What Are Some Neat Things Your Schools PTO or Parent Club Does?

A.,

It's been a few years but our PTO was quite active and well established by the time I became involved. One of our main activities was to put on the school carnival. This was a big undertaking that required a dedicated, core group of parents to organize but it was always successful and the kids really enjoyed it. We had yearly fundraisers in which we used the money to make purchases for the school such as playgroud equipment, cameras, books, even window shades. We also gave a certain amount of money each year to each teacher to use as they wished. This was always based on how much we had in our treausury and could spare. We worked as chaperones for after school events such as pajama reading night at the school. We helped staff the book fair and any other event that needed parent volunteers. It is a very worthwhile organization and your children will benefit just by your presence at the school. You should look at the needs of your school, services or items not being met by the district and decided where you want to focus your work. Your school principal should attend your meetings as well as any teachers that you can get to attend. Good luck in this venture. I applaude you for stepping forward and helping, there are too many parents who take a hands off approach to volunteerism in their children's school, but I assure you, it's worth the effort.

S.

Are you looking for fundraisers? If so, Scrip is a great one. The PTO buys gift cards at a discount and then sells them at face value to parents. For example the PTO buys from Kroger a $25 gift card for $22.50. The profit for the PTO is $2.50. This is just an example.

This has worked very well in my school district and in fact I started the program at my children's elementary school. If I can be of help, email me.

M.

Our PTO is holding a "Wine social" for all the parents. there will be a silent auction as well, with most of the items being donated by other parents (products and services) the teachers will benefit from the event because the money raised will be used to send them to a national conference which all of them are eager to attend, so they offered free sitting services for the kids, they are doing a pajama party that night at school while the parents attend the social. they are saving money by having the social at one of the parent's homes and all food will be donated by the parents as well. there will be a similar gathering for halloween. these types of parties are great for networking and bonding for the parents and also fundraising for the school.
on Fridays they sell popsicles for the kids, I think they're about a dollar each.
For thanksgiving they hold a canned-food drive and they are planning other charitable events to get the kids involved and teach them that it's better to give than receive.
I hope this helps!

FUNDRAISERS, FUNDRAISERS, AND MORE FUNDRAISERS - They really just focus on making money for the school. Then, once you have the money, the options are endless. Our PTO pays for our Ice Cream Socials, Halloween parties and dances, Christmas parties, busses for the field trips, special supplies that the teachers request, Valentine's parties, authors that visit the school, etc.......

We put on Movie Nights - $1 admission plus we sell food....everyone brings a blanket and sits on the floor in the MultiPurpose Room and we show a movie from a laptop projected onto the screen. Cheap entertainment and god return on the time and money we put into it.
We have two big events - Fall Fest (Halloween-type party where we have games and Haunted Halls and a costume parade) and an Ice Cream Social (big end-of-year blowout with inflatable bouncers and games and ice cream).
Since the PTO funds all of the field trips, we have fundraisers, penny challenges, Mom to Mom Sales and Book Fairs.

Our school does Fun Fridays and sells popcorn for 25 cents. does a food pantry collection with the winning class getting their popcorn free and they get a sign outside their classroom for the day. This is done all around a crazy fun theme..such as blue and gold day, crazy hat day, pajama day, crazy sock day and other fun stuff. They are once a month and the kids love them, at the same time supporting the community. We also do movie night/Family Fun night, winter wear and share, Santa breakfast, every other year my school does a carnival....hope this gives you some good ideas and you also got a lot of others too. Good luck. K.