Pamper & Shopping Evening Fundraiser
Holding a Pamper & Shopping Evening is a great way to get Mums together at a social occasion. By offering mini-manicures and massages and having stalls selling everything from Jewellery and Bags to Crafts and Stationery, you will keep everyone happy! This is also a great fundraising opportunity. You will raise funds from the entrance fee, stallholder/therapist fees, the raffle, drinks and any food you sell.
DATE & VENUE - Choose your date carefully. Bear in mind that Saturdays are usually the busiest days for beauty therapists, so avoid Friday evenings. The size of your school hall will dictate the number of stallholders and therapists your can have. Ideally you will have the stallholders in the main hall and the therapists in classrooms or maybe the dining room, drama room, etc.
TEAM- Assemble your team - you'll need volunteers to help recruit therapists and stallholders, promote the event, and help on the day. Draw up a rota appointing volunteers who can meet and greet therapists and stallholders, and check tickets as guests arrive. Finalise what refreshments will be provided and who will be in charge of this on the day. Any supply of alcohol, even if included in the ticket price, will require a TEN. Submit an application to your local council at least 10 working days before your event.
STALLHOLDERS & THERAPISTS - You need to plan who comes to your event, ie, you don’t want three jewellery stalls all selling silver! A good mix of interesting, unusual and seasonal items will work well. For the therapists a good variety works well, however manicurists are the most popular, so it would be an idea to have two or three. Therapists can offer promotional mini taster sessions.
Find stallholders and therapists by asking parents for contacts, visit local craft fairs, search through social media, approach independent shops and look in your local parish magazine. £20 seems to be an acceptable charge for each stallholder’s 6’ table or therapist area, also ask for a raffle prize from each one of them. Confirm everything by email and asked for payment up front.
INVITATIONS - You need to send out classy invitations to your guests - one way is to print them yourselves or use www.vistaprint.co.uk. With Vista Print you can produce glossy cards very cheaply and sometimes for free depending on their promotion - you just pay the p&p. Send one to every family at the school and to teachers and staff. The best way is to ask for people to pre-book their tickets. That way you know how many people are coming. A pre-paid entry fee of £3-£4 is reasonable. To include a “goody bag” and perhaps a glass of wine. Of course you’ll accept people on the door, but you don’t advertise this until a few days before!.
THERAPY BOOKINGS - It is very important to pre-book the treatments. The therapists then know that they have bookings and it saves a free-for-all on the night. Advertise on your invite that you will be available near a school landmark after school for a week to take bookings. Also allow people to book by phone.
GOODY BAGS - These are very important to have as a “feel good” item. Buy some suitable bags, eg, strong coloured paper ones with handles (Ebay is a good source) or get a company to donate them. Fill them with 4 or 5 items, eg, nail varnish, lip gloss, lipstick, soap, body glitter, perfume samples, etc. Some of these you can get free by asking companies or local shops, otherwise Ebay have loads of job lots on offer under “wholesale”. You could include a simple programme listing all the stallholder and therapists contact details.
RAFFLE - Hold a high profile raffle with all the items the stallholders have provided. Sell raffle tickets on the door and then allocate someone with the job of going round and selling them. Either hold a draw during the evening or do a silent draw and people can check their tickets as they leave.
REFRESHMENTS – Sell wine and fizz together with soft drinks a perhaps a slice of cake!
