We did our Secret Santa shop as a service to the children. We did it after school hours. The biggest reward from this is seeing the look of giddiness on the faces of the kids because they feel as if they are about to make their parents or siblings happy with their gift. We donate gift certificates to the shop to the kids that ordinarily wouldn't be able to make a purchase. They are in the amount of $10. This shop seems to make the kids happy and that is my goal. I don't do this for the parents but I do this ultimately for the children! The adults can take care of themselves. We do what it takes for the children......With a smile :> )

As a new PTO president, this was my first Santa Shop. It was by far the worst event I've had to deal with all year. We had almost enough volunteers, so that wasn't the problem. It was VERY difficult to keep the prices straight as the company we used (Great Western Reserve) does not permit the items to be marked. We marked prices on the tables and grouped items accordingly. It took only one class for everything to be moved around! Plus, afterwards, I saw some of the EXACT same items in wholesale catalogs for much lower prices. (ex. a bracelet we were charged .90 each for were $2.10 a dozen!!!!) I would never do that again. I will consider buying on my own, as I know what sold the best and how many. I will only consider this because the children enjoy shopping so much, and I would then be able to lower prices so that they could actually afford to buy for every- one on their list. I liked the idea about having each grade make gifts, but some of our students' teachers already do that on their own. I know that I will not use a "Santa Shop" sales company again!

P.S. We gave each student a "Santa Dollar" so that those whose parents gave them no money (and there always are some) did not feel left out. Therefore we made almost no profit (something like $25)

I have read with interest the various comments about Santa Shop but I have a totally different problem that I didn't see addressed here. I brought Santa Shop back to our school this year and had plenty of help. That wasn't the problem. We only do our Santa Shop for the children as well and don't expect much profit, however, we were supposed to have a profit of about $250 and ended up with only around $115. We used a company that ships us the merchandise and we inventory and send back what we don't sell. We kept the shop locked at night and during the day there were always adults present. The treasurer or myself always had the cash box. We think that maybe we might have lost the profit through incorrect prices being written down by the parent volunteers, but we're not sure what to do different next year so that this won't happen again. Otherwise,everyone seemed pleased with how it all went and I definitely want to try it again. Any suggestions for staying in our profit margin? We do not charge sales tax to the children and only mark up the merchandise 10% so that we cover the 6% sales tax and end up with a profit of 4%. Again, we're not looking for a large profit but it would be nice to get what we're supposed to. Thanks.

Each year we host the holiday shopping for the students. We try to be aware of Hannukah.
This is not one of my favorite events, but the kids love it. The PTO purchases gifts for one dollar. We sell them for one dollar (no profit). The students can only buy four adult gifts. We have a wrap night and pre-wrap all of the items. Ziploc bags are sent home with the kids. Included are gift tags to be filled out at home. The students send in filled out tags and their money in these bags. Each classroom has a designated time for their shopping (about 20 min.) If a student forgets their bag, we allow them to shop and we sent home a note. We never demand payment because some families cannot afford extras.
This year, a group of parents approached the PTO and offered to buy all of the gifts (approx. 1600 items).I was thrilled. They organized the entire event. I was very lucky.
Perhaps, you could find volunteers for twenty minute time slots. Also, put the volunteers names in a raffle and draw a prize.

Our holiday shoppe is very different! We invite crafters and business people to make gifts and bring them to sell. They are aware that the majority of items are to be between $.50 and $2.00 for the children to purchase during the day. Then when school is dismissed, they put out their real merchandise and we offer a craft show to the whole community in the evening. This has been going on for many years and we actually have a waiting list to set up booths. This also cuts down on the needed number of volunteers because each salesperson helps those at their booth, so volunteers can supervise more than one child at a time effectively.

We have an Annual Holiday Shop for our children. The parents, teachers, and children love it. We had a great committee organized the parent volunteers, teacher schedules, and getting merchandise. We send out flyers in October asking parents to donate items- such as bookmarks, magnets, ornaments, pet treats, etc. We even have the afterschool program and the high school kids make items. We do buy most of our items from Oriental Trading. The object is not to buy fancy and expensive items. Most children spend less than $4.00 on the entire family. (My daughter spent $1.75 for 6 people) Even though we do intend the Holiday Shop to be a major Fundraiser,we make between $1200- $1600 each year, and most items are priced between 10 cents and 75 cents. We have about 700 children. We have no problem getting volunteers. Each teacher is scheduled to go for a specified 1/2 half hour during the week. We try to have the same selection for each class, and only put 1 item out for each class if we do have alot of the item. The main committee put in alot of time and effort,but they can't wait to do it again next year.