Our school used to do a holiday shop similiar to what you are talking about. Last year we changed it to after school and Saturday hours. We also changed it doing crafts and sold tables to local crafters/dealers so that people could choose to buy or make a gift. It went very well. I'm curious if you had any objections to Breakfast with Santa based on religious beliefs? We are very careful not to align with any one religious holiday.
Sunflo - This same situation is always the case at our school. For this reason, the teachers in each classroom use their own judgement and allow these children to discretely earn "bonus bucks" to be used only in the Santa shop. Now virtually every child is able to purchase something.
We used Kidsmart Holiday Shoppes from Quality Wholesale Inc. located in Carlisle, PA phone 800 659-9436. We used to buy our own items like on clearance and they was a real pain. had to store every year what wasn't sold. We were very impressed with quality of items Kidsmart has. Our only problem is we feel bad for the children unable to buy. They have to sit while other kids shop. We are undecided to do again this year due to that fact. We have it under vote and are surveying the teachers as to what they think. I see the idea of a Santa breakfast. that is different. joanne
Hi Lauri
We used Concorde Holiday Shoppe in Worcester Mass. I don't know how close you are to Mass.
Good luck! Start as early as you can to get the dates that you want.
hi Lauri - the company we used this year is from Tiverton, RI - can't remember their name, but they are in the book. If your not from RI, let me and I'll look it up for you. Also, another company that has similar fundraising stuff is Worthington Industries, in Cranston, RI. One of the mom at the school works for them. If you'd like her name you can e-mail me.
Hi Lauri-
Our PTO Marketplace is made for just this type of searching! If you click over to www.ptotoday.com/fundmarket.html
and look up "unique products to sell", then you'll see a leading supplier of Kids gift shops.
We'll be adding more and more suppliers to our Marketplace in the months and weeks to come -- we're just getting started. We're trying to make it easy for you folks to find the best of everything for your parent groups.