My childrens school does this twice a year.
It goes over very well. My children are in a private school k-12 grade, so the 11th and 12th graders do this along with PTO volunteers. The money raised is for the senior trip.
Anyway, they provide dinner, a movie, games and dessert. All they request is a donation. People usually give over and above. It is a nice night for the parents to go out and have dinner without any kids!!!!!!
When I was in high school, our student council used to sponsor a night around the holiday season where parents could drop their kids off at the community center for the evening so that they could shop, go out to eat, what ever. We are thinking about doing something like this in December. We would charge a small fee-haven't decided on the amnt. yet- & would have games, activities, snacks etc. for the kids & would ask the middle school kids to help out w/the younger ones. Just wondering if anyone has ever done anything like this. Any good/bad experiences? Tips/Tricks/Warnings? I thought, also, about having a gift wrapping room where parents could have gifts wrapped for a small fee upon returning. Any thoughts?