Our school does a variety of fundraisers that are aimed at fun as well as fundraising. Also the fact that we are a parochial school (paying tuiton on top of high property taxes) we try to find ways to bring in funds from outside our school.
Our Christmas Housewalk is a huge success and brings in people from around the suroounding communtities. We hae families open their houses to decorators who dress them up for the Holidays. Then we sell tickets for people to view the houses.
Our Fashion Show is another big community event. The best part about these fundraisers is that most of the money earned is from people from outside our school buying tickets for the events. The Community loves it and we make a nice profit.
We also sell value cards for discounts from local retailers. I have people asking to purchase them from us because they do provide a nice savings that quickly recoup the cost of the card.

We do a great candle fundraiser in the spring! It is through a local Home Interiors Rep. and it goes wonderful! No candy melting, no refrigeration, just good smelling candles! And our candle lady does all of the work! How great is that? We have done it for 2 years and so far so good. I am sure we will do it for more years to come!

I'm the managing editor at GreatSchools.net, and we're writing an article about the federal rule that requires schools to have "wellness policies" in place by the end of this school year. Because an increasing number of schools are banning the sale of candy, cookie dough and other sugary stuff to raise money, I'm looking for ideas for healthy fundraisers from parents who have successfully organized them at their schools. We'd like to print these great ideas, along with the school & PTO name, in our next free newsletter to help inspire other parents to get creative. Thanks!