Venz--
How do you handle back to school bbq? We are thinking of doing this for Sept. Do you provide the hotdog/hamburg and have people bring sides? Do you rent the bbqs? Do you solicit businesses for hot/ham donations? Any info would be great!

Our school is Preschool-12th (150+ students)
We do: 2 Fundraisers (Carnival & PE Uniform Sales)
Back to School BBQ
4 Quarterly Teacher Appreciation Lunches
Holiday Parties (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and Last Day)
Christmas Baskets for the Drivers
2 VANAS Conferences (provide housing and food for sports tournament and players)
2 Golf Tournaments
Provide refreshments for Fall & Spring Music Concerts, NJHS & NHS Induction Ceremonies, Sports Banquets, and Open Houses.
Host Mid-Year Social
Classroom Support
Support for Science Fair, International Food Fair, and Talent Show.
Book Fair (to be added this next year)
Scholastic Book Sales
End of Year Teacher Appreciation Social or Gifts

And I think that's all for this year. Wow, didn't realize we did so much...now if the community would recognize that! :cool:

Hey Meg!!
EIGHT FUNDRAISERS!!! HOLY FUNDRAISING BATMAN!!
We have 3 per our by-laws but don't bring in near the cash your school does.
Let's see
*Skate Parties (social function and fundraiser)
*Coat drive
*Clothes Drive
*toy drive
*Provide luch to our teachers and staff during conferences with parents
*Helemt safety workshop (kids get free bike helemts)
*Science Programs
*Egg Drop Contest
*Art show
*organize volunteers and donations for snacks during state testing

just to name a few! Most of these are free for us and help supplement the school.

(good to hear about the towel, just don't tie it too tight!! [img]smile.gif[/img] )

Hi...We are only two years old and have put our focus mainly on events for our students with very little fundraising. Our events/projects include; A fAll Festival, Staff/Parent volleyball with a pizza party following, at cost Holiday gift shop, Grandparent Luncheon, Monthly guessing contests for our kids, Read Across America celebration that includes guess readers/author visit, Family Luau Night, Buy one get one free bookfair, DJ party to celebrate reading,teachers appreciation. We also co-sponsored two fun nights one with a winter theme(four man skiiing, snowman bowling,etc) and one with a stress relief for kids theme(relaxation bottles, sand play, etc).We also do alot of commuinity service projects, give tours to new families, fund fieldtrip costs, supply school supplies for needy students. New events we are planning for next year are a Family Craft Night, Family sock hop, and a Staff/parent olympics. Im not sure if this is any help but thats what our group does, it's alot of work but in two years we have turned our school morale right around!!

First if you have bylaws, check to see if you have a mission statement or objectives. Ours are nice because they are broad but also give us a little direction. They are always nice to have when we need to step back (or throw back) and figure out if a particular function or idea should be done by the PTC or if it is a school board deal.

We try to have 2-3 small fundraisers depending on what the PTO thinks the school needs. (We rely a lot on our teachers NOT the school administration to determine this.) We also try to have 3 family friendly nights also through out the year. We hope to offer more this year. Currently we have a fall festival around Halloween, family pizza night and end of the year picnic. We plan to revamp our reading night and try it again this year and maybe have a game night during TV turn off week. We offer little activities at each event that we charge a dime or quarter to cover the costs. Interestingly enough, we've found that we cover our expenses and people give more because they've enjoyed the event. The PTC does encourage parents to get involved in the classroom and provides suggestions from the teachers on ways to do that but we don't track that. We are needing more events for 5-8 age group so I hope others add some good ideas here.

Even though both my children are currently in elementary school, as a parent and as someone with nieces, nephews and friends' children in middle school I know what I would like to see the PTO do at that level: encourage family time and parental involvement in the lives of the children. When kids reach middle school they are faced with so many new and even frightening things. They are going through puberty, facing peer pressure in areas such as smoking, alcohol, drugs and sex. Many of those things we parents didn't get exposed to until high school, but everything seems to be coming at our kids at an earlier age. They are also on a quest to establish their independence--therefore avoiding their parents. Kids need to feel safe and loved at any age and what better way to do it, than to provide opportunities to share their lives with their parents and other students in a safe environment like their school! Have seminars on dealing with teenagers and all the dangers they face for the parents and seminars on dealing with the changes in your body and peer pressure for the kids. Have family dinners and sports or game nights, parent/child talent shows, father/daughter dances, and mother/son volleyball games. Offer tutoring programs or even have parents with special talents or skills give demonstrations. Funding supplies and equipment for the school is wonderful and helps insure a better education for our children, but keeping families together and kids safe from the dangers of today's world means our children will be around to enjoy the learning experience. Stepping down from the soap box now!!