Popular School Holiday Shop Providers

What Is a Holiday Shop?

Holiday shops, also known as Santa shops, are popular with kids and parents, and volunteers often enjoy helping children make their choices. The basic setup is that parent groups provide merchandise, which students can purchase as gifts for family members and friends (including pets!). Many groups mark up the items to run the shop as a fundraiser, while others sell the items at cost as a service for families.

How Does a School Holiday Shop Work?

• Decide on a name for your shop. Popular names include Winter Wonderland, Candy Cane Lane, and Santa’s Workshop.

• Make sure to choose a good mix of gift items at a variety of price points. It’s best if most items are less than $5 to $10 each. You’ll want to set up your shop in a spot with enough space to display the items and manage crowd control, such as the school library or multipurpose room.

• Work with teachers and administrators to schedule previews and shopping times for each class. And have a plan to discreetly help children who can't afford to shop; this might be done with gift certificates or store credit, for example.

Benefits of Working With a Holiday Shop Company

A DIY holiday shop is a big organizational challenge, with a lot of up-front planning, cash outlay for gift items, and volunteer recruitment. By working with a holiday shop vendor, you can order merchandise on consignment (no preselling or money up front) and use the preloaded store app for purchases to make the checkout process even simpler and faster. No money goes to the vendor until the shop is over; you’ll only pay for what you sell, and return any unsold items.

Most vendors will send the holiday shop chair a planning packet with tips for a successful event, promotional materials, bags, tablecloths, and signage. And, since it’s tough to predict what the hot items will be, working with a provider gives your group a pain-free way to restock from day to day.

Below are some popular companies that provide holiday shop services to school parent groups. Give them a look to find the one that works for your school community.

Lil’ Shopper’s Shoppe

Holiday Treasures Gift Shop

Kids’ Kastle Holiday Shoppe

My Holiday Fair

Penguin Patch Holiday Shop

Lil’ Shopper’s Shoppe

Overview
The Lil' Shopper's Shoppe makes your in-school holiday shop easy! We are not only a one-stop shop for a fun and successful fundraiser, but also a dedicated partner in ensuring that your school’s holiday gift shop delights students, parents, and educators. Lil’ Shopper’s Shoppe provides everything essential for a stress-free experience—quality gifts, supplies, technology, signing bonuses, and more! We are a family owned and operated company that has earned the trust and respect of schools and volunteers nationwide for over 45 years.

Features and Benefits

• Quality: We are the only company to design 100% of our gifts and 85% cost $5.00 or less.

• Ease: We will send you everything you need to guarantee your school a smooth and easy experience.

• Bonus: At sign-up, your school chooses from several exclusive bonus offers.

• Free Shipping and Supplies: All your orders will ship UPS or next day air with no fees or costs.

• Flexible Invoicing: No-Count inventory for easy invoicing. We still offer Count inventory if needed.

• Cash Register App: Our exclusive app makes checkout easy and accepts credit cards with no fees.

• Gift Certificates: Families can pre-purchase gift cards so their child doesn’t need to carry cash.

Pricing and Profits

We provide everything you need:

• No out of pocket or up-front costs

• Only pay for the gifts you sell

• Return all unsold gifts

• The holiday shop can be run as a service program or as a fundraiser

• Choose your profit: 0%, 10%, 20% or set your own prices

Sign up and use promo code PTOHolidayShop to receive a $300 carnival kit. Choose an additional sign-up bonus:

• 200 Lil’ Shopper’s Shoppe dollars

• 5% additional profit

• $300 carnival kit

What Parent Groups Are Saying About Lil’ Shopper’s Shoppe

“I ran the Lil’ [Shopper’s] Shoppe for my son’s school and we absolutely loved it. The items were of great quality and reasonable pricing. The company made sure we were taken care of and had everything we needed. And if we ran out of something it was overnighted to us. 10/10 would definitely recommend. And I can’t wait to work with them again next year!”
—Meghan Marvin, PTO Holiday Shop Chairperson, Berea Elementary, Greenville, SC (Google review posted June 5, 2022)

