We've done this at our school as well, perhaps with the same photographer in North Jersey as 3 boys mom (she's in Westwood, last I knew). We only make money on the sitting fee which was $15 three years ago. Any packages the photographer sells on pick-up night is her own income. I think we've made as much as $900 from Family Portrait Night which is pretty good participation. We have about 400 families in a PreK-8 school of 685, but at the time our population was more like 355 families and barely 600 students. We've grown a lot in three years!

We also love the quality of the portraits and most families use them for holiday purposes. The photographer brings a white backdrop to the school and sets it up for two afternoon/evening and one Saturday morning shoot. It's a scheduling thing for the people who volunteer to run it, getting families on the calendar when we're in the midst of soccer, football, and other after-school activities and sports. We collect the $15 with the registration however, with a stipulation about no-shows not getting their money refunded. It affects not just the volunteers when someone doesn't show, but the photographer is impacted as well.

I like the idea of tying the portrait night into another event to increase participation in one or both. I'll have to pose that idea to our Ways & Means chair.

BTW, my family wouldn't have a portrait if it weren't for this event. Sitting fees at portrait studios in our area are ten times what we charge at school! If not more!!

#1 Do you have a family portrait night in conjuction with other family night events, ie family movie night; or is it a stand alone event?

#2 Are the photographers a professional studio variety (like LifeTouch) or more of an independent mom & pop outfit? (I've found in this digital & internet age, Mom & Pops are pretty good alternatives.)

We will hold our 4th Family Portriat event this October. Here's the jist of it. Flyers are sent home with the information, provided by the photogropher, each flyer has 6 tear off portions that the parent fills out with name and phone number.(They can sell the others to extended family) The children bring the names back with $8. Then volunteers call each family to set up an appointment time for their pictures. We staff a table to check the family in. The $8 gets them one 8x10 which the photographer has basically donated to us as we get the $8 turned in by the families. Then when the pictures are ready the photographer sets up at the school and sells packages to the parents when they come to pick up their "free" one. The down is that each sheet cost something like $24.
This year we decided to run our Book Fair the same time as Family Portraits since the family will already be in the building.

I think the key would be keeping it affordable. Our church does something similar - one of those places that does the church directory for free and makes it's money on the portraits it sells.

The quality is pretty good, but the prices are obscene.

We do this twice a year at out school. Parents love it! We charge $30 and with that you get 1 8x10 print. $15 goes to the HSA and $15 goes to her. She also has several options for packages that can be bought. If 100% of the people buy a package she gives us 10%. She is in Northern NJ and I HIGHLY recommend her.

there's a local photographer was does those old time photos at our school. it goes over pretty well, but we skip a year or 2 in between. Check with any local photographers to see what packages or deals they could do for you.