Putting the Fun back in Fundraising

As school budgets get tighter the need for scholastic, sports and all types of other extracurricular activities/clubs to find funding is becoming more and more critical. Fundraising can really make a difference to the quality of education that your child gets. Whether fundraising enables them to enjoy fascinating field trips, better meals, better facilities and equipment or more teachers, fund-raising helps to alleviate the dire financial burden placed on our schools by reductions in government funding. We look at ideas to raise money that are fun for everyone and beat the heck out of bake sales that more and more health department codes are making illegal.

Art & Crafts In The Park
Get all the students to participate in making art throughout the year. This can include items from the woodshop, paintings, drawings, models, sculptures and crafts. Each grade or class gets to have a ‘stall’ at the fair which should be scheduled at the end of the year. Use a local park or your sports fields to set out tables where the students can display their wares. This gives the children a chance to showcase the things they have worked on all year, make a positive contribution to the school, learn about business and have fun raising money for the school.

Baby Sitter
Everyone wants to go out on Valentine’s Day which makes getting a baby sitter next to impossible. Why not centralize babysitting while optimizing profits? Older students, with the help of teachers and parents, can babysit younger students at school on Valentine’s Day. The students can organize videos or activities to keep the younger students occupied while a few parents and teachers oversee proceedings. Parents are charged a regular babysitting rate per hour while children get to enjoy a fun evening in familiar surroundings.

Zombie Fun Run
Organize a short fun run where students, parents and community members can participate. For a small entrance fee, participants get to run the set course while being chased by a zombie horde of students. Students will love dressing up as zombies and chasing participants in the race. Participants should get a healthy head start and the zombies should be supervised by volunteer parents and teachers. You can also get participants to dress up if they like. For younger children you might use a Peter Pan theme since that allows for pajamas, pirates, fairies, Indians, etc.

Recycle Mania
Pop cans and cell phones make great items for recycling. Get all your students to collect these items and ask participating parents to transport goods to recycling centers. This will teach students about recycling, bring in a tidy profit and promote environmental awareness. You can hold internal competitions to see which class or grade collect the most. Other options include any type of battery, ink cartridges and old computers. Talk to your local scrap/salvage yard about the possibilities and don’t be afraid to ask them for help, support or sponsorship of your event.

Dress Up Days
This works really well and is fun for everyone. Here each participating child can dress up for Halloween or other fun theme days and make a donation. You can set goals for each class too. If the students in the class manage to meet their goals, they get to choose which outfit their teacher has to wear for the day.
Raising money for school can mean family fun for everyone involved, so get creative today and find innovative ways to raise money for your school causes.

Busy Summers

Summer always goes by quickly in Western New York. By September, schools have already started again, the air is getting cooler, and Halloween decorations and costumes are in the storefronts. As quickly as summer seems to go by, there’s still a lot of time in between the family picnics and vacations to fill, and without school to fill up children’s days, the constant refrain of “but I’m bored” may soon be ringing in parent’s ears. So what are some ways to get kids out of the house?

Summer Sports

Find a summer league near you in a sport that your child is interested in. While many leagues meet in the evenings, some may offer daytime camps. Soccer is always a good bet, but there are also summer baseball and softball leagues too.

Day Camps

Plenty of organizations offer summer day camps for kids, ranging from arts and crafts to theater. Try your local school district, YMCA, museum, zoo or youth center for potential camps.

Sleep-Away Camp

If you’re looking for a longer-term solution, try an overnight camp! There are tons of options when it comes to overnight camps, and a website called Camp Page can help you find the ideal summer camp for your child.

Summer Job

For older children, a summer job might be the best option to help pass the summer hours. Babysitting jobs can be at a premium this time of year, but there are also plenty of seasonal attractions that are looking for help.

Summer Courses

While your child may not need summer school, there are often summer courses offered by local colleges that older students can take advantage of. Taking summer courses means that not only will your child have something to do, but he or she will also be getting college credits.

What are some other ideas you have for getting kids out of the house during the summer?

Princesses Everywhere

This morning I had the chance to babysit my sister for a few hours, and because of the weather outside and the fact that it was early in the morning, we decided to watch a movie on Netflix. I had spent a few minutes perusing the options under the Children and Families tab, and had come up with a few that I thought sounded appealing for her. It wasn’t until we were looking at them together that I realized all the options involved princesses. Unsurprisingly, my sister chose a movie with, you guessed it, princesses.

Most little girls seem to love being princesses just for the cool accessories. (Image Credit:http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/cerebralpalsy/Interesting)

While we were watching, my sister made comments about the princess’s beautiful dress and crown. “You know,” I said, trying to sound casual, “she would be pretty even without the pretty dress.” My sister ignored me in favor of the mermaid on screen. As a kid, I was really into playing with dollhouses and Barbies and all sorts of imaginative games. As an adult, I’ve prided myself on being a strong, independent woman. How are grown-ups supposed to reconcile the lessons they’ve learned growing up with the fantasy world of children, a world that is often full of sexism and unrealistic scenarios?

I’m still not sure. At the end of the movie, when the prince saved the princess with true love’s first kiss, I kept my mouth shut. What I wanted to say was “you know, love is great and all but getting kissed by a boy doesn’t make the world perfect,” but I didn’t. How do you allow kids to enjoy childhood fantasies while still preparing them for the real world?