I was wondering if anyone has used Reindeer Lane for a Holiday/Christmas Shop for the kids. We have used the same company for about 5 years and are interested in trying something new.

We used them last year for our first holiday shop. Half of the stuff was cheesey or overpriced. After doing more research, this seems to be a pretty common issue. We also felt like it was a lot of setup, helping the kids shop, and reinventorying all that had to go back for what little it brought in. I would rather purchase better items that we can price and don't have to inventory (and still not make a profit) because I would feel better about the program, but everyone here tells me that it's better to do your own shopping anyway. If that isn't an option for you, there is nothing wrong with this company in my opinion.

We used them two years ago and it was not a great experience (I'm trying to be nice with how I word the experience we had with them). It was just way too much of an effort for items that were not of good quality for the amount the kids had to pay for them. We decided last year to shop ourselves (clearance racks, oriental trading, etc... the local dollar stores even gave us a discount) and it was much more enjoyable for both the volunteers and the kids. We only used Reindeer Lane that one time, so it could just be that it wasn't for us, but I have heard/read other stories of people who weren't too happy with their experiences. Good Luck!

A note on reindeer lane: For about 5 years, our school used them for the christmas shop. Well, the PTO group moved on to middle school, and last year we shopped around and found someone else to use (i forget their name). Reindeer Lane called, and wwe explainde to them that we were going with another company. they sent us a letter saying that because we had used them for so long, they had already pre-purchased for our school and wwe were going to be charged for it. We checked and there was no contract or anything between us and them. They kept on and on though, even saying there was no contract, but that we "owed" them because they thought we would be going with them. We got letters for about 6 months. the principal finally sat down and wrote them a letter. We still get phone calls and letters from them and it is 2 years later. We got a phone call on Thursday as a matter of fact. it was, for a while a very intimidating situation and kind of scary. We felt like they were trying to force us to use them because the past group had.
Anyway, just get all the information on them before you go through them.

We use American Carnival Mart. They have a really neat Christmas Store. Very nice people to deal with. Good experience! New Christmas catalog should be done by the end of August. You get to pick the items that you want to sell.

I would love more info on having a Christmas store... this sounds like a neat idea...