Need some help with "Disney" basket raffle ideas

[marcyinPA]

My kids' school is having a Spring Fling at the end of May, and guess who was put in charge of the Basket Raffle?? (me of course! LOL) I had to come up with the basket themes, and one of them is All Things Disney (gee, wonder why I chose that one ) I'm probably going to have about $20 to spend on this (through donations) and I'm looking for ideas to put in the basket. I already bought a Finding Nemo paddle ball at the Dollar Store. Now onto other things!

Also, does anyone know if the Disney Store is "charitable"? I'd like to get a $5 gift card to go in the basket, but obviously I'd like it donated. Has anyone had success getting any kind of donations from them??

Thanks one and all...I look forward to some great ideas from you guys!!

 

[Mom2Ashli]

We had to a basket for my DD kindergarten class to raffle off. They send home a note to each parent and asked them to bring in one thing (they told us what they wanted) to put in the basket. It was a Book Basket and I had to pick up a jounal. So it was not to much for one person to handle. You could ask each parent to pick up something Disney related to donate to the basket.

 

[marcyinPA]

Thanks! We've been that route in the past, with little or no success (or 15 boxes of crayons and nothing else). If I had more time, I'd create a list, give it to the room moms and have them sign people up for a specific item. But of course, I was given this job just a couple of days ago and now there is no time to really plan it!

So we went ahead and asked for $$ donations from each child. So far so good, they've been very generous. I have 3 people who will help me do the shopping, and we are only putting together 13 baskets (we have a small school) so it won't be bad when we divide and conquer.

Next year, believe me, this will be handled much differently!

 

[disneyeveryyear]

I am not sure if you have any of these stores near you, but our Sam's Club always gives a Gift Card for every donation asked for. Maybe you could pick up some of their cute things. They usually have something Disney in the store (a DVD or CD if nothing else).

Our local Meijer is very generous with our local schools. They sell a lot of Disney stuff.

 

[Nicolepa]

Borders will donate a book (usually from their clearance section). I'm guessing Barnes and Nobel will do the same.

 

[mrsmom]

We did this for the school and each grade had a different themeand sent home letter to parents for donations ,Like sport, Movies, And beach theme ect and it worked out great. You can too ask any local business to help out, Most are more than willing for the kids.
Good luck!!
Kim

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

As long as you have a tax-id # for the school--you can solicit to Wal-mart, Sam's club, any store that sells disney stuff for gift cards which you can use to buy items for the basket.

Target is tougher to get gc's for as they are very particular and very local in their efforts--being a school..you shouldn't have a problem.

Wal-mart & sam's club will always have a mgr in charge of donations request--they really only need a letterhead (not necessarily the tax id #).

You can also submit to best buy and circuit city. They donate items once per month--you could request a Disney DVD. You do need a letter indicating 501-c-3 status and a letter on letterhead in addition to filling out their form. It also had to include a document of past succesful programs--which you can just type up on a paper the different fundraisers the school has done, or the successes of this particular one in the past.

Just some ideas to pass on to all your basket stuffers at your school.

Restaurants do GC's as well...very easily as do spa's and such. Just need that magical letter on letterhead .

 

[disneyfanfamily]

We had a silent auction last year for our PTO. (I was PTO president at the time). We asked all of the classes to think of their own theme and donate items for the basket. The class that had the highest bid got 1/2 of all the proceeds from the baskets. It was an incentive to get the teachers to get the students involved.

I called and sent letters to everyone! Disney Store was a big fat no. Along with the majority of the places contacted. However, if you have video rental places, alot of times they will either donate a certificate or a movie.

If you have local businesses, a lot of times they will donate money - then you could buy some Disney items with that money.

We had a donor board that listed all of the donors. If you tell the businesses that, they will be more apt to donate.

Good luck!

 

[mrp4352]

It's too late for this year, but if you have a couple months advance notice, you might write some hotel/airlines. I know that my company (an airline) gets regular requests for donations and we try to do what we can. It may not be a ticket, but hey, even a $25 gift certificate can be a good item.

 

[CajunDixie]

Check your local grocery for any items that have Disney Characters on them....maybe cereal, snacks, candy or juice? (Not quite Disney but many items have Star Wars on them such as Chips Ahoy and M&Ms) Many times our local grocery donates up to $25 in items. Check with your local drug store too (like CVS) since they too may have a few Disney themed items. And check out the store displays. My DS11 is getting the Dale Jr blow-up car displayed at our local store when it comes down and all he had to do was talk to the manager.

Anyone know what prize the fast-food restaurants have for their kids meals? If any of them have a WDW theme going they would most likely give you a set of the toys for your basket.

 

[luv2nascar]

walmart has lots of disney items. You could get a movie, pjs, a purse, etc.
I see disneydirect has beach towels on sale $7.50 ea including incredibles. Maybe they are on sale in the store too. Two beach towels for $15 bucks. Not too shabby.

 

[CheapMom]

I would send a flyer home to each of the families asking for donations. Seems a lot easier than having the sole responsibility of begging for donations. I know there is a time crunch but I would still ask.
You could ask for specific type items for each grade:
for example:

grade 1 - anything movie related- DVDs, movie candy, popcorn, Blockbuster gift cards...

grade 2: gourmet items

grade 3- bath and body items

grade 4- Disney or other licenced character items

grade 5- Family and kids board games

Even if I was getting a lot of donations from businesses in the comunity I would still hit up the families at the school to make the fundraiser more successful.

 

[marcyinPA]

I would send a flyer home to each of the families asking for donations. Seems a lot easier than having the sole responsibility of begging for donations. I know there is a time crunch but I would still ask.
You could ask for specific type items for each grade:
for example:

grade 1 - anything movie related- DVDs, movie candy, popcorn, Blockbuster gift cards...

grade 2: gourmet items

grade 3- bath and body items

grade 4- Disney or other licenced character items

grade 5- Family and kids board games

Even if I was getting a lot of donations from businesses in the comunity I would still hit up the families at the school to make the fundraiser more successful.

The kids are sending in cash donations. I am thinking that we will have about $25 for each basket this way. You know how it is, some classes are very active and will send in tons of money, while others will send in nothing. We will spread the wealth over all 13 classes to make it fair, and to have a nice basket for each class. We have done it like you mentioned in the past, but we always ended up with like 13 boxes of crayons (for an arts and crafts basket) or 15 boxes of pasta (for a pasta basket). If I had more time, I would have created a list and had room mom's pin a person down for each item needed. But, no time so we thought this would be the best way. I will have some cash to work with, but obviously, if we get more donations, we can buy more too and have way nicer baskets!!

Thanks for your input!