Need some new ideas for Christmas Fair

[ilovepaper]

I'm not sure if this belongs here but here goes:

I was put in charge of my kid's school Christmas fair. (anxiety is setting in)
Anyway, we are a small Catholic school and this needs to raise quite a bit of money if possible.
Here's what i have so far:
A few Granny and Church Lady craft tables rented that tend to be popular
with the older more traditional fair goers.
A few hipper crafters (like me, dare I say I'm hip) renting tables that do well.
A cool jewelry lady that makes her own stuff.
Piontsettia and wreaths for sale (hopefully the vendor will give me on consignment).
A "cookie walk", like a cookie swap with a little twist.
pictures taken with a scrawny Santa.
activities for kids that they can complete quickly (think sand art and foam crafts, etc.) and also personalized stuff that they can buy.

So, there it is .... regular standard old Christmas Fair.
Has anyone seen anything different that would drum up some extra sales?
Any ideas would be so appreciated!!!!!
Thanks.
Carol

[Crafty Jule]

Here a e a few ideas:

>>50/50 drawings are good.   Get creative in the ticketing, use the basic rolls of two part tickets. But have say do 25 tickets for $5 (Baby Jesus Birth day), 3 Tickets (wisemen) for $1 ....  Then when oyu draw the winner they get half the $ & the school gets half.
>>Are you doing a bake sale table?  Maybe the older kids can bake some simple recipes in large batches (rice krispie squares, brownies, chocolate chip cookies)  May be lemop aide & coffe  as well?
>>Can you do one or two carnival type games?   http://www.orientaltrading.com    Has basic carnival game equpment, & prises quite inexpensivly.
>>Get large syrofoam cones, spray paint them green. Get inexpensive suckers. Color the ends of some of the sticks with a marker.  Put the suckers into the cones. Let the kids (for a small price) pull a sucker, if it has a colored stick then win a prize. 
>>Can you do an old fashioned pie toss?  Cream pie in teh face of the teachers??

Not really to raise $ for the school but you can set up a coupple of trees, don;t decorate them. Ask fair goers to decorate them with gloves & socks for  homeless.

Jule

[ilovepaper]

Thanks Jule.
We do a prize raffle but I like the idea of a 50/50 also. Thanks for the other ideas too. We do a drive for hats mittens, etc. for the needy during fall and winter but maybe making our fair the drop-off point would get some more people to stop by. You've got my wheels turning! 
Thanks again for replying.
Carol
  it's pretty hard thinking about wintertime while it's so hot and humid!!!!

[K8upL8]

I have done a few charitable things in my life and I am always amazed at the things businesses will give you if you just ask. It doesn't matter if they are members of your church or not. Tell them it is for the homeless and they all have something. Instead of the 50/50 maybe the school can keep all the money and give away the freebies as the raffle prizes. I have had great luck getting thiongs like pizza coupons, flowers, a day at the spa, Groceries, etc. I have even got big things from larger department stores. Boomboxes, overstock thingys like a cool rug, etc... It is just a small bit of tax write off advertising. Everyone wins.
Another thing we did was ask each class to bring all there pennies to class for a month before one event. The class with the most pennies got a movie and popcorn party and we made BANK! The buildup til the party made it fun for the whole month.

[ragbabybsk]

How about raffling off some gift baskets.  You could ask parents to make up gift baskets in a theme (ex: a relaxation basket might include a selection of different teas, a soothing CD, aromatherapy eye bag, microwave corn bag, chocolate etc.; a car washing basket could include car wax, sponges, armourall, etc. all put in a bucket instead of a basket; a gift basket for your favorite dog would have dog biscuits, dog toys, a leash, pooper scooper etc.; you could do a little plastic wagon filled with toys; or a garden themed gift basket)  Our swim club recently hosted a meet and we had over 2 dozen gift baskets (some families chipped in together to make up a basket)  We sold raffle tickets, 3 for $1.00 or an arms length for 5$ (it came out to 20 tickets)  You just have to make sure people can pick up their baskets at the end - or just have a few to raffle off each hour or something.  We made quite a bit of money on the gift basket raffle and it was really easy.

Some other gift basket suggestions: one was filled with microwave popcorn, video rental coupons, hot chocolate, candy; someone else did one with gourmet coffee; another had all the ingredients for making cookies, complete with cookie cutters.  The possibilities are endless....

Denise

[kategirl]

one thing we did one time at my church - have a "present for parents" room where kids can go in a buy a small gift for their parent, grandparent, etc.  you can get stuff from oriental trading company and such, or things people have made.  make sure to pop it in a paper lunch bag and stapel the top as they leave so their parents won't see it!

[ilovepaper]

Thanks for the tips.
I have a little committee going now and we are all brainstorming. If we come up with anything really clever, I'll post.