Ideas for Stalls
If you’re looking for inspiration for stall ideas for your next fete, you’ve come to the right place! Here are some fabulous ideas that we’ve put together for you:
Adopt an Animal
Ask families for donations of good quality soft toys or scour second-hand stores or online shops (gumtree or ebay. Give them a good wash and dry. Once they’re all clean, tie a name tag around their necks and adopt them out for a fee.
Amusement Rides
From jumping castles to major rides, they are a must have for any event.
Asteroid Blaster
An easy sideshow for the kids to make. All you need is some very large water pistols and some empty soft drink bottles — 2 litre ones are good. The object of the game is to have a ball balancing on the top of the bottle and it has to be hit by a blast of water from the water pistol. If you dislodge the ball, you win a prize. Spray paint your bottles with whacky colours and make your balls look like little planets. Experiment with different balls — table tennis, golf etc. to find what suits the force from your water pistols. You don’t want everybody to win, but you also don’t want it to be too hard. You can vary the degree of difficulty — every ball has to be dislodged or only one.
Baby Animal Farms
Very popular with young children and a great stall to give the preschoolers to organise. Several companies offer this service bringing a variety of small animals suitable for children to feed and pat.
Engage a car yard or rental car company as your sponsor, or a sponsor that has a company car and have them bring one of their car to your event. Fill the car to capacity with inflated balloons and punters can pay to guess how many balloons fit into the car. Correct or closest guess wins the prize. This is a great branding opportunity for your sponsor and with some great salesmanship, you could even get them to donate a prize — perhaps a luxury car hire for a weekend or depending on how good your negotiation skills are maybe even a car! Your sponsor will get enormous exposure for their brand.
Balloons
Either ask a sponsor to provide printed balloons and helium to give away or ask your local balloon shop to set up a stall. You can also look at a balloon twister to provide entertainment.
Badge Stall
Hire a badge making machine — let children colour in their own artwork and then make into a badge, always very popular.
Bar
Bars can be big money spinners at fetes but you need to check your state regulations local authority on whether you will need a permit or license. Guidelines on this change quite regularly and you need to ensure that you are doing the right thing. Have a roped off ‘adults only’ area with plenty of seating and umbrellas for shade during the day and fairy lights for evening. You’ll want plenty of ice and eskies and access to a fridge as well.
Barrow of Booze
Purchase yourself a wheelbarrow (or see if you can get one donated), fill it with beer, wine and spirits. You can lay some straw/hay or shredded paper underneath to fill it up a bit first. You’ll have not trouble selling raffle tickets for this — but you cannot sell tickets to anyone under 18 — and someone will go home very happy.
Beat the Goalie
Set up a soccer goal on a grassy area. Punters pay to kick the ball and try to get a goal without being stopped by the goalie. Each goal receives a prize. Having a goalie that everyone recognises will encourage people to want to have a go. Perhaps the school principal, head coach, PE teacher, a local ‘celebrity’ or even contact your local soccer club to see if they can provide a goalie for you.
Bubble Wands
These brightly coloured wands blow HUGE bubbles and are a big hit with all ages. Make sure you set your stall up on grass as they can become messy.
Book Stall
Second hand books and magazines are always popular — add DVD’s and videos to your stall to increase your range.
Bottle Stall
Collect empty bottles and jars and ask parents to donate items that can be used to fill them and also ask parents to send in ready filled bottles. A great safety idea is to empty the winning bottle contents into a paper bag — much safer than having children running around carrying glass. Another great idea is to use disposable food containers, like the ones they pack sushi in. They are cheap to purchase and very safe.
You can also have a stall that is filled bottles — jams, sauces, drinks, etc. You can wrap a $50, $20 and $10 note around some bottles to make the major prizes. Depending upon the number of bottles you have, you can either make every one a winner, or select your ratio of wins to prizes. You can put winning numbers on bottles, or you can make it that every even number drawn wins a prize.
Some ideas for filling bottles include:
- Coloured pencils, crayons, small activity pad, felt pens, beads with string or wire to make jewellery, marbles, pencil sharpener, rubber, McDonalds toys, hair-ribbons, scrunchies, clips, comb, brush, sticky tape, drawing pins, small post it notes, whiteboard marker,paper clips, rubber bands, lollies, chocolates
- Home made jam or marmalade
- Bath bombs, bath crystals, soap, hand cream,
- Makeup — unused make-up samples cotton wool, cotton buds, lip gloss.
