I am always surprised when I read about how $35 i to much to ask parents to pay for a formal event.
Granted my kids go to a Catholic school. So I know they differnece is huge in what we are able to do. It is just still amazing to me. We not only have to work so many hours in helping with our formal event, but donate items to it, and then pay to go to it!
At any rate, maybe this will help you out a little (and remember it doesn't have to be as costly, or as big a prize either)
in our high school, the formal event is $300 per person. *gasp* I know, but it comes with a raffle ticket to win a new car.
put together a basket that you can raffle off that is included in the cost of the ticket. That will make it more appealing to your families. From there you make the decision 1. People that are not going to atttend can still buy the ticket to enter the raffle OR 2. To get people who purchase to come make the raffle must be present to win.
(Personally I like the first one, raffles are fun and the profit is good. )
Cut the price of the kid's tickets if you have too and scale down on their food type (i.e. chicken nugget baskets vice ziti). OR....tell people up front that the ticket is covering only the food and leave a place for a donation on their sign up sheet.
Amazing what folks will do if they know the circumstances!
I was thinking the same thing as Lisa. Instead of a fancy dinner, do a catered event, like a ziti dinner. You could even have volunteers do the catering. If this is primarily to raise funds, you should keep other costs down as much as possible. It sounds like a nice event with the children presentations and all. Keep it focused on the kids and cut costs. You could always have a different formal dinner without the children for those that want it.
Hi Melissa-
Any chance you could change the format of your event and have appetizers instead of the sit-down dinner -- cut back on costs to lower your ticket price?
~ Lisa
I just joined PTO Today and am soo thankful that this exists. My school desperately needs suggestions on how to price the tickets for their upcoming fundraising dinner. We will have a sit down dinner at a nice hotel, the children will put on various presentations and the evening will conclude by asking parents for financial contributions.
The problem is that the tickets cost around $15 for children and $35 for adults. To charge more than this to make a profit will be too expensive for families. The board wants to charge less than the cost of the tickets because they believe that they will cover the cost during the actual fundraising portion of the evening.
The problem is that people will often purchase tickets with the intention of helping the school, but don't come to the fundraiser. This actually hurts the school because now they have to pay the difference between what the donor paid and the actual cost.
I'm sorry if this post is too long and confusing. I really hope that someone has a suggestion to this dilemma.
