Roller skating party-- free of charge-- give a raffle ticket to each skater and do drawings for a few prizes-- skating passes donated of course or something else you got donated.

Lots of times when we do cookie dough we give free cookie dough instead of the prizes from the catalog. For example, "sell a dozen, get one free." The parents like it.

I like your idea of an event rather than the junky dollar-store type prizes - I had never thought of that. A movie night might be fun or do you have an aquatic center/pool or bowling alley you could rent for a night? I'm interested in the "buy-out" idea so I'll be watching these posts.

Are you a 501(c)(3)? As a parent, I often chose to donate rather than buy the junk because the school/PTO got the funds it needed and I got a tax deduction. THAT was one of the biggest incentives for me.

We are planning on doing a cookie dough sale this spring. We have not had a huge participation in the past, and were thinking that we could include a "buy-out" option, if people still wanted to participate, yet not sell. That being said, we need a "prize" for these "buy-out" kids (and all kids who participate by selling a certain amount) So, looking for ideas for an "event". We should have about $300 to work with, We are thinking that the "buy-out" needs to be a donation of about $20, so the "event" needs to be unique and "worthy" for the parents to fork out that kind of money, as opposed to just skipping the entire sale thing entirely. We don't want to just pass out the "junky" prizes that come with the sale catalog (part of the reason we are having the buy-out) We have considered a movie night, but Any other ideas would be appreciated.

For those who have done a "buy-out" in the past, have you found that more people will take this option now, instead of selling, where they may have sold more than your buy out option will make?