PTO Today

In searching for new and creative ways to motivate kids and families to sell cookie dough and catalog items, I thought I would come to the board and see what everyone here does to reward kids for all of their effort. As most of you know, the company reward incentives (flashing cheap toys, etc.) are not enough. So, in addition to those, we have offered a raffle where every student who sells 10 items or more is entered, and then 3 tickets were drawn for gift cards to ToysRUs. Also, the top three sellers were given gift cards as well.

Does anyone out there have some refreshing ideas to share?

Thanks so much!

This isn't a new concept, but you could give a pizza party to the top selling class....Just a suggestion. Or you could give Visa check cards as to not limit where the winners can purchase....

We used a combination. The classroom in each grade level with the highest participation percentage in the fundraiser won a wind up pig. We then had a pig race during a school assembly. Grades k-2 raced for one winner and grades 3-5 raced for the 2nd winner. Each winner received $100 in classroom supplies or software.
We then had a 3 tier range for our raffles. We had a dozen prizes and those that sold 20 or more items had 5 chances put into the raffle. those selling 11-19 items had 3 chances and those selling 1-10 items had one chance put in. After the races, the raffle winners were drawn.

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Doing it for my one and only ~~ my son!

We're going with a company that offers these rewards but you could do it on your own:

each kid that sells five items gets a lunch bag with the school name on it

each kid that turns in their order form, turns money in early, sells more than ten items...gets put into a drawing where they win an ipod.

I like this because even the kid that sells one item as a chance at winning a nice prize. Top student in each class/grade gets something as well as top student overall(this child doesn't win twice). Hopefully our kids will like this and do well. I like them over past companies because in addition to all the seasonal stuff they also sell sports items which will be a hit here.

The company we are using has a money machine - top seller in each class gets a trip in. We also are doing a night stay at a local hotel/waterpark drawing for anyone that sells over $XX amount.

We did the top seller and a guest (they choose their parent) got to have a special lunch (not the school lunch) with the Principal. The Principal liked having lunch delivered, and the student had fun.

The magazine company we used last year had the money machine for kids who reached a certain sales level and they received tickets for every so many dollars raised that they could use to purchase items from a "store" the rep set up. Anyone who participated could easily get some kind of reward.

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Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.

This Fall we've asked our Fund-raising Company not to use their prize packages, and offer a spirit wear (through a local company) incentive instead. They have been willing to work with us on this. Also, we are purchasing a Nintendo Wii for the top seller and offering an extra Recess time for the class with the highest participation.

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“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

ImnotcrazyImamother- Can you tell me more about the details on how to not use the catalog prizes? They are so cheesy, and I love anything to promote school spirit! I would love to do the same, but not sure where to start with all of this. Thanks.

Idhunter, we just told our rep (we're using Kathryn Beich) that we would prefer not to use their prize package this year. I'm sure he wasn't 100% thrilled, but he'll still get a percentage of our sales, which beats getting nothing if we decided to go elsewhere. Actually, I've found this guy to be pretty easy to deal with. All reps are like used-car salesmen, though. I bet you'll find that if you ask your rep what else they can offer you in the way of prizes they'll have some ideas. They push the "crappy" stuff because they get the biggest mark up from that. If you make sure they know that you understand they need to make money too, they'll be willing to work with you. Give it a try, all they can do is tell you "no, we can't do that" and then you say, "Ok, thanks, I'll try someone who can"

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“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” - Eleanor Roosevelt