale. Make sure to post them early in your school and community to get a large turnout.
8. Host Christmas Movie Night
As the days get colder and Christmas approaches, many of us are eager to cozy up under our blankets and watch some magical holiday movies. For your PTO or PTA fall fundraiser capitalize on this sentiment and organize a Christmas movie night! Charge a movie admission fee to raise funds. You can host a movie night in the school gymnasium or rent out a local theater. Alternatively you could have an outdoor movie showing under the stars maybe in the soccer field, local park or school parking lot if it's not too cold where you live!
To host the perfect Christmas movie night, first, select a desirable location and rent a giant inflatable movie screen. Arrange film rental & projection equipment. In order to maximize on the funds - publicize your event through unique flyers and sell advance tickets. Raise more funds with candy, popcorn and soda sales. The main purpose is to create a fun event with broad appeal and encourage everyone to have a good time, while also raising funds for your school's PTO or PTA organization.
9. Host a Holiday Run or Walk:
Santa Dash - Jingle Bell Jog
Winter runs are an excellent holiday fundraising idea! They promote a healthy activity during a time of year that can easily be a tad over-indulgent. Santa Dash and Jingle Bell Jogs, for example are family friendly foot races that are typically 5Ks with the option of running or walking. These are a popular nonprofit event for several reasons. They can help your organization or school PTO or PTA:
Raise even more funds for your organization with entertainment, food and beer sales, and raffle prize drawings after the holiday race is over! In addition make it even more festive by having the walker and runner participants wear santa hats or elf hats during the race!
10. Host a Breakfast with Santa:
Breakfast with Santa - Pancakes with Santa - Donuts with Santa
Putting together a breakfast with Santa holiday fundraiser definitely has the potential to raise a lot of money for your school PTO or PTA group. Decide who is going to cater your event and where is will be held. To simplify you can also do a pancakes with santa or donuts with santa event instead so it doesn't need to be an entire breakfast. You could also decide to host this event directly at a restaurant to avoid the catering component at your holiday fundraiser.
Make the event more festive by having guests wear Christmas pajamas! A visit from santa and his elves is essential along with holiday decor and Christmas music.
Your aim is to try to make it the ultimate holiday fundraiser breakfast with santa event for your school PTO or PTA to make the most money and also to have the most fun! Do this by attracting as many people as possible and promoting the event early with breakfast or pancakes with santa flyers and tickets that guests can purchase in advance!
11. Host a Supper with Santa:
Breakfast with Santa fundraisers are very popular, but Santa also has to eat dinner! Switch is up and do a supper with santa event instead. Serve warm soup and grilled cheese or do a big Santa spaghetti dinner. Afterwards you can enjoy Christmas desserts such as fresh baked cookies!
The same goes for the supper with santa fundraiser, you want to get invitations and flyers out early since the holidays are busy times for people and to ensure a successful turnout and your event.
12. Have a North Pole Polar Express Night:
Similar to a holiday movie night, you can do a polar express north pole night! Turn your space into the most magical north pole setting that will guarantee excitement for the kids! Play the Polar Express movie but also sent out train admission tickets to your guests ahead of time. Serve hot cocoa and have the kids come in the holiday pj's. This is a great holiday fundraising idea for schools and churches! Participants will happily pay an admission fee if they’re guaranteed a magical experience!
13. Host a Photos with Santa Event
Host a photos with Santa holiday fundraiser at your school, church, community center or business where kids can get a photo taken with Santa and the elves! Decorate an area to look like the north pole and set a time and date where kids can come in to get their picture taken and charge a set price for the photo.The event gives parents some much wanted sweet holiday photos as well as providing great memories for kids and funds to your organization - a win, win, win!
14. Have a Holiday Casino or Holiday Bingo Night
Host a holiday fundraiser Christmas casino or bingo night at your organization or school this winter! A super fun holiday fundraising event and great way to raise funds for your organization. Decorate the space where you're going to hold the event and charge an admission fee which may include a set amount of bingo cards, dabbers and refreshment tickets. You could also set up poker and black jack tables as well. Have school pto members or pta volunteers serve as dealers and bingo callers. Guests with have such a fun time playing games at your holiday fundraiser they will forget their actually donating to a great cause at the same time!
To maximize the profits of your event you can also have food and drinks for sale. Be sure to play some festive Christmas music to keep your visitors entertained and so they stay awhile!
15. Have a Holiday Cookie Decorating Fundraiser
Holiday cookie decorating fundraiser parties are a great way to raise money for your school. You can host a kid's cookie decorating party and get a local bakery or grocery store to donate plain cookies. Have bowls of frosting on tables and cute Christmas aprons for the kids so they get a little less messy while getting to work decorating their holiday cookies! Charge an admission fee for the students to raise money for your school pto pta or church.
16. Host a Christmas Music Concert or Have a Nativity Christmas Play
While the magic of santa and his elves are in full gear, sometimes we tend to forget the real reason for the season. Help parents and students remember by hosting a Christmas nativity play or Holiday music concert fundraiser. Have students participate in the holiday play or concert and charge and admission price for parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to attend and see all the talent! Have pto or pta volunteers near the entrance selling food, popcorn and refreshments for guests to enjoy while watching the Christmas show.
Be sure to let everyone know about your holiday fundraising Christmas concert or play early so your attendance is up and the seats are filled!
17. Have an Angel Tree for your School or Organization
Host an angel tree at your school or organization. Guests can participate by taking an angel off the tree with someone in need's name. It can also say what to donate such as pillows, clothing, blankets or other items. You can do this for kids to donate toys as well! A great holiday fundraiser event for your school pto or pta to display the true meaning of the Christmas season.
Use TidyLady flyers and printables to bring even more attention and success to your PTO or PTA holiday and Christmas fundraisers. Even if all these unique fundraising ideas don't raise a barrel of cash - they will certainly raise community spirit and get people talking about your cause, school or organization. Happy Winter Holiday Fundraising!
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