We do our own Holiday Shoppe as well, as like others it is not meant as a fundraiser. We purchase items throughout the year from the $1 store and other similar places. We look for deals throughout the year for this purpose, especially end of season discounts. At the end of the year we allocate $1000 for Holiday Shoppe so that the chair and anyone else can look for special deals and purchase low cost (not junk) items. At the shoppe we normally have gifts ranging from 50 cents to $5 at the very high end. Most items are $1 or $2.
So I'd say give it a try, but you will be surprised how many times you'll have to go back to replenish your stock during the week of the Shoppe.
We cancelled our Santa Shop last year due to the fact that we receive too many complaints and never have enough volunteers. We just don't see the need to go through all of that stress.
We are doing our own Santa Shop this year for the first time. Does anyone have any ideas of how you determine what amount of inventory you need for each category? (i.e., Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, teen, pre-teen, child, toddler, infant, etc...) Thank you.
We have also used a large company and have found that the selection for teens and men was very poor. Last year, we went out after Christmas and purchased a lot of clearance merchanise aimed at these groups. We also bought 100 clearance mugs and filled them with donated candy kiisses which we then wrapped and sold for $2.50. Every single purchased item sold. Our Santa shoppe is for 900 students and we make around $4000. We try to keep all items under $6.00 and use a mix of purchased items, and our Santa Shoppe companies items. We also accept donations of craft items from our parents. The trick is to find items that are affordable and that the children will want to give as gifts. I recently bought candles for .30, which we will decorate with xmas ribbon and sell for $1.00. The kids love them for mom and grandma.
We have done our own sale for years now-- I stepped up last last year to run the event... the hardest part is the first year-- we have even dollar amount tables-- $1.00, 2.00-5.00-- nothing more than 5.00.
And it's not that hard-- you start after Christmas this year, find items on clearance after Christmas, buy from some on-line stores, and discount stores-- ACO (hardware stores)-- We also started an ornament table-- where we had ornaments for $1.00 and we could engrave them-- the kids loved this... The first year you do it-- have your Christmas company come in and then plan on spending 4,000.00 after Christmas on next years sale-- you'll be in the hols the first year-- then after that you'll be good...
We spend 8-10,000 and get it all back and then some-- (I'm looking to spend 4,000.00 before Christmas and then 4,000 after for the next year-- We have found items that were orignally 20-40.00 for 3-5.00 so the kids are really getting a great deal-- and dollars stores will work with you-- you can get your dollar items with a 10% discount a lot of time, so you're making a little on those items. and they have the personalized items the kids like as well.. Good luck!
