Scholastic Book Fair

[tiggerlover]

Does anyone have any experience planning a book fair for your child's school? I have been appointed chairperson of the book fair committee and I have never done this before and would love to hear from others who have.

 

[gina2000]

I ran the bookfair last year and have worked on it for a few prior to that.

Feel free to PM me with any questions!

 

[Lars624]

I run the spring book fair at our school using Scholastic every spring. Feel free to PM me with any questons

 

[Pin Wizard]

Scholastic Bookfair started at DS's school this past Friday and runs through this coming Friday. We've already been there and gotten a couple books.

 

[disykat]

I haven't been the chair, but I have been the person who checked with the chair to make sure everything is going okay (PTA President). Our chair this year was new and seemed to get all the info she needed from scholastic. Does Scholastic have workshops in your area? Our area has them twice a year for all the bookfair chairs.

 

[BethR]

I have not planned one myself, but I have worked around them for many years.
I know that Scholastica sends you lots of materials to help you plan and "market" your sale.
We had a new chair this past fall and she followed a lot of the suggestions to "market" the sale - and we increased our sale substantially over previous years.
One of the things that she did that was VERY successful was having each teacher submit a "Wish List" for classroom books. The list is then sent home with each student. The students then can choose to purchase a book in their name as a "gift" to their classroom. Of course a name plate with the purchaser is put in the book. They sold a LOT of books that way. Particularly in the primary grades.

Good Luck! It is hectic, but rewarding.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

We always plan ours to go along with the donuts with Grandparents day at school. That really adds to our sales. I like the Wish List idea.

 

[Michelle]

My daughter's school has TWO very successful Scholastic Book Fairs each year, one in the fall and one in the spring. The spring one features "buy one get one free" and we really stock up then.

We've also had the teacher's request list for years with the fair and that definitely helps the teachers and the kids like donating the books. A key is to get plenty of volunteers to help. Our school also plans one evening family event during Book Fair Week to get the parents who work full-time who can't get to school during the regular book fair hours.

 

[mamajoan]

Debbi, The Wish Book program that Beth described is a really great way to get books for your school. Another thing we did when my kids were younger was to have the kids donate a book to the classroom on their birthday. It was a nice was to celebrate the childs birthday as the teacher would read the book while "treats" (usually candy or pencils) were passed out. The teachers really liked this and appreciated not having to deal with cupcakes for a while.
Most useful suggestion: If your check out lines get long -Have one mom use large post its to write down the prices of books so that when the customer gets to the cashier the cashier does not have to search for prices.
Have a great book sale!

 

[tiggerlover]

Thanks all! I have ordered the books, but they still haven't arrived, so I was hoping there would be information included. Not sure how long it will take them to arrive overseas, just hope it is in time for the necessary preparations. My first task is to form my committee, but in this community it is very hard to get volunteers, but once we do we will go from there. I have about a month, book fair starts March 28. Glad to know others have been there and I may need to pick your brains at a later date.

Thanks.

 

[mamajoan]

Cash registers or adding machines with tax if you have to do taxes, people that can add, people to assist kids looking for particular items, a seperate table set up for people that want to order books that you do not have available, bags for sold items ( scholastic may provide these) cash for change these items are a must.

Have a meeting of your volunteers at least 30 minutes prior to the book sale to go over items, cashier register use, check acceptance/credit card policies.. these take a little time to explain to people.
Our schools ALWAYS have an ice cream social during the book faire it is a nice social gathering and a nice fundraiser. Do not take on the responsiblity of both things.. The social will need its own leader.

Just thought of these things.. Joan

 

[Mom-to-3]

Please make it clear to the parents that this is a school fundraiser and that the school receives a certain percentage of the books' price.

I didn't know that and I thought the school was just trying to push us to buy books for our kids so they would have an enriching home environment. My kids have tons of books and it bothered me to think they thought good parents would be buying books for their kids (at the school).

I know it sounds silly now...