For our Spring Book Fair. We are doing a spaghetti dinner. Everything was 100% donated. I got Wal-Mart to donate Kool Aid Jammers for the kids. The local Beer Distrubitor is donating soda for the parents. One of the grocery stores gave us a gift card and we were able to buy the sauce and the spaghetti. Some of the other local grocery stores are donating chocolate chip cookies and brownies for dessert. We even got a bread company to donate enough dinner rolls for parents and kids. The best part is the principal is taking care of the cost of the cafeateria staff to cook the meal. So we just have to worry about people to work the book fair. Everyone is so excited. Because everything was donated, we are charging 2 dollars for kids and 3 for adults and we are going to make a small profit. Hope this idea helps you out.
We do pizza by the slice at our Open House and this year at Parent/Teacher conferences. The business we work with, puts the slices in the triangle boxes. The slices are typically bigger than if you get a sliced pizza(they do 8 slices out of a large) and since they are in boxes, you don't have to dish up the food. It's speedy, clean and you only need a couple people to do it. We used 3-4 people per shift because we also sold pop by the cup, but we could have handled it with 1 at PTC because the customer flow was steady with no big rushes. Also, the woman from the pizza place stayed with us the whole time and helped serve. That way she could keep track of how fast stuff was selling and call for more.
We have our ice cream social at the same time as our spring book fair. The PTO buys the ice cream from a local ice cream stand, where they make their own. The we ask parents for donations of baked goods or drinks. We usually ask each grade level for something different. For instance, third grade parents are asked for brownies, second grade parents are asked for cookies, first grade parents are asked to bring juices, kindergarten parents are asked to bring paper products (plates, cups, napkins, etc.), and pre-k parents are asked to bring cakes/cupcakes for the cake walk. We sell tickets to the ice cream social at $1/person. For that dollar you get a bowl of ice cream(2-3 scoops), a baked good of your choice (cookie/brownie) and a drink. We also have a small basket raffle going on, a girl scout troop offers to do face painting as their community service project. It is also our young authors night so the parents walk through the school and find their child's class table that has stories written by the students in that class. We have a lot going on that night! And most of the school shows up. We are a pre-k through third only with about 650 students and the cafeteria/gym/halls are always packed with people from 6-8 p.m. It is much more of a social event than a fundraiser. I think we netted like $1200-1500 when all was said and done last year.
Anyway, that is what we do. Thought I would add my two cents.
Since you have done hot dogs in the past, I am going to asume you are looking for something that would be inexpensive and easy to do. My suggestions would be spaghetti, chili,or soups served with bread. Another thought would be tortilla chips served with nacho sauce. However if you are thinking about the lack of volunteers, Subway does boxed lunches for a very good price. Also pizza sold by the slice is always a big hit and easy on volunteer hours.
I've not tried this, but it sounds good in theory, right? Can you sell tickets in advance?
Contact a local eatery and ask them to provide not only the food but the servers. At a recent event I attended, we were charged $8.00 which included the meal and entertainment (face painting by the high school theater makeup department at no charge, a balloon artist, etc.) Because I asked, I know that the restaurant charged $4.00 per person - the "meal" was a choice of chicken sandwhich, chicken nuggets, or salad with grilled chicken. The restaurant brought everything in "coolers" so the food stayed hot until served. The meal also included a bag of chips for the sandwhich and nugget meals and a bread stick with the salad, as well as a choice of lemonade or iced tea. (Have you figured out it was a chicken restaurant?)
Anyway - it's a thought that reduces your need for volunteers if the restaurant provides staff to do it.
They also, by the way, handed out a coupon for a free meal when you buy one at their store in the next 30 days, and a visit from their mascot.
Hi Everyone
Every year since I can remember, we have a hot dog supper that on our PTO program night and while the book fair is going on. They are usually a success, because everyone is at the school anyway. This year though I want to do something besides hot dogs any great ideas. Volunteers are a problem, but what's new.