Holiday Treasures Gift Shop

Overview

Give kids at your school the “Joy of Giving” to family and friends this holiday season. For over 50 years, Holiday Treasures has built its reputation as the quality gift shop provider. Our shops offer gift store quality at kid friendly prices and feature our exclusive E-Z Scanner checkout. We provide hand-held scanners to easily ring up gifts, just like in a retail store. Our E-Z Scanner checkout is more efficient than a cash register APP or calculator. Real-time reporting shows detail for your sales and profit while keeping track of your inventory. We help make your Parent Association look good. Run your shop as a service or as a fun fundraiser for the kids.

Features and Benefits

• Gift Store Quality – You’ll See the Difference!

• Hand-Held Scanners Make Checkout Easy

• Kid Friendly Prices – Most $1 to $6

• Sales and Inventory Tracking – No Counting

• Online Gift Preview for Families

• Prepaid Gift Vouchers Available for Use Instead of Cash

• Complete Promotional Program with Gift Bags

Pricing and Profits

This is the program you remember as a kid but made much easier with today’s technology. Your parent group can run the holiday shop as a service or as a fundraiser. Profit options are 5%, 10% or 20% of sales. Gifts are delivered on consignment, and you pay only for gofts sold. Your parent group makes 5%, 10% or 20%, depending on your selection. We implement your price in all aspects of your shop, including custom price labels, a Wish List for your Shop, and a Website Link for families to preview your gifts before shipping. The majority of gifts are priced between $1 and $6. Please note: we encourage early sign up as we sell out each year.

What Parent Groups Are Saying About Holiday Treasures Gift Shop

“The past six years our school has worked with Holiday Treasures. We have never been disappointed. The high quality care and service you receive always goes above and beyond. The inventory is of great quality and there are so many options that there truly is something for everyone and every budget. If you are looking for a holiday shop, look no further. I assure you, you will be more than pleased with Holiday Treasures.”
—Breanna K., Holiday Shop Chairperson, Genoa Elementary, Genoa, IL

Kids’ Kastle Holiday Shoppe

Overview

Kids’ Kastle is one of the most sought-after Kid’s “Holiday Shoppes” in the nation. Why? Service and Quality. For 40 years, we have been the best decision schools make for their In-School Holiday Shoppe for their students. Our products are carefully selected for their quality and value. We will guide and support you from start to finish. Our staff have run Holiday Shoppes in their respective PTO, PTA, HSAs over the years. We know how to best help and guide you to Holiday Shoppe Success. We promise to do everything we can to make this a fun and rewarding experience for all those involved.

Features and Benefits

• Quality Merchandise

• Next Day Reorders

• No Count Inventory System

• Cash Register APP & Gift Certificates

• Chairperson Website Personalized For Your School

• 85% of Merchandise $5 and Under Including your Profit

• 5 Star Customer Service

Pricing and Profits

Choose our “No Count” System or Traditional “Count/Set your own pricing Inventory System.” Our No Count inventory allows you to unpack, set up and start selling. Select your profit in advance and receive custom printed tent cards for your tables along with table clothes, posters, Parent Letters, Budget Envelopes, and social media posts. Just keep track of your daily sales and utilize our online invoicing system to generate your invoice. Your profit and invoice will be calculated automatically.

