Printed products
Printed products make thoughtful and impressive-looking
presents for family, friends and relatives. Whatever the occasion,
make sure you get your orders in early so that your goodies arrive
in plenty of time!
Recipe books
This can be a great fundraiser to encourage kids to take an
interest in cooking and healthy eating. Whether it's 'family
favourites' or 'international food', be aware of copyright laws -
recipes should be your own. Gill Ramsey, PTA member at
Stowting Church of England Primary School, Kent ran a
successful recipe book initiative: 'Recipes were submitted by
pupils, siblings and teachers under different headings, eg,
starters, perfect poultry, veggie options, etc. We had books
printed in time for our Christmas fair and sold them at £9 a copy.
We made a profit of £4 per book and raised a total of about
£600!"
Calendars
Amanda Rafferty, PTA chair at St Anthony's RC Primary
School, Hertfordshire (286 pupils) told us about her
successful school calendar project. 'I took photos of the children
in their class groups, and we displayed one class per month,
filling the extra three months with other groups within the school.
Producing the calendar couldn't have been easier - I simply emailed
the photographs to be used for each month as jpeg files with a
class name as reference, with a completed layout instruction form.
Our supplier (Hampton School Calendars) produced a sample
calendar and we were able to make any changes required before we
placed our order. We sold 130 at £7 each or £12 for two and in
total we made £420 profit.'
Tea towels
One of the most popular PTA printed fundraisers has to be the
humble tea towel - a gift that can involve everyone in the school
and is easy to organise. Although popular at Christmas, they work
well at any time of year - with those adorable hand-drawn faces,
it's hard for mums to turn them down! Julie Davidson,
former PTA chair at Elgol Primary School, Isle of
Skye (19 pupils) told us about her successful tea
towel scheme: 'We were keen to widen the boundaries of our
fundraising by producing something that would appeal to the many
visitors who come to Elgol. We used All My Own Work and decided to
create a design which involved all the children, rather than each
child doing an individual self-portrait. It was a great success! In
the past four years we have sold 384 tea towels at £5 each, giving
us a very healthy profit!'
Mugs
Parents can enjoy a nice cuppa in their very own personalised
mugs! Try a company such as stuartmorris.co.uk, who will design your mug
for you, or hold a mug-decorating day - Baker Ross (bakerross.co.uk) sells packs of mugs and
porcelain paint pens to decorate them. Why not make it seasonal by
filling them with chocolate Santas for Christmas or mini eggs for
Easter?
Family photoshoots
Create visual memories and boost PTA profits by inviting
families to have professional photographs taken, which they can
then distribute as gifts or keep as personal momentos.
St Andrew's Lower School, Biggleswade (400 pupils) told
us: 'We booked a local professional photographer for
the day and families reserved 15-minute slots for £5, which was
ours to keep. The photographer gave up her time for free, making
money from photo orders. We gave the photographer's flyers to
parents with an accompanying letter. After the shoot, she emailed
everyone a code to go online to view their proofs, and they then
ordered online or by phone. It's an easy fundraiser for very little
work... Last year we raised £225!'
Have you created printed products in your school? We'd love to
hear about it! Drop us an email at editorial@pta.co.uk and you could help
support and advise other PTAs.
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