what could our school throw to crowds at a parade that is low cost?

[mommiepoppins]

My dd school is in despert need of some publicty. The kids will be marching in varios parades. I would like to have the people in the parade throw out stuff to the crowds with the schools name and number. I can not find any thing that is not over priced. ( I was thinking business card magnets) Do you have a budget wayto help?

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

My guess is you don't want to have to ration what the participants throw out?

What about making your items. Using address labels, you get more per sheet with return labels, put your school's name & number on anything you can find; rolled candy, pencils, packs of gum. Sure it isn't professional, but it is cost effective. And they have to look at the label to get to the good stuff.

 

[feedindy]

Our Girl Scout unit did this one year. We printed our information on a label and wrapped it around a dum-dum stick. The labels we used were file folder lables (long and thin) and we divided each label into 2 columns so we could fold it in half and not mess up the printing.

 

[NeedaVacation03]

When we did it for our church float we did pencils. We actually had people walking along the float handing them out, since throwing them would be dangerous We found the pencils to be the cheapest thing with our name on them. Hopefully someone can think of something else cuz I would love to know too.

 

[tink2dw]

1st off why does the school need publicity?? Really in this day and age, eww ick??

I wouldn't want my kids School Name thrown out to every tom, cindy, harry, at a parades???? That sounds just way too dangerous for the kids, too me!!! Enough stuff happens around schools but to actually give them the your childs Schools Name??? My childs school was locked down 3 times!!

Our School District lets the kids march in a Children's Parade that is in the district area, with a banner with the School District name on it, and the kids throw Kraft type bulk donated candy from area food stores out. Although they had to have permission from the parents to go, I always thought being in school was more important.

 

[wtpntigger2]

1st off why does the school need publicity?? Really in this day and age, eww ick??

I wouldn't want my kids School Name thrown out to every tom, cindy, harry, at a parades???? That sounds just way too dangerous for the kids, too me!!! Enough stuff happens around schools but to actually give them the your childs Schools Name???

My assumption is it is a private school and they need the publicity to increase enrollment.

My dd's school is needing some publicity to increase their enrollment. I think I'll suggest this idea to the Head of School. The dum-dums with labels wrapped around them sound like a great inexpensive idea.

 

[meandtheguys2]

1st off why does the school need publicity?? Really in this day and age, eww ick??

I wouldn't want my kids School Name thrown out to every tom, cindy, harry, at a parades???? That sounds just way too dangerous for the kids, too me!!! Enough stuff happens around schools but to actually give them the your childs Schools Name??? My childs school was locked down 3 times!!

Our School District lets the kids march in a Children's Parade that is in the district area, with a banner with the School District name on it, and the kids throw Kraft type bulk donated candy from area food stores out. Although they had to have permission from the parents to go, I always thought being in school was more important.

School names are pretty much out there all the time. On busses, jackets, etc. Secret schools don't get children, and close down.

How about buttermints, with the name on the package. I can't remember where we go them from, but we ordered them for the Alcohol Awareness group on campus. They were yummy, too!

 

[tink2dw]

Ask TV Stations, and Radio Stations to Announce Enrollment with their Community Calender Announcements, put up banners announcing enrollment, put out sidewalk signs. Give flier to parents to give to age appropriate neighborhood parents.

 

[Gillian]

Ouch on throwing out magnetized business cards! They're kind of heavy, with sharp edges.

I think the candy with labels is a good idea, as are preprinted pens or pencils. There are companies that make them fairly cheaply. I ordered from National pen company once and I think it wasn't bad.

 

[rhiansmom]

PAPER AIRPLANES!

Seriously, last year our church was starting a new children service on Thursday nights and they came up with the idea of taking the flyer and making them into paper airplanes! I thought the entire time to myself that it was a dumb idea but come parade day we were the hit of the parade!

Kids were begging for airplanes and we ran out very early into the parade. We did have rules ...

only adults could hand out the airplanes and they had to be walking the parade route and not on the float (actually this is a parade rule in our town for everything including candy)

we couldn't throw them more than 4 or 5 feet

if a kid ran out to pick one up we wouldn't give them one until they returned to their seat on the curb (for safety we didn't want kids in the street)

 

[NotUrsula]

If you want to go traditional, Mardi Gras style, that would be plastic cups.
They will generally run under $1 each, getting cheaper the more you buy.

How cheap are you hoping for? Imprinted parade throws are never a particularly inexpensive proposition; in most parades with decent ones each rider spends at least ~$600 for throws. If you're talking about a short local truck parade kind of thing, then I'd expect to spend at least about $400 for enough imprinted throws for a float.

Another fairly inexpensive choice I could suggest is wooden doubloons, so-called Wooden Nickels. Those run much cheaper, usually about 1000 for $100. You can go even cheaper with these if the kids are willing to put in some elbow grease: you can get blanks by the lb. and imprint them yourselves with rubber stamps, though the imprint won't last as well and won't be as nice-looking.

 

[mom2alix]

I have no idea how much they cost, but a lot of politicians at the 4th of July parades last year were giving out emery boards with their name on them. I dobt they cost very much and people were grabbing them up.

 

[Adomville]

Maybe something with Tootsie Rolls? They come in huge bags at Sam's or Costco for cheap, cheap, cheap.