I remember going to those santa shops too as a young child and they were so much fun. Recently my public school ran one with Candy Cane Holiday Shoppe and it worked well. They were reasonable with the prices. I got to volunteer and asked how much we had made and I found out the we had full control of what we could make and we decided to not make money and make it inexpensive and a service oriented program for the school. I was pleasantly surprised that they even loaned us a register. Hope this helps you.
You will need lots of volunteers! We tried it, but never had enough help. We did it for 2 years and then quit. You have to have one person who can commit to being the go to person for the whole time.
Fox Mom could you tell me where you purchased the ornaments to personalize? That sounds like a great idea and I would love to do it at our school. Thanks! My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
We have always used a local company to do the Santa Workshop but their products seem to be very low quality, so we have been looking for a new company to purchase from. We found a company by the name of Oakbrook Fundraising. They seem very organized. The way they work it is they have a set price for the items and you just mark them up to make a profit. You don't pay shipping or for any of the items you don't sell. You don't pay for the product until after you send back what you don't sell. They give you all the promotional items for free and you even get a cash register that you can program with the prices you choose. The products range from .25 to 12.00 and you choose which items you want to buy! Its great fun!
"Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
Our school has done this in the past. It was done in combination with a program to increase reading, so all of the items were geared towards books and toys/figurines from books. All items were new. This worked well, but think the theme could be expanded with success.
I see you have chaired a holiday shop, pricing and organizing everything on a spread sheet. Would you by any chance mind sharing that spread sheet with me? I need to do the same for me school and am not sure where to start.
