GA MOM- re Reindeer Lane.. it sounds like the sales rep you had was the bad apple in that story. My guess is that the rep forged your contract and put it in for you.. We had a BAD rep with another company once, and she heckled us for a while.. I finally put my foot down and went right back after her with her idle threats and unprofessional behavior. She backed off. Sometimes you have to be REALLY aggressive.. and say things, like " mail me a copy of the contract we signed" and so on..

We are using elf shelf for the first time this year. This will be our third year doing a holiday shop and this is the only company that I found that will give $300 in last years product for the students that can not afford to buy anything. We don't use this as a fundraiser, so we sell at cost. We also ask for donations from families, what is not used is donated to the thrift store.

Originally posted by GaMom:
they sent us a letter saying that because we had used them for so long, they had already pre-purchased for our school and wwe were going to be charged for it.

Wow! Tough nuts for them! You know what they say you do when you assume... I don't have any experience w/them, so I can't really say anything about them, but in general~ if there is no written or even verbal contract, how can they expect you to be liable? I guess it was just short-sightedness on their part & they thought if they put a little pressure on you they might be able to re-coup some money. Glad it all worked out ok, though. Que sera, huh? We are doing a holiday shop for the first time this year. Any tips to make it run as smoothly as possible? I'm a list making maniac, so I'm trying to get my "December" list started

We have also used Kids Korner and I found them to be wonderful. This year we are using a different company only because we are using them for our fall fundraiser and they offered us extra incentives to use them this year. Most all of the companies have basically the same items. Kids Korner ranged from $.25-$13.00. They supplied the tablecloths, cash register, gift bags, plastic shopping bags, money and wishlist envelopes, posters, handouts and flyers, and inventory checklists. I always received a prompt return call. We did not use it as a fundraiser but we still made about $500. The best part was we didnt have to take inventory. We just paid for what was rung up on the register. Good Luck!

Our local dollar store is suppling us with all kinds of stuff tax exempt. We get it for cost and sell it for a dollar. We are accepting cash only from our kids, we aren't making any profit on it, it's just a service to the kids. They love picking stuff out and this is much less expensive than some of the other things we've done in the past like having crafters bring in their stuff.

We buy them at Staples/Office Max, etc. and print them up ourselves on a heavy-duty older copy machine that can handle envelopes. (just don't buy the kind with the metal closures.)