Make it something useful for the overall population. It could be an umbrella with school logo, or booksacks with school logo, a nice shirt with school logo, etc. You could also go for even more practical, some type of everyday tools, lightbulbs (I have bought these in a fundraiser already), gardening supplies, kitchen supplies, etc.
there is a web site www.herecomesthemoney.com our brand new school used that for a lot of our funraising we sold these pencils called smencils there made from 100 percent recyled materials and come in a variety of smells we sold them everywhere for a dollar a piece and they went like crazy it became something of a collectors item umong the kids at school.
the website is www.herecomesmoney.com sorry I had it wrong the first time.
some other fundraisers
www.unclejerrystees.com this site has a lot of great tees that you can make 5 dollars a tee.
www.abcfundraising.com has a lot of good ideas but I really like the idea of there scratch and help cards kids have cards and they ask people to scratch off 2 or more spaces and each space has a dollar amount raising from .50 cents to 3 dollars and the person simply donates what they scratch off and in return they get valuable coupons to some of our favorite stores each card has a donation value of 100 in which the school keeps 90.
One of our parents suggestioned cookie dough fundraisers, have any of you done this?
last time done at my school -- disaster. (still one tub of it sitting in faculty frig!)
just didn't sell well -- too expensive for amount received....and our version came in big tubs you had to thaw and then scoop out to bake.
maybe if there was source of the pre-shaped -- just break apart and bake -- type cookies at a reasonable price it might work.
=====
personally, I've had the greatest success with:
1) going to Sam's Club (et. all) and buying boxes of candy and selling after school as kids head to the buses (avg. $30/day profit)
2) using this company's Christmas gift catalog: http://www.maredy.com/ <-- great customer service and they return the items all presorted by seller and invoice you for them! SO easy!
My son's school just did one called kids art. Each student drew an original picture of their choice. The original pictures were turned into blank all occasion greeting cards. I thought it was a clever fundraising idea, better than candy, wrapping paper and candles.
can you do "plate sales"???
like 1/4 BBQ chicken w/ sides??
or any kind of food that can be sold as a complete meal and prepared easily?
if get most/all of food donated, you can make a beau coup bucks w/ this.
easily turns into a big party -- with everyone involved -- the dads BBQing, etc. and of course you just have to have desserts to go with it -- as in cakes, cookies, etc.
My cousins have recently sold recipe books. Many people liked that.
The schools near me are always fundraising. They do things like "hat day", or "pyjama day", where they pay one dollar to be able to wear a crazy hat, or come dressed in pj's. Might sound a bit silly, but it works! They hand out prizes for silliest hat, or most orginal, just to keep them interested.
HTH
Our school did a cookie dough fundraiser once, and while I don't know how well it sold overall, I will never order cookie dough from any company again. I can't remember the brand, but it had this nasty aftertaste & no one in my house would eat the cookies.
The rescue I volunteer for is going to do a Smencils fundraiser in late summer/early fall. They are selling like hotcakes at a school that has them now.
Our football team does annual chicken BBQ fundaisers that make A LOT of money. We live in a town with a Purdue plant, so we get all of our chickens donated to us which obviously helps tremendously. You get 1/2 a chicken, bag of chips & pickle for $6 & we spend less than $1 per plate. DH comes home smelling delicious 
Joe Corbis & Little Caesars are always popular because frozen pizza is something every parent needs in the freezer 
-Lisa
My kids' school has done the cookie sale twice. The first year, it sold really well. The second year, not so much. For one thing, it comes frozen and is a nightmare to store and distribute.
We also do Pepsi sales every year, they're popular because it's a product many people buy anyway.
I've noticed that the easiest things to sell are the small things, like candy bars or pencils, like someone mentioned. It's such a small investment, almost anyone will buy.
Our town is building a new school now, too and trying raise money for 2 playgrounds (for 2 age groups). So far I haven't seen anything except the cookie dough, and a lot of concern about how they're going to get the money.
My school did an annual flea market where they "sold" booths to people who wanted to get rid of stuff. The first year it was in the gym. The years after, it filled the gym, the halls, and the lunchroom. It was a huge success. They also ran a concession stand during the flea market...ka-ching! How about "Pant for a Playground" 5K run /1K walk? Those go big too!
kos
Here are what a few of our schools do:
* School shirts and memorabilia
* Candybars
* Pizza's (either direct sell companies or some of the restaurants may partner with you to have a community day and everyone who brings in a flyer gets a donation from the restaurant). Some grocery stores will do the same thing. Send flyers home with kids and that's all. Our stores are usually 10% to 15% of the sales for that day or weekend if the customer brings in the flyer.
* Home Interior Candles, but I don't know exactly what the payout is.
* Spaghetti dinner always seems to be an easy fund raiser because we all have to eat. Or, Pancake and Sausage breakfast. Add a bakesale to these and you have a little extra.
I know I could think of more, but that is all for now. I know that a dinner can be your fastest money if you have a place to hold it. A local restaurant here opens on it's normally closed night here to host an annual fundraiser for the fire department.
Oh, I forgot another one we do. "Fall Festival" and "Spring Fling" They set up simple games for the kids to play in all the classrooms, and sell tickets. Two tickets for this game, one ticket for a balloon, etc. They do games with little prizes, face painting, temp tattoos, that kind of thing. Plus sell plate dinners and have a bake sale and a cake walk. At Spring Fling they have it outside. Always lots of fun.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%
