Newbie- we let the kids make crafts for our fall festival last year, we ordered from Oriental. We just had them to make one craft each. We had about 10 items when we set up because we had already sold the rest. We made holiday crafts. The kids loved it! And we doubled our money from it.
Jim Conti fun services is located in Louisville. Some of the quality of the stuff was so so, but they had a lot of Nascar items and cute stuff as well, the kids were extermely excited about it. For months I had kids telling me what they were going to buy family members or had bought family members. They were so excited about having a shop before hand that our principal thought they had the wrong idea about what it was going to be! Too bad the PTO decided not to have one this year. We gave coupons to make sure every child could purchase a little something and for a lot of our studnets that was the only chance they could get something for someone.
I'm in Ohio as well, and I do have purchase contacts both locally and nationally. You know, you can always go to a good local dollar store to get some of those items that the santa companies sell for $2-$3 each-negotiate a discount to say, .95 cents and no sales tax. There are places to get decent jewelry for .50/$1 per piece, and order a catalog (the FULL one, not just the seasonal) from rhode island novelty (www.rinovelty.com
/ 800-528-5599-They've got the best prices I've found on the small toys (25 die cast cars in a gift box $2). Anyhow, I could make one post a mile long BUT... Email me if anyone wants more tips - I'd love to help!
In previous years the things that were sold were not good quality. We want to bring in better things and make a profit if possible. We are in a low income area, so we have to watch our pricing.
I like the idea of handmade items! I'll bring that up to the board.
We are located in Ohio, and the local Fun Services here told us we could go up to 20% on our profit. But that means raising prices 20%.
Are you talking about Jim Conti and Sons Fun Services? We set our own prices with them, we kept them low because of our low income situation and we made $1200.00 off of it. If I had of known what I know now I could have easily made 2x that much, plus a proceed of what they make goes to the Make a Wish Foundation.
Do you want to hire a company to supply your shop or do you want to select your own products? We used a company for years and finally decided to choose our own products in order to lower prices and increase quality. Also started making some of the gifts (beaded ornaments and pins, decorated flower pots). Also, where RU located? I'll pass on what I can!