- Nail file, nail polish, hand cream, nail clippers, cotton wool
- Nails, screws, bolts, screw driver, tape measure
- Small candles, potpouri
- Bandaids, bandages, cotton wool, cotton buds, small scissors, antiseptic cream
- Quality bottles of oil, sauces, relishes, jams. (No alcohol)
- Perfume, bath salts, bubble bath
Bust-a-Balloon
Great fun and easy to run, simply have balloons attached to a board with a number behind each board. As the punter busts the balloon they win the prize corresponding to the number behind. You can buy cheap toys as prizes and have a couple of major prizes for interest — maybe a $5 note.
Cane Toad or Cockroach Races
Cane toads, cockroaches, whatever, we all hate the little so and so’s — but what a great fundraiser they make! You can eradicate the pests and make some money at the same time.
BUT WE DO REMIND YOU, THEY ARE LIVING CREATURES AND YOU CANNOT ABUSE THEM.
What you need to race them is a field of runners. If you live in Queensland, you’ll have no shortage of cane toads, if you live in NSW, you’ll have no shortage of cockroaches — is somebody asking about Stage of Origin?
Gather up a decent number of the little darlings. You will need to identify them — maybe make a little jacket for the cane toad, or mark with non-toxic face paint. You then offer these fine pedigrees for sale at auction. Once they have been purchased, you are ready to race. the new owner can take their purchase home with them after the races or leave them to be dealt with humanely.
Charge an entry fee for each race, and give a percentage of this back as prize money, say 25% for the first out of the circle and 10% for the last — the balance of the monies is profit for your charity.
A circle is an ideal race track. Mark a decent sized circle using a piece of string, a stake and some chalk. A diameter of about three metres is ideal. Then mark a small circle inside the larger one — 50cm should be about right. Then you let the games begin. Keep your thoroughbred stallions in a bucket or calico bag, let them go in the inner circle and start yelling. They’re off and racing ……
The winner is the first thoroughbred to break out of the big circle.
You can run several races over the course of an evening. Make sure you have someone ready to collect the thoroughbred’s after each race — you can also re-auction them after every race.
Remember, it is highly illegal to run a book on any of these races and at the end of the night you must dispose of your thoroughbreds in a humane manner.
Cake Stall
Send home empty cake boxes the last week before the fete with requests for cakes to be delivered to school on the day before the fete. With new food regulations is also a good idea to ask parents to include a list of ingredients with the cakes. Check with your local authoriy regarding health regulations as many councils now have a requirement that any cakes that are sold must be prepared in a commercial kitchen. If this is the case in your area, ask for ingredients to be donated and organise to have a bake up in your school kitchen.
Cake Dance
This is a great idea to add some fun to your fete. Basically, it is a raffle, but your customers have to work to win their prize! All you need is a nice cake that is the prize — someone could make it, donate it whatever. Promote it as a really special prize and the ticket holders have to be present at a certain time for the dance. Offer only a limited number of tickets, say 40 at $2.00 each.
When you sell all your tickets you have $80, you then get all ticket buyers together and they stand around a circle standing on a number (eg on a cardboard sheet) 40 numbers all up. You put raffle tickets in the hat and get someone to pull out a number, that number is then taken away and you get everyone to walk around the circle (to music) when the music stops they jump on a number the person missing one misses out!!! Just like musical chairs!!! Play until there is only one person left who is the winner of the cake and your committee is $80 in profit if the cake is donated.
It may take a little time to play, but it will provide a lot of fun for people attending your event, and of course, you don’t have to make the prize a cake, it can be anything of value.
Candle Making
Candle making is a centuries-old art. Today you can offer an exciting attraction at your fete with original candle dipping and carving. Participants are given wicks which they dip in a selection of coloured waxes. When it is the right size, it is carved and moulded into a variety of exciting shapes. The built-up layers of wax make the candles very bright and colourful. This is an activity that any age group can participate in and best of all, they get to take home a great souvenir of the fete.
Chocolate Wheel
Always a big winner — ask local businesses to donate goods and prizes. Selling 100 tickets at $1 each you can always raise good money from this sideshow. Check your state regulations regarding raffles.
Cob of Corn
An idea that has gained popularity at school fetes, street markets and other events is a piping hot cob of fresh corn.
Contact your local fruit and veg markets to obtain the best price on corn. You will need sturdy skewers, a chopping board and a mallet to insert the skewers into the corn. You will also need some extremely large pots filled with boiling water to cook the corn and gas burners. Approach your local hire company for these items. It is recommended that you keep children away from the area — this should be a parents only activity.
Have plenty of butter, salt and pepper handy and you will be on a definite winner! As a sideline, freeze the animal shaped soft drinks you buy in supermarkets — kids love them and you can make an excellent profit margin, especially if you buy wholesale, or make fresh lemonade.
Coffee & Tea Stall
If you don’t provide ‘real’ coffee these days, you’ll really upset your crowd!
Approach your local coffee shop with a view to setting up a cappuccino machine. Many coffee shops now have portable coffee carts available. Serve Devonshire teas with home baked scones. Alternatively, you can arrange for a coffee van to come to your site. They will often donate an amount per cup sold or a percentage of their takings. You will need to negotiate this with individual supplier
Make sure you give stallholders a free cuppa during the day they’ll really appreciate it.
Coins in the tub
Find a decent size tub, old bath, inflatable pool etc, fill it with water and place some small tiles or other targets on the bottom. Contestants drop coins into the water to try and land on the targets. If they are successful, they win a prize.
Cow Poo Lotto
All you need is a grassed area and a healthy cow, and you’re good to go! Mark your grassed area in a grid and number each square. Sell your squares — the price can vary depending on how many squares you have on offer. Ensure your cow is contained within the marked grass area and that it is well fed. The anticipation will build while you wait and then the square that the cow decides to do its business on is the winner. Check out our full article on this charming fundraise
Craft Stall
Set up a craft group months before the event to make craft items. Some call them ‘Stitch and B!@#’ clubs!
Regularly ask for donations of craft materials in your newsletter, there are many people who cannot sew but are more than willing to donate raw materials. If you can’t establish a craft group you can always scour your local markets for a suitable stall and ask them to pay a percentage of takings. Craft stalls are particularly good if your fete is on Mother’s Day weekend. Think about dividing your craft items up — jams and pickles into a gourmet food stall, skin care and bathroom luxuries in a pamper stall, toys and baby clothes in a baby stall. You can also create themes around colours — a blue stall, a red stall, a pink stall.
Discos
Discos are always really popular with children and school discos can raise large amounts of money. If you are having a night time event, consider running a disco in conjunction with it.
Donut Stall
Your local donut store may be interested in setting up a stall cooking fresh donuts.
Dunk-a-Teacher
Without a doubt one of the most popular activities with the kids! Your amusement ride provider should be able to help you with a dunk tank. If you can’t source a dunk tank, consider making your own stand for a wet sponge throw — just as effective!
Ducky Pond
Fishing plastic ducks out of a pond is an age-old favourite. Insert a little metal hoop onto the duck and a small hook into the end of a bamboo rod. Number the base of each duck and make even numbers winners. You only need a small prize like a mini chocolate bar.
Emergency Services Visit
Kids love anything that flashes and makes noise, so why not ask your local police station, fire station or SES if they could attend your fete. The kids (big and little) can explore a fire truck or police car and the emergency services can answer questions and provide information and education to the community. Services like the SES or even St Johns Ambulance are sometimes available to man or help man your first aid tent.
Face Painting
Always popular with the little kids. Select your designs in advance and make sure everyone can reproduce them. Photograph the designs and laminate the images — this makes it easy for the little ones to make their choice. Look at temporary tattoos for older children. You can also book in professional face painters who will pay you a percentage of their takings.
Fairy Floss
A school fete just wouldn’t be the same without fairy floss. You can hire in a machine (your amusement rides supplier can possibly provide one) or sell pre-packaged floss if you don’t want the mess of making it yourself . Leftover pre-packaged floss can be sold through your tuckshop. You can also have specialist floss vendors come to your fete and sell floss, popcorn, etc. on your behalf. This is a great way of adding colour and atmosphere to your event without any financial outlay.
Fairy Stall
Sooooo popular with the girls. Make wands and halos and advertise for mums who can sew and make up some easy fairy costumes using tulle. You can add pirate costumes to keep the boys amused.
Fashion Parade
Ever popular, approach a local boutique to sponsor the event. Instead of choosing women’s fashion, look at children’s and teen’s fashions. For a really fun fashion parade feature used clothing from your second hand stall — have some of the teachers act as models — and include a selection of teachers modelling used school uniforms. Guaranteed to be a big hit.
Flower Stall
Take a trip to the flower market the day before — you can make up bunches yourself or buy them ready made. If you don’t live in a capital city with a flower market, source a local flower farm. Make sure you place your order well in advance to avoid disappointment.
Flower stalls are a particularly good idea your fete is mother’s day weekend. Don’t just make bunches, do some simple arrangements which make lovely gifts.
Farmers Market
Think of having a farmers market at your fete to attract extra visitors.
Free Dress Day
A great source of revenue for any school is a free dress day. There are many variations on how you can raise money.
Charge a gold coin to each child who arrives in free dress, or use the day to raise items for other events within your school — leading up to your school fete the children have to bring in specific items in return for free dress — one week it could be bottles for the bottle stall, the next it could be cake mixes for the cake stall and so on. You will find you will get a lot more donations this way than simply asking the parents to send the items in.
This activity can also be used in a workplace where employees are allowed to go casual, or follow a theme for the day. Many large charities use this method to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars Australia wide. See our article for variations on the theme.
Hot Food Stalls
By far one of your most profitable areas. Ensure you have the traditional hamburgers, hot dogs and hot chips add an international flair with Chinese and Asian food, halal food, curries, Greek food, etc… Food stalls are traditionally the most popular and will raise a lot of money for you. Ensure your food is well priced. If it is overpriced, you will be left with food at the end of the day. Well priced food will all be sold.
Be aware of food regulations when planning your stall Contact your local council well in advance to ensure you comply with regulations.
Look within your school community for ethnic groups such as Asian, Indian, Greek, Italian. Encourage them to convene food — these are always extremely popular. Seek sponsorship from local butchers, poultry suppliers and supermarkets for ingredients. Contact major bakeries and flour millers for donations. The more donations you receive the more money you will make. Have a working bee early on the morning to bake fresh scones for the Devonshire tea stall.
Gourmet Foods Stall
Pickles, jams and preservatives, gourmet biscuits and cakes, all very popular. This stall can compliment the craft stall.
Hair Colour Stall
Really popular with the kids — spray on wild colours for great fun. A good alternative to face painting for older kids. You will need to buy several cartons of spray colour as it is very, very popular.
Hot Chips
You can’t have a school fete without hot chips. Always one of the best sellers. Have a stand-alone hot chip stall or combine with burgers. Hire deep fryers from your local party hire store or organise a hot chip van to come in and vend on your behalf.
Hoopla
Very easy to organise. You simply lay prizes out on a table — elevate them on a box — the cardboard boxes you buy from dollar shops are ideal. Give your punter three turns for a set price. You will need hoops that are just a fraction larger than the box they have to fit over. The prize is won when the hoop surrounds the box. Depending on the price you charge to have a go, you can give every child a small consolation prize.
Ice Creams
Ice creams are always a popular treat, especially on those hot days. It can be difficult for a school to set up its own ice cream stall because of the need for refrigeration. Booking an ice cream vendor is the ideal solution. You can choose from soft serve, speciality ice creams or prepackaged favourites.
Jump Lotto
Use skydiving displays to raise revenue for your school, and involve a fun and colourful skydive display as well!
How does this work? Your school holds a raffle by selling lottery tickets where the purchaser places their name and details on the tickets. On the day of the fete the ticket holders place their tickets on the ground in a designated area, and the ticket the skydiver lands on is declared the winner (lots of fun and excitement, and a fun way to raise revenue!)
Karaoke
Karaoke has become really popular with children. Consider running a Karaoke disco. This is an especially good idea if you are having a night time event.
Kiss a Pig
Many schools have had success with this fundraiser. Here’s how it works…
Approach your principal, teachers and admin staff to participate in this fun event. They must agree to kiss a pig in front of the entire school. You will need three of four candidates and only one will be picked as the lucky ‘kisser”. Make sure your candidates are well known to the kids and good sports.
The kisser will be the person who raises the most money in the fundraising drive — but your candidates don’t actively raise money — they don’t want to have to kiss the pig so they don’t want to raise the most money! They are free to raise money on their opponents’ behalf. You can commence this fundraiser well in advance of your fete. You will need to place secure jars, each marked with your candidates’ names, in secure areas around your school. Anyone can vote for the candidates by placing money, or pledge forms, into the jars.
On the day of the fete set up a Kiss a Pig stall. Make it really bright and fun with lots of colour and balloons and have large photos of your candidates. Make sure you promote the event throughout the day. The lucky pig kisser will be the candidate who raises the most money. Kids will go all out to ensure their principal has to kiss the pig. You can have this event as the grand finale for the day and you will be able to collect money right up until the last minute.
Make sure you book an animal farm for your fete and have them provide the piggy to be kissed. If your mobile farm doesn’t have a piggy, look for another animal — a camel from the camel rides, or a donkey make great substitutes. This is a great community spirit builder and the kids will get a great kick from seeing an unpopular teacher have to kiss the pig.
Ladder Climb
The ladder climb is a wire ladder with wooden rungs, it has a swivel at either end of the ladder. It is attached to a frame — at the top of the frame, you attach a $50 note. Anyone who can climb the ladder without falling over wins the prize.
Laser Tag
Played around inflatable objects, laser tag involves tagging opposing team members. These mobile arenas are extremely popular with older children. You will need a large area to house the inflatable arenas. It is great fun for all ages and really a really popular activity.
Lolly and Sweet Stall
Ask for donations from parents and repackage into plastic bags. Lolly necklaces are always a popular item and can be easily made by children. Confectionery warehouses are a good source of cheap lollies.
Lucky Dips
Lucky dips are irresistible to most children. A toy or novelty wholesaler should be able to provide you with cheap toys suitable for the lucky dip. Also source hair clