I did use Kids Go Shopping. I found them to have a great product at an even greater price. They bent over backwards to help out with incentives for the students. There was only one problem. We ran our sale for two weeks (800+ students PreK-6th) and by the middle of the second week, they were running out of stuff we were selling pretty quickly. It may have been that we sold more than we thought we would, or that they stocked less than they should have. Everything else was great. Nothing came broken. Nothing was returned to us broken after the holidays (a real issue with Jingle Bell Shop two years prior). Everything shipped back well. The inventory sheets were easy to figure. They overnighted stuff to us each day that we needed them to. They provided all the keys necessary to run an effective, successful sale. Everything sold itself to not only the students, but our Parents Night was also a big success. The parents commented over and over how nice the stuff was for the price. It was also much easier to staff this because the stuff was better. I plan to use them again. I would definately recommend them.
MetzyMom,
I'm looking into companies for a Holiday Shop for next year. I'm wondering if you used Kids Go Shopping this year. If so, did you like them, etc.?
Our PTVO ran the catalog sale. We are always involved with Scrip, Boxtops, Tyson, Ink cartridges, Schoolpop, etc. etc. etc...lol...
I just want to know if anyone has worked with Kids Go Shopping the company.
Two years ago, our PTVO ran a Santa Shop. We only marked things up to the nearest quarter (i.e. .15 to .25 or .70 to .75 - all items already at a quarter mark stayed there). We still made $3000! Of course there were problems with staffing (duh!...lol) and there were indeed a lot of volunteer hours (put in mostly by yours truely...lol). This year, due to the budget cuts, I am running a Santa Shop, along with a cookie dough sale. Because I am not running it through our PTO, I do not have to please 60 other people before the shop even opens. I will have a few nice items, a few cheap items, a lot of nice-but-cheap items, etc. Most of the items will be just for immediate family members only. Nothing for the dog/cat (last time there were 10 or 15 items just for pets...lol). This time the mark up will be 10 or 15% across the board. I am using an established Santa Shop AND a near-local vendor is helping out with some wholesale items left over from a fundraiser they ran. As I'm not running it through our parent group, I can hand pick the volunteers who will staff the shop. Everyone who works the shop will be able to purchase their childrens' choices at cost. I plan to run it two weeks, including 2 evenings and one Saturday (staffed by high school students needing community hours). I offered PTO an opportunity to put up a gift wrap booth during the evening hours and on Saturday.
As a service to the less fortunate in our school, Kids Go Shopping is providing $100 in coupons for children who could not otherwise afford a gift for their parents.
I don't know what size school you have, but I am from a small school, and we have a Scrip program that earns us about $17,000 per school year. It's either mandatory, or you do a buyout of $250, but more than half do Scrip. Christmas is the best time for Scrip profit. Good luck!
I don't know what size school you have, but I am from a small school, and we have a Scrip program that earns us about $17,000 per school year. It's either mandatory, or you do a buyout of $250, but more than half do Scrip. Christmas is the best time for Scrip profit. Good luck!
We have done a Santa Shop the last three years. After last year we decided to call it quits. It's very labor intensive, requires a lot of volunteer hours and earns very little money relative to the amount of time it takes. In fact, most people don't consider this a fundraiser at all, merely a service to the school. I would not suggest doing it unless you intend it as a "service project." If you're looking for a money maker, stick to traditional catalog sales or maybe cookie dough. Last year our 40 member chorus earned $5,000 on a one-week cookie dough sale. Our schoolwide (535 students) Innisbrook Wraps fundraiser earned $11,500. We earned less than $1,000 on Reindeer Lane Gift Shoppe and it required more volunteer time than the other two put together.
