I wanted to post this since several had questions. If you still have questions, e-mail me at
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I guess you would call our Hoe-Down, three fundraisers in one. We have a carnival, spaghetti supper and silent auction.
At the start of the school year we start getting donations. We get the majority of the food for the spaghetti dinner donated and some of the prizes for the carnival (cookies, candy bars, pickles). Also we solicit donations for the silent auctions.
Two weeks prior to the Hoe-Down (which we have on a Friday night), the kids take home a book of 10 spaghetti tickets to sell. Money and tickets have to be returned by Thursday. We sold over 1900 tickets.
On the Friday, prior to the Hoe-Down, children get votes for King or Queen of the Hoe-Down. For every 50 cents they get donated, they get one vote as well as one ticket for the carnival.
We have a king, queen, princes, and princesses. Of a school of 500, we had 73 kids bring in $100 or more. Those that brought in at least $100 got to silly string the teachers.
We ask all parents to work a 45 minute shift. We have several hundred that do. They all know that is the only time we ask.
This year we did not clear as much because we decided to spend more on the carnival game prizes. We realized that this was our BIGGEST family involvement event and spent more on it. We have had families transfer into our school district because of this event.
Maybe because we are a southern rural district, this is so successful, but before when we just did the carnival and not the king and queen contest (I look at it as pre-selling tickets), we only made a couple of thousand dollars. This was our ninth year of this format and it just gets bigger each year.
We don't have anything huge in our auction. We usually try to package up several donations for basket. Rarely, do we have anything that goes over $100 dollars. We did do a teacher cake auction that brought in several hundred dollars.
We have fantastic support from the administration and faculty and staff. They pump up the kids and do silly things at the assemblies to get the kids enthused. They also do things on the morning news.
I would also like more info on the "Hoe Down", you can e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
I'd like to hear more about the Harvest Hoe Down too. We do a fall festival and a December auction and are considering a spaghetti dinner for January. The auction is very successful, and the kids love the fall festival but we don't make much on it and it is SOOOOOOO much work!
could you email me more info on your fall festival. we have one at our school but we need to add and change some things because people are getting tired of them. your festival sounds great. my email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. thanks for any help you can give me.
My fav is the skate parties we have set up with a local roller rink. We earn $1.25 per skater and it gives our students the chance to mingle and socialize outside school.
I'm not crazy about the one called NO Work Fundraiser. in a nut shell the PTO asks the parents for a cash donation. We do okay, $800 but I just am not crazy about asking for money. Many like it and we keep it because the money given if actually a tax deduction!
I HATE selling. AS a matter of fact I have a Honey Baked ham fundraisier here and I'm dreading it! I should add in my defense my husband and I have retail backgrounds, I've had my fill of selling
Mine is our only fundrasiser, our Fall carnival, the now famous "Harvest Hoe Down".
It has not only become a fundraiser, but it has also become our most parent involved activity. Everyone comes and many participate in the lead-up activities.
We actually have people transferring to our school because they have heard about our Hoe Down.
Many of you have heard about it, but here it is in a nutshell.
We have a carnival, spaghetti supper, and silent auction the night of. We pre-sell tickets using a king and queen contest. We had over 70 students (out of 550) bring in over $100 (getting $100 worth of tickets). On the Thursday before the Hoe Down, we sold (kids brought in) $15,000 worth of tickets.
By the night of the Hoe Down, the fundraising is basically over (not the work) and everyone has such a great time.
