I have never done one but we are putting one together last minute also. Here is what one school does: call/text pto members asking for donations of small gifts and explaining the event, buy form oriental trading, look for large packages of mulitples that can be broken apart (like a 10-pack of lipsticks for $5, or big package of cheap tools that can be sold individually) make-up and tools are great for moms and dads. the kids feel like they are really getting something the parent will want. my son is in high school and still asks if i have the lipstick he gave me 3 years ago (no, son, i dont) also, hobby lobby or craft store may have 'easy' craft things that pto moms can get together and make cheaply to put in the store. check dollar tree or dollar store for bags of multiple items. this is what i'm going to do. hope it helps!!

This is an older topic but i'm hoping someone might see this and be able to offer up a suggestion.

Has anyone come up with a good guideline for how many gifts you need each year? For example, our school offers items from $1-$5. We have approximately 450 kids in our school (and growing every year) and we allow "immediate family" purchases but lots of kiddos have step moms and dads, step brothers and sisters etc. So how do you begin to know how many gifts you need in each category? Is it really just a guessing game?

Everything in our shop is $2. We do our shopping online through Dollar Tree & Oriental Trading mainly. We also do in-store shopping at Dollar Tree, Dollar General, & Walmart. It does take time to shop but we find everything for $1-except some jewelry at Oriental Trading that is usually priced a little higher but we figure it all works out ok. We usually have a very large variety, the kids love it and parents seem to like that everything's at the same low price. We made almost $4,000 this year with very few items left over to store. We have a great principal who allows us to hold it for an entire week where each class picks a 30min period to come in and shop. Obviously we have to have a large number of volunteers, and we do, even though we always stress that we won't have enough, it works out somehow.

We use as a service Project! so we make about $300.

The kids absolutely love it and share stories of who they are buying for. Totally worth it.

We have done it all. Bought on our own! Nightmare! Used Companies, near and far, and realized that using a local company really did make the most sense.

No left over merchandise, that goes missing, no tying up our money for 2 -3 months ahead of time. And with what is left.

They give us all the promotion material, they take back what we don't use. And they are a face in our community.

Good Luck,

BBP

How much money do you earn from this event? Also, do you feel it's worth the time and effort you put into it?