We sort of wrapped two events into one...We had Back-to-School Night(and children were included) and then the Book Fair Dinner all on one night and I think it was a great success...Our back to school night is not the traditional one, as we have Parent Orientations the day before school starts so that's where we get all our "information". Tonight, we had the teachers in the classroom from 5:30-6:30 with just an Open House format..then we served fried catfish or chicken strips ($6) and then we got to go to the Book Fair, as a family. It was fabulously attended (better than last year when we had the traditional Back-to-School Night) and lots of fun. I think they sold over 500 dinners and we have 375 children (K3-8). Just thought I'd share..
Shelly
P.S. One cute thing the 1st grade teacher did was a video she made of the typical day of a 1st grader and she interviewed each child and it was adorable.

Congrats! Sounds like you had a great event. Doesn't it feel good when something is so well received?

Did you find that selling dinners cut into your book fair profits?

I haven't gotten any final figures but from what I've heard, the librarian is thrilled because this event brought lots of parents to the Book Fair with the children. They might not have come otherwise. We sold about 500 dinners as compared to less than 200 last year. The crowd at Grandparents' Day, too, was PACKED, almost too crowded!
Shelly

We did a spaghetti supper last year in conjunction with our Open House and Book Fair. We found the spaghetti supper really helped bring people to the book fair. We're going to try and do it again this year -

A general question to all who are talking about book fairs: Do you have all your classes come down and shop or do you just have it after school or at night? How many days do you hold your book fairs?