What Parent Groups Are Saying About Kids’ Kastle Holiday Shoppe

“Our Kid's Kastle Holiday Shoppe was fantastic! It was great to be able to get back to having a Holiday Shoppe for the students and believe me Kid's Kastle is the way to go. There was a wide variety of items to purchase and the prices were right on point. We were also extremely pleased reordering items as they were quickly selling out. Call your order in by 1pm and we received it before 11 the next day!!!! Our entire experience with Adam Kaplan and his staff was very satisfying. I would give them a 10 out of 10 and look forward to next sale.”
—S. Lovas, Arbor Intermediate, Piscataway, NJ

My Holiday Fair

Overview

My Holiday Fair is the EASIEST school holiday shop to run! What sets My Holiday Fair apart is our “Pop the Top and Shop” tray system. Your kit will include 100 different merchandise items and arrive in pre-organized trays, price coded and ready to go! Simply open the lids and your shop is ready to run. When you are done, close the lids again and send what you didn’t sell back to us. Everything you need to run your shop is provided and there are no upfront costs, you will only pay for what is sold. We make it EASY, EDUCATIONAL, and RISK FREE!

Features and Benefits

• Pop the Top and Shop system - wide variety of quality items arrive organized and ready to sell

• NO upfront costs or hidden fees – your school will only pay for what is sold

• Promotional Materials provided - Wall Posters, Parent Letters, and Money Envelopes

• Online Wallet - Parents can add money to their student's account online

• Shop Supplies provided - Table Cloths, Small Medium and Large Gift Wraps Sacks, and a Cash Box

• Easy to use Online Cash Register add up and track each sale - no programming and no download needed

• Free Overnight Reorder

Pricing and Profits

As far as how much money your school will make, that is up to you! Schools who want the shop to be a fundraiser can mark prices up 10-50%. Merchandise costs without any mark up range from $0.25 - $13.50 with most items costing under $5. If someone shows up with only $1, they can still purchase gifts for loved ones.

What Parent Groups Are Saying About My Holiday Fair

“Working with My Holiday Fair has been a wonderful experience! It was so easy and the customer contact we had was amazing and so quick to respond to any questions we had. The set up was easier than shops our school used in the past. I would definitely recommend this company for any holiday shop needs! We're looking into their other fundraising options because of the quality and service we received.”
—S. Rinkel, Holiday Shop Chair, Westside Elementary, Pittsburg, KS

Penguin Patch Holiday Shop

Overview

Penguin Patch Holiday Shop is the perfect blend of fun and function. Our program is all about bringing together the fantastic trio of volunteers, parents, and teachers, all working together to make sure every student benefits. Students will love exploring your on-campus shop, beaming with smiles and giggles as they pick out holiday gifts for their family and friends. Join us at the Penguin Patch Holiday Shop, where holiday shopping We make it flexible for your Parent/Teacher group! Pick Your Mark-Up – your team can select the percentage based on your school’s individual fundraising goals. Select 0% or 10% if you would like to run your shop as a Service Project. If your goal is to raise additional funds for your school, select 20% 0r 30% when you book your shop. Pick Your Dates – select dates based on your school’s availability or combine it with cookies with Santa or a holiday movie. Shops may be scheduled in November or December during the weeks right before the Holiday break.

Features and Benefits

• Flexibility like no other program! Choose the mark-up depending on your unique goals…Run it as a Service Project or a Fundraiser.

• Choose any combination of dates to meet your staff & student’s needs!

• All supplies included and shipped free to your school. Gift bags, budget envelopes, tablecloths, poster to advertise your shop, parent informational letters, reminder stickers.

• Adorable, custom aprons for every volunteer. This helps students to know who to go to for help and the front pocket is perfect for storing your phone and pens.

• Social media template wording and graphics to quickly and easily spread the word about your event.

• Online calculator programmed with your mark-up to smoothly check-out each child

• Loyalty program that pays you back. Our schools receive 1 point for every dollar that is paid to Penguin Patch. Use these points to get gifts and gadgets for your school.

Pricing and Profits

Add up all your sales, keep your selected mark-up and send us the rest. Service Project mark-ups are 0% and 10%. Fundraising suggested mark-ups are 20% and 30%.

What Parent Groups Are Saying About Penguin Patch

“The Penguin Patch Holiday shop is not just for kiddos to get stuff, it’s a way to teach them about independent shopping, using money and giving.”
—Charlotte Ann Cox Elementary PTA, Cedar Park, TX