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School Summer Fete

I'm organising a school summer charity fete and just want any random tips or info.

Also, does your school charge an entrance fee? If so how much?

Reply 1

angelbones

(I'm assuming this is for a primary school - I've never heard of a secondary school that really does fetes. If I'm wrong, sorry!)

I'd say 20p - 50p entrance fee. You'll mainly be getting kids, and they don't like to pay loads to get in when they're going to have to spend more on stalls.

Get crafty stalls for little kids. Maybe fill some buckets with gunk (baked beans, cold porridge, etc) and put an object at the bottom (one that's fairly recognisable, like a toothbrush). Charge them 50p to stick their hand in a bucket and guess what the object is. If they guess right, they get a small prize, maybe some sweets.

Raffles are always good.

You could get people doing facepaints, manicures, mendhi, hair braids... Ask around and see what people can do.

If you can, get hold of a petting zoo or reptile company and get them to bring some animals down for the afternoon. Trust me, they'll be a big hit.

Reply 2

Beth_L_G

Original post by angelbones

(I'm assuming this is for a primary school - I've never heard of a secondary school that really does fetes. If I'm wrong, sorry!)
.

It is for a secondary school. We don't do them often, only on special events. We did one celebrating the schools 100th birthday, and this one's celebrating our current head's retirement.

Reply 3

hypocriticaljap

Make sure everything is risk assessed.

Reply 4

angelbones

Original post by Beth_L_G

It is for a secondary school. We don't do them often, only on special events. We did one celebrating the schools 100th birthday, and this one's celebrating our current head's retirement.

Ah, drat. Well, you can still incorporate some of the stuff in my previous post (people might bring siblings, and so on).

Get students to do some kind of performance?

Buy things wholesale and sell them.

Baking stall.

Reply 5

kpwxx

Original post by Beth_L_G

I'm organising a school summer charity fete and just want any random tips or info.

Also, does your school charge an entrance fee? If so how much?

For a secondary school I'd probably charge an entrance fee, to cover getting more stuff in. Make sure you look in to the rules of it though, may be that you have to do tickets instead or something?

Get in some inflatables, you can usually get a selection of say 3 quite cheap. Stuff like gladiator fighting, sumo wrestling suits, those things where you have to run as far as possible. If you charge a little more to get in then make them free to go on that will encourage people. Also some kind of food. Barbecue or candy floss or whatever. I dunno how it works but I guess you could have burger van free since they make the money from sales, then again if you are gonna charge a bit people might resent paying more for food.

We had a 'summer bbq' with inflatables, bbq food and bands from the sixth form performing at sixth form, I think we charged £5 each for tickets then everything was free there. You should definitely pick one or the other.

You could also do car boot, face painting etc for little kids, karaoke, bands in a marquee, arts and crafts, games with prizes, raffle, clubs performing (eg dance clubs). it all depends on whether you want to open up to the public/families or keep it mainly students.

Reply 6

IPlayThePiccolo

Yeah in primary we had to pay like 20p to get in. Everyone knows the drill... bric a brac, books, lucky dip, if it's for secondary school you could get a nail artists or henna or hair wraps or something rather than your standard face painting (though given the opportunity I will get my face painted every time :biggrin:

) Oh and you need money to float the stalls to begin with, so about £3-£5 in change that the people running the stall can use for change at the beggining.

Reply 7

angelbones

Also, if people want to set up stalls to sell their own stuff (plants or things they've made or whatever), charge them for the table or request to have a portion of the profits.

Reply 8

Beth_L_G

Original post by angelbones

Also, if people want to set up stalls to sell their own stuff (plants or things they've made or whatever), charge them for the table or request to have a portion of the profits.

We've got a rodeo bull, candyfloss machine, popcorn machine, bouncy castle, homemade soap company and ice cream van on a profit share basis already :smile:

We've got catering sorted out, and we're doing a cake stall and a few bric-a-brac stalls.

We want to do game stalls but we're running low on budget so we probably can't afford prizes, so we don't know what to do about that.

Reply 9

angelbones

Original post by Beth_L_G

We want to do game stalls but we're running low on budget so we probably can't afford prizes, so we don't know what to do about that.

Write to local businesses! It's good advertisement for them.
Vouchers for meals at restaurants, iTunes vouchers, fancy cakes... Have a look around.
You can get great stuff sometimes - at a church fete once, the top prize in the raffle was a pair of business-class flights to and from Stockholm (and I won them :awesome:

)

Reply 10

Beth_L_G

Original post by angelbones

)

I'm struggling to think of companies to ask, any ideas?

Reply 11

angelbones

Original post by Beth_L_G

I'm struggling to think of companies to ask, any ideas?

Generally best to do local places, rather than chain companies.
Are there any restaurants that are good? They might offer you vouchers for a meal.
Local garden centres are good.

Beauty salons, hairdressers?
Pet shops?
Bakers, caterers, things like that.

Just write to everyone asking for prizes. Be sure to mention that you'll include a lot of advertisement for them.

(Oh yeah, and make sure you allocate prizes reasonably - don't give a free facial and haircut for something that won't get as many people going on it, etc. And be prepared to switch a couple of things round at the last minute if necessary (if it's a girly prize and a boy wins or something).