I love the "Box Top" admission ticket idea. I'm gonna try that one.

We host trunk or treating on Halloween night. For those who don't know "T or T" we line up cars on both sides of a road with trunks facing the center line. People decoarate their cars all spooky and pass out candy to kids as the walk down the street. Safer than door-to-door as the road is closed off and police direct traffic and patrol the small area for us. Huge hit with the kids and parents. You get a huge bounty in a short time. Only takes a half hour to walk through it all.

After T ot T the familes head into the gym for food, games and crafts. Total cost -less than $200 to serve a few hundred people. People donate baked goodies. We make up the games and buy crafts from Oriental Trading. It's a huge hit.

Also do a similar winter carnival with hay rides, holiday stories and movies, crafts and more baked treats. Hay rides are minimal cost ($100-200 for an hour or two) and you can often get the service donated for a free plug for the business.

hi everyone, i am new here and i am planning a family fun night to get parents to meet the pta and let the kids have fun. i am also looking for free things to do and i was wondering about the donation can that chic'mom talked about. so you are allowed to just place a can and ask for donations? how simple is that? we are having face painting, a friendship bracelet craft and coloring to name a few things. i didn't realize we could also add a can to get those who can help give something no matter how small. has anyone ever questioned it? thanks so much. i am pta co-president this year but it is only my 2nd year of school so it is all new to me. thanks for any tips. i'm going to love this site!

Many of our events are "free." Sometimes we charge a GM boxtop to get in and an extra one as the price of a raffle ticket. Boosts our Boxtop take and the event is essentially free to families.

Wow Chicmom you guys do TONS of great free stuff. I've gotten the okay to do the Ice Cream Social free this year and we'll see what else I can push for! I have a feeling that putting out a donation jug will get plenty of income from thos who can give!

Thanks everyone for all the replies!

Hi
we start off with a free ice cream social the second week of school on a Friday night, dosen't cost us much usually $200 (we have about 600 kids)
We also do a donuts with dads for free,
a Kindergraten Cry room the 1st day of school (we serve breakfast it's free)
a moms breakfast,
last year we also did a free family dinner we ended up making $100 more than we spent because we put out a donation can and got tons of donations.
And we do a free evening assembly (usually about math or reading or a magic show) also for free!!

So we do tons for free...

SueMac,

These grade level activities sound like so much fun! What a great idea. I would really like to see this organized at our school. Can I get more details??

Thanks!