We're planning on doing this type of event this November to tie in as a shopping night for the holidays. We're pre-selling tickets so that we will be able to "guarantee" to fill the house. We can't promise our vendors that people will buy, but we can say that they'll be there. We booked a catering hall. All vendors will be asked to donate a basket that will be raffled off as a tricky tray item. We'll have 4-5 larger ticket items to raffle off as well. First the guests will sit down to dinner from 6pm-7:30pm. We also hired a magician/psychic/comedian. Then the the doors will open up for shopping till 9:30 and from 9:30-10:00 we will call the winners of the grand prize raffles.
This year we held a huge tricky tray event that took us a year to put together and we raised over $17,000. We figured we couldn't go back to the same vendors in our area and ask for items again and wanted to try something a little different and on a smaller scale. So, this is what we came up with. We think by pre-selling tickets it will help. That's what we did with our tricky tray as well. It was also a sit-down dinner.
We do a ladies night out at a meal assembly place called the Dinner A'Fare. They serve wine, or mimossas depending on time of day. We usually do a Thurs. evening and bring cheese and apps. It's studio kitchen where you put together gourmet dinners to cook at home (yes, my children love it) They give us money based on the package we choose, a 220 (gives $20), 135 (gives 10) and 80 (gives $5). It's what you would spend on groceries anyway and saves soooo much time. I do it even when it's not for the school. You probably a Dinner A'Fare or something similar near you. My group made $195 just for making our dinners there.
We call ours a Holiday Boutique, held the first Friday in November. We charge $10.00 per table, and a mandatory raffle prize valued at $50.00 or more. We had about 25 vendors, but no duplicates. We charged $5.00 per person at the door and sold raffle tickets and refreshments. ( No wine inside school) We made about $2100.00. We fundraise with a specific goal, this one was to pay for a spring outside movie night, complete with dj, 2 big screens, popcorn & italian ices for everyone at NO CHARGE.
We advertise in local papers and send homes with the kids and we emphasize the start of the Holiday season.
We also have a LADIES NIGHT OUT- Annual Auction in April. That is held at a catering hall, cash bar and over 250 baskets....that is our biggest $$ maker
