We have offered ice cream at our Back to School Night. It was offered by the PTO and we would collect email addresses and hand out our brochure (mission, meeting dates, contacts). We didn't charge. The cost to buy ice cream and toppings wasn't very much.
Starting this year . . . we did WATERMELON instead of ice cream. yay! Trying to adopt and embrace a district-wide wellness policy that encourages healthier treats at school activities. It's not that we weren't allowed to do ice cream. We just thought the PTO could 'set a good example.'
We were able to get watermelons donated. PTO officers each brought knife & cutting board and went to work cutting pieces. It worked great!
We do an ice cream social with our back to school Open House. Students and parents came come in and meet thier teachers find their classroom, etc. We can veryify bus routes, pay activity fees, sign up for reduced lunches, etc. Oh and the PTO provides free ice cream sundaes; hot fudge and carmel. We used to charge but it's been free for the past 5 or 6 years. We do put out a "donations" jug and get around $100 typically.
Don't do the ice cream social just because. Have a larger purpose. Having the parents get to know each other is a great purpose (maybe include some games or ice breakers to make that happen). Also, this is a time to introduce your parent group, to open doors for communication (collect email addresses) and to show everyone that being involved with the parent group can be a blast!
As far as getting a donation, maybe sweeten the pot a little for the donor. Agree to put up a big sign that says who donated the ice cream. Also, have them print out coupons that you can hand out to each of the families, so they can go buy more ice cream or groceries from the donor. And, of course, invite them to the event!
We pay for our ice cream-- we haven't been able to get very many donations and school hasn't even started yet... could be a lean year for events and fundraising.
We were going to do an ice cream social with our back to school night, which is a week before school. I can't believe how hard its been for us to get ice cream donated for our event. I am actually considering not doing the ice cream part because of it. People have said its because of the economy, but I can't say that our economy here has taken that big of a hit. Where do you all get your ice cream donated???
Our Ice Cream Social is free. We have 2 kinds of ice cream and either a cone or bowl and a few types of toppings. We hold the event at a local park, which we use for free. Cost of the event under $50
