We do out own Santa Shop and it works great. We don't really do this as a fundraiser, though. We have a group that buys things throughout the year on sale or whatever and then we sell them close to Christmas. We always have a great selection and the kids have a wonderful time shopping. Most years we make a little bit of money but we only hope to break even.

there blts of great companies around from whom you can just buy product from to create your own store. It takes a little longer, but you will make much more money and will focus your energies on items that are in tune with your student population. Just search giftware on the internet or go to your local gift mart. Just be careful not to buy anything with real feathers - most of the gift items come from China, and avian flu is going strong.

Thank you sooo much for suggesting Accessories Palace!!! I just looked at their products - great selection & prices! I knew there had to be a wholesaler out there with the "in" styles. It's just a matter of finding them.

Thanks again for everyone's help! This website is AWESOME!

[ 07-25-2005, 11:25 PM: Message edited by: SantasShopper ]

This will be our fourth year doing our own holiday store. The 4 main sources that we use are:
Accessories Palace www.accessoriespalace.com
Oriental Trading www.orientaltrading.com
Ebay & dollar stores.

Accessories palace has great stuff, they charge for shipping but just add 5 cents to the selling price of each item and that will cover the shipping cost. They have great items like pens, & keychains that say #1 Mom, Dad, Grandma, & grandpa. Socks for both men & women (regular and holiday). Great jewlery for women & girls...the list goes on and on.

Most of the stuff we get from oriental trading is kids stuff. You always need some inexpensive kid items that you can charge $0.25-$0.75. The best thing from OT however, are the ornaments that you can personalize with a marker. We sell tons of those as they can be made to order for anyone the child is shopping for. We have someone who is assigned to just personalizing these ornaments. Plus you can get free shipping on orders over $60.

Ebay is great if you can find wholesale lots of new items. Just watch the shipping.

Dollar stores are great for holiday figurines and holiday candles. If you can find them online at a good price, the shipping will typically be high as they are heavy in mass quantities. The other great thing about dollar stores is they are local, so if you see you are running low in a particular area they are a hop, skip, & a jump to run to and restock. Obviously all dollar stores are not created equal, find the best ones in your area and try not to use your most local one where everyone in your school shops. Don't forget to take your tax exempt forms with you when you shop so you will not need to pay sales tax.

Also occasionally we find a good deal or two in Target, Walmart, k-mart, etc...

WOW i am surprised at the Santa Shop posts... didn't read them all but wanted to let ya know what we decided last year... It was our first year and one of the officers had gotten items I think off Ebay... but we ran out and had to make a quick trip to The Dollar Tree... It was nice because it was local and they have nice enough stuff... Plus we were keeping our prices below $2 so it was perfect. Just an idea for ya...
Jag

PTARenegade -

This is my first year being in charge of our Santa Shop - last year I observed and took LOTS of notes! We do not use any of the companies like Reindeer Lane etc. We buy everything from Oriental Trade, Terry's Village, and of course Dollar Tree. We also have a lady that sells us Avon and usually gives us 30% off as long as not a licensed product (like Disney). Our local Agway owner's daughter (did you follow that? - lol) attends our school so they offer to pick up pet toys when they go to trade shows and sell them to us at cost - usually $1 a piece.

OT - pay no shipping & watch for 20% off specials

Terry's Village - Add 10% shipping and take 1/2 off original price (on orders over $500). We look for items sold in sets which we then sell by the piece.

Dollar Tree - noticed our local store offered 10% off on purchase of $20 or more on Nov. 27th last year. So I'll be watching for this again!

Since taking over the Santa Shop I thought I could at least check the companies like Reindeer Lane - just to see what my options are. I've found that some of the products offered were the same exact product that we bought from the local Dollar Tree - of course the products were marked up in some instances to $3 or $4 !!! Also found that some of the same products could be found at www.buckwholesale.com.

This is not a fundraiser for us but we do round our prices up to cover anything not sold (unless a product is pretty cheap looking then we'll lower the price accordingly). We have tables for $.50 items & $1-$6 items. Within the last 4 years we've averaged spending $6500 each year. We always make enough to pay for unsold items plus extra money to use for after Christmas sales and any other sale items we might come across during the summer.

As far as bagging up purchases - we go to 2 local grocery stores and ask if they would donate 500 plastic bags each. This is advertising for them plus we include a thank you to them in our school newsletter so the community is aware of their contribution, also a thank you card directly from us, the Santa Shop coordinators.

This is how our Santa Shop is run - seems to work pretty well. Hope I can do as good a job as the lady who passed it on to me!

[ 07-30-2005, 05:46 PM: Message edited by: SantasShopper ]