We all know that many of the lower end prizes offered by the companies are pretty cheap. However, the kids still like them, just as they like the cheap prizes they win at the local pizza place for playing games. What gets me is the companies whose prize flyer always shows the "top level" prizes on the front cover. How many kids sell 100 items or more?

As far as how important the prize program is; mu son's school did not use a prize program (principal decision) and the sold over $12,000. When a new principal okayed the prize program, sales went up to over $26,000!

ldhunter;134183 wrote: In searching for new and creative ways to motivate kids and families to sell cookie dough and catalog items, I thought I would come to the board and see what everyone here does to reward kids for all of their effort. As most of you know, the company reward incentives (flashing cheap toys, etc.) are not enough. So, in addition to those, we have offered a raffle where every student who sells 10 items or more is entered, and then 3 tickets were drawn for gift cards to ToysRUs. Also, the top three sellers were given gift cards as well.

Does anyone out there have some refreshing ideas to share?

Thanks so much!

Heres a page that has specific information about motivating your fundraising sellers. There are some great ideas for school fundraiser incentives .

Good Luck!

We always come up with some sort of tiered incentive plan -- top class in each grade gets extra recess; class sells a certain amount then they get no homework, top class in entire school gets a pizza party, etc.

In addition, last year, we got the vendor to give us a $500 cash bonus which we used towards rental of some inflatables for a "mega" party held in conjunction with a school dance. It was a blast! We had to sell a certain amount to get the mega party, of course. We had the lower grades on the inflatables while the older grades danced, and then flip flopped. That way the inflatables were controllable, and little kids didn't get squashed!

We've also done teachers on the roof to sing and dance -- certain ones for certain levels - last one being the principal. Last year we had 10 people on the roof "doing a jig". Kids love that sort of thing.

Oh, and we shaved the Coach's head once for a certain goal. Talk about going kids going crazy for an idea!

I do firmly believe that these incentives helped us reach our goals.

Oh, and we did offer a buy-out option to those parents that hate catalog sales. Figuring that we wanted each kid to sell an average of 10 items, and the average cost of an item is $10 -- estimated profit per kid -- $50. So we told parents to donate $50 if they didn't want to buy anything and it would still count towards these incentives. I was impressed with the number of people who took that option.

You can ask the school where the local sports teams (soccer, t-ball, even the school) orders their "uniforms" and check out where they tell you for spirit wear for your school. Usually the stores will put together a flyer for you to insert with your fundraiser. We've found that these types of prizes generate more excitement from the parents (who ultimately spend the money) and we do quite well with the fundraisers when we offer them. Good Luck!

Idhunter, we just told our rep (we're using Kathryn Beich) that we would prefer not to use their prize package this year. I'm sure he wasn't 100% thrilled, but he'll still get a percentage of our sales, which beats getting nothing if we decided to go elsewhere. Actually, I've found this guy to be pretty easy to deal with. All reps are like used-car salesmen, though. I bet you'll find that if you ask your rep what else they can offer you in the way of prizes they'll have some ideas. They push the "crappy" stuff because they get the biggest mark up from that. If you make sure they know that you understand they need to make money too, they'll be willing to work with you. Give it a try, all they can do is tell you "no, we can't do that" and then you say, "Ok, thanks, I'll try someone who can"

ImnotcrazyImamother- Can you tell me more about the details on how to not use the catalog prizes? They are so cheesy, and I love anything to promote school spirit! I would love to do the same, but not sure where to start with all of this. Thanks.