Have you done gift wrapping as a fundraiser before?

[luvmyfam444]

Can you tell me the details of how you set it up?

We are planning on doing this for the band for the month of Dec...every Sat. It will be donations only.

I'm thinking of 2 hour shifts, with the option of the kids to sign up for more shifts if there are any available.

Thinking of having shifts all day from 10-6 or something along those lines.

What I don't know is how many people to schedule per shift....we want to still be able to make some profit so we don't want TONS of people working - but then again - we don't want to be swamped either.

Any ideas?

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I've done gift wrapping for charity/donation/fund raiser for a quite a few years in Syracuse (up until I moved last year). It's a lot of fun, if you enjoy gift wrapping, but it's expensive to do from an organization's perspective.

They do typically get a lot of supplies donated, but not all so there is still a cost to the organization. A large roll of paper can be $1,000+ for quality and having an efficient work area is important. The locations I've done the wrapping at are all in malls and the space was donated and they had temporary stands/wrapping paper carriers that made it easy to work, plus a steady stream of customers was great.

Where are you looking to setup? Do you have supplies donated, are you paying for people to wrap or is it all donated time?

 

[luvmyfam444]

I've done gift wrapping for charity/donation/fund raiser for a quite a few years in Syracuse (up until I moved last year). It's a lot of fun, if you enjoy gift wrapping, but it's expensive to do from an organization's perspective.

They do typically get a lot of supplies donated, but not all so there is still a cost to the organization. A large roll of paper can be $1,000+ for quality and having an efficient work area is important. The locations I've done the wrapping at are all in malls and the space was donated and they had temporary stands/wrapping paper carriers that made it easy to work, plus a steady stream of customers was great.

Where are you looking to setup? Do you have supplies donated, are you paying for people to wrap or is it all donated time?

It's donated time- the kids& their parents. We have not had any luck getting paper donated yet - we were just going to have the parents bring their own paper/scissors/tape. There's no way we could purcase a roll of paper for $1,000! we are looking to make that much money in 4 weeks & we'd be delighted... not SPEND that much!

 

[cornflake]

Can you tell me the details of how you set it up?

We are planning on doing this for the band for the month of Dec...every Sat. It will be donations only.

I'm thinking of 2 hour shifts, with the option of the kids to sign up for more shifts if there are any available.

Thinking of having shifts all day from 10-6 or something along those lines.

What I don't know is how many people to schedule per shift....we want to still be able to make some profit so we don't want TONS of people working - but then again - we don't want to be swamped either.

Any ideas?

Not for nothing but my first reaction is to make sure the kids who sign up can wrap and wrap well.

I like wrapping, so do it myself, but if I were persuaded for a charitable endeavour, I would not find it cute or endearing if it was wrapped badly by a kid - you're either offering wrapping or you're not, you know?

 

[luvmyfam444]

Not for nothing but my first reaction is to make sure the kids who sign up can wrap and wrap well.

I like wrapping, so do it myself, but if I were persuaded for a charitable endeavour, I would not find it cute or endearing if it was wrapped badly by a kid - you're either offering wrapping or you're not, you know?

YEP! The last group I saw do this were a bunch of teenage boys raising the money - their moms did all the wrapping & they stuck on the bows & greeted ya....that's about it.

I think most people will tell you honestly if they can wrap or not- somehow I'll have it worderd on the signup sheet that they must be able to wrap (or bring someone for their shift who can).

 

[jen0610]

To help with the paper budget, go to target and hit that $1.00 area at the front of the store. They have these small rolls of paper for a buck. They are the perfect size for wrapping DVD's, CD's, books and a smaller items. You won't waste much paper cutting the larger rolls down to size.

Also, go for those self adhiseve tags. You can get 100 of them for 99 cents to 1.19 a package at WalMart and I think Target has some that are cheaper.

Also, don't hesitate to ask families if they have any rolls of paper they would like to donate. I am sure that there are famlies like ours that have about 13,000 rolls of paper - I swear every year no matter what I say, I end up buying some after Christmas on sale - and they would like to clear out some of there stock.

 

[luvmyfam444]

To help with the paper budget, go to target and hit that $1.00 area at the front of the store. They have these small rolls of paper for a buck. They are the perfect size for wrapping DVD's, CD's, books and a smaller items. You won't waste much paper cutting the larger rolls down to size.

Also, go for those self adhiseve tags. You can get 100 of them for 99 cents to 1.19 a package at WalMart and I think Target has some that are cheaper.

Also, don't hesitate to ask families if they have any rolls of paper they would like to donate. I am sure that there are famlies like ours that have about 13,000 rolls of paper - I swear every year no matter what I say, I end up buying some after Christmas on sale - and they would like to clear out some of there stock.

Good idea - I hadn't thought of asking any & everyone for rolls of paper - of course I want it only if it's in this century! HA! My grandmother used to save all the used paper from gifts....

 

[luvmyfam444]

I bought a roll of paper from Sam's of 400 sq feet for $9 & then the paper @ Hobby Lobby is actually cheaper. 200' for $4.

But of course I'd rather have free....

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We gift wrapped at Barnes & Noble last year for the marching band. I think we usually had three people at a time. They only give you one table, so there isn't really room for more than that.

The provide their own wrapping paper, as well.

 

[mickeyboat]

Our elementary school PTO did this a few years ago at a LL Bean Outlet. LL Bean supplied everything, we just had to supply the labor. I understand they made a lot of money, but it was a lot of work!

 

[luvmyfam444]

We gift wrapped at Barnes & Noble last year for the marching band. I think we usually had three people at a time. They only give you one table, so there isn't really room for more than that.

The provide their own wrapping paper, as well.

Never thought about Barnes & Noble

 

[akhenaten]

Wrapped one year for the American cancer society. The mall provided the wrapping paper and tables and would only allow a voluntary donation. My suggestion would be to ask a minimum per package. We had several folks walk up with about 10 packages and donate only a couple of dollars for the entire thing!

 

[jen0610]

Never thought about Barnes & Noble

I have seen wrapping at B&N, but I can't remember what type of group it was and who they were raising money for.

I do remember, that if you made a purchase and told the cashier that you wanted to donate a percentage of your purchase, it went to them as well. That would be a sweet and easy way to earn even more money. And if I knew our band was doing this, I would buy all the books I needed on that day.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I wrapped at Barnes and Noble for the golden retriever rescue. In the stores we were allowed to have dogs, they collected a lot of money. Obviously, we did the wrapping. B&N did supply paper. I learned some great decorating tips from the people who have done it before. I thin B&N gets a lot of people wanting to wrap and the available slots fill up quickly.

We had about 3 or 4 people wrapping. If you pick up bells and garland and things at the Dollar Store, you can really make the bows look nice.

 

[Robbi]

I've never been involved in afund raiser like this but wow, what a great idea! Good luck, OP, I hope it's very successful.

 

[NotUrsula]

If you need to buy the paper retail, Tuesday Morning is a great source. Good paper in large rolls at excellent prices.

IME, this is mostly going to be a girl thing; very few boys or men are going to be skilled decorative wrappers.

Be sure to collect some plain light cardboard/cardstock sheets as well; they are very helpful when wrapping toys that have open areas on the front/top of the box. (You fold it in half and tape it over the open area before you wrap. The cardboard from shirts is great for this purpose.)

 

[luvmyfam444]

If you need to buy the paper retail, Tuesday Morning is a great source. Good paper in large rolls at excellent prices.

IME, this is mostly going to be a girl thing; very few boys or men are going to be skilled decorative wrappers.

Be sure to collect some plain light cardboard/cardstock sheets as well; they are very helpful when wrapping toys that have open areas on the front/top of the box. (You fold it in half and tape it over the open area before you wrap. The cardboard from shirts is great for this purpose.)

ok the cardboard tip is brilliant!

I am NOT a wrapper...unless its a basic rectangle shape lol & one of those dolls would through me way off....

 

[luvmyfam444]

I think I'm most nervous about the big items...using all our wrapping paper in one gift...

 

[Fire14]

anybody in Columbus ohio area I'd be happy to donate to have my pkgs wrapped. I hate wrapping.

 

[luvmyfam444]

anybody in Columbus ohio area I'd be happy to donate to have my pkgs wrapped. I hate wrapping.

AWW boo! Too far,,,BUT my dh does have an aunt there...she could wrap & take your donations & send us a check!