Several years ago we went from having a Santa Shop to doing what we call Craft Days. We come up with simple projects the kids can make, buy all the supplies and have the kids come to the cafeteria during the school day(schedule with principal and teachers)and make some adorable gifts for their families. The kids have a great time, the teachers love it, the parents love it, it gives the kids a chance to express their creativity and give something that is truly from them. It also eliminated the financial inequity problems you so often see at Santa Shops. It does require some big volunteer effort, but once the folks work this event, they come back every year because it is so much fun!
We changed our holdiay shop to after school hours a couple of years ago and I think it's much better. Many of the teachers were uncomfortable with the time taken away from subject time and the fact that some kids would have lots of stuff and some would have nothing, etc. I really felt that it just didn't belong in the school time.
Anyway, this year we are just having it twice. On a weekday after school and then through the evening during our Holiday party on the same day (3:30 - 8:30). At the party, the kids make Christmas ornaments for our tree in the lobby, sing holiday songs and eat treats that most everyone brings. The party is held in the cafeteria and the shop is held in our lower lobby. We're also having it on a Saturday morning from 9 am to 12 noon. This works out well for people to stop in on their way to the mall and for working parents. We do make a profit of a few hundred dollars, but that is not our main objective. Strangely enough, the most expensive items (around $5.00) sell better then the cheapest things. I guess the thinking is that $5.00 is the least one would spend at a store for a gift anyway. Also, since the parents have to make an effort for their children to participate (we're a rural school, no walkers) by driving them there, they shop with them with an open checkbook. When it's time to pick something out for the parent, a volunteer helps the kids. For volunteers, we've asked the HS key club to come for the Thursday evening from 5:00 - 8:30 so they can help at either the shop or the party. It's fun for the kids that once attended this school to come back and help.
This is timely - I've spent all morning calling everyone who signed up to help with our Jingle Bell Shop. The first three names on my list have since had their phone numbers changed or disconnected and three more have had schedule changes since they signed up. I'm frantically trying to cover all the shifts - looks like I'll be setting up camp at the school for five days!
Other than the volunteer shortage, our shops runs pretty smoothly. We get our items from a local dollar store, and then we sell them for $1.25, which includes wrapping and a gift tag. We don't aim to make a profit - we just want to cover our costs. Since everything costs the same it's quite simple. The dollar store treats us well - we don't pay until the shop is done, and they pick up any leftover items. The most labor intensive part was going through the store (with my co-chair) and picking out all the stock by hand. But it was fun, too.
We haven't had many complaints from teachers. Each class has an hour at the shop, during which time we let five kids shop at once. So, the kids are really only gone from class for about ten minutes. We're pretty firm about giving the kids time limits in the shop, and the teacher picks the time slot.
One thing that bothers me is the number of kids who come in with $20 and pick out a bunch of things for themselves, often times with parental approval. One mom sent a $50 check last year and wrote a note that half of it was for Christmas gifts and the other half was for her son!
After probably 10 years of having an annual Holiday Shop, our PTO board decided this year to instead have a Winter Family Carnival in January. We haven't heard any complaints (tho someone probably is unhappy), and many people are glad that we are not trying to pack an event in December. Plus, Hanukkah is very early this year, and we have many Jewish families who would find little use for a gift shop after Hanukkah. We always set ours up in the gym (no indoor gym class that week), and had the kids come during class time (no learning going on for that 45 minutes). We considered holding it on a Saturday instead, but decided to go ahead and try something completely new.
I guess we're really lucky-our fundraising co. has a commission Santa Shop that allows us to also purchase and sell our own merchandise, as we did last year with great success, so we'll have the best of both worlds this year. Plus, since we used them for both fundraising and Santa Shop, they will donate books to our Media Center. :eek: This way we have the gift bags, letters home, budget envelopes and whatever else we need, but aren't limited to only selling what the co. offers. This is our second year dealing with them as our fundraiser and things have gone so well that we couldn't pass up their Santa Shop offer; it's only a few weeks away now-I'll let everyone know how it goes. :cool:
