A PTA Summer Fayre (aka Summer Fair, Summer Fun Day or Summer Festival) is a great community event. It's also a good way to raise much needed funds for their school. However, throwing one together at the last minute isn’t a good idea. A little foresight is required to raise the maximum amount of money.
Many PTAs start their planning and preparation during the spring. We’ve put together this blog post to give you some ideas and help make your school summer fayre your most successful yet.
To theme or not to theme your Summer Fayre?
Many PTAs choose a fun theme to get the community more involved, and tie each of the elements (refreshments, decorations etc.) together.
New Waltham Academy chose to have a beach theme at their 2015 summer fayre. They were even blessed with a hot, sunny day:
Mundham School PTA had a brilliant farm theme for their summer fayre – just take a look at these incredible scarecrows:
Springburn Academy opted for a Hawaiian theme. What better way to kick off your summer fun?
Types of stalls
When it comes to choosing what stalls to have, the sky really is the limit. The most successful summer fayres usually have a good variety, from local small businesses promoting and selling their products, to school-run fundraising stalls.
Check out Kingswear Primary’s plant stall:
There was a wide range of stalls at N Lancing Primary’s summer fayre:
Willowbank PTFA sold stalls at their summer fayre for just £5 each, raising funds while enabling stall holders to make a profit too:
Take a look at this gorgeous jewellery that was for sale at the Beehive Prep School summer fayre last year:
Entertainment
Games and entertainment such as bouncy castles and slides help to keep the kids amused while parents browse. Negotiate a good deal with the providers to bring in some additional fundraising too.
Maypole dancing at Highnam Academy:
Mascots are a great way to interact with little kids (and the big ones too!). Buzz Lightyear stopped by Warberry Academy:
Inverkeithing Primary had a ‘Splat the Teacher’ stall which was a huge hit:
Rocking refreshments!
A refreshment stall with hot and cold drinks, snacks and sweet treats is always popular. There are plenty of external catering suppliers – either negotiate for a percentage of their sales or some other financial contribution towards your fundraising.
Ideas we have seen include ice cream vans, burger vans, candy-floss, popcorn stalls and even a hog roast.
Sellincourt School in Tooting found their ice cream van to be extremely popular with parents and children:
At Birchgrove Primary, the burgers were a massive hit:
If you’re lucky to have PTA volunteers like Headteacher Roger Averis, you too could cook up a storm of more than 300 hot dogs and burgers:
Don’t forget to advertise outside of the school too
Although all the parents at your school may know when your summer fayre is taking place, there is a much wider community that you can invite to join in the fun.
With an abundance of free tools like Canva and Crello, eye-catching posters don’t have to be expensive to make, but can help get the word out.
Attach the posters to the school gates, and ask local shops if they wouldn’t mind putting them up in their windows too.
Social media is another great way of spreading information about your PTA’s events. Why not take a picture of your poster and share it on your Facebook or Twitter pages? Get involved in business twitter chats in your town and let local businesses know you'd love their support.
Want more ideas?
Check out 44 pages of inspiration in our Ultimate List of Summer Fair Ideas! Also see our Summer Fair Pinterest Board.
And of course communicating with parents and recruiting volunteers for your fayre is exactly what the PlanSocial app is for – so get off to a great start now by starting a free account for up to 100 members right away. It's time to build your fundraising team!
Over to you!
We'd love to hear what your PTA is planning – email us, tweet or share your pictures and ideas with over 2,000 other PTA volunteers in our Facebook group for PTAs
About PlanSocial
PlanSocial provides online payment and community hubs for schools and PTAs. List events and volunteer opportunities, sell tickets and collect online donations, connect parents directly with others in their kids’ classes to build a strong community spirit. Create a hub for your school community in 2 minutes.
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