Which vendor did you use? I'm new to this and am trying hard to get our x-mas store up and running but have no clue as to how to do it. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.
we made up certificates for $20 and gave it to the school social worker. she then gave it to the kids that she knew needed it. they used it to "shop" at our store.
you can easily make the certificate in any increments: $5, $10, etc... and reach even more kids by reducing the amounts given to each kid.
Sounds like you are using the same company we are. We are holding a raffle for the 6ft stocking. We took a box of the "free merchandise" and divided it into two additional stockings. One for pre-k - 2 and 3 -5th grades and will draw names for the other two stockings. Did you get "fun bucks" and "volunteer bucks" also? These can also be given out to needy students too.
The only downfall I found was our sales rep left shortly after signing us and what we discussed I wanted since we also are a low income school was not done. I wanted the higher priced merchandise taken out and replaced with the less expensive items. They took out the higher priced, and didn't put anything else in. Ceramic coffee mugs for mom, dad, g-ma and g-pa were not included either. Until today, I was real happy with them. Then the shipment arrived and most of it the kids will not be able to afford. The new sales rep is going to talk to the owner and find out what can be done to help us out this late in the game. Shop opens Monday.
Cindy<br />
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<br>____________________________________________<br />
<br>"People have the right to be stupid, but some abuse the privelege."
Go through and make a list of all the kids you are trying to help and then go through the items in the stocking and disperse items if you can... if not, maybe putting all kids names in a bucket and draw to see who gets the items.
You can also ask for donations from local companies and make small baggies with everything... maybe this would give you enough to give out to everyone you are trying to help. Good luck and great cause.
After much disappointment with products from our previous holiday shoppe supplier, we decided to try a new company. As a sign-on bonus, they are giving our group a 6 foot stocking filled with items worth over $300 to use as we please. We are not sure how to disperse of these toys. We have a lot of needy kids in our school and thought they should benefit from these things, but we aren't sure how to go about doing that. Please share any ideas! Thanks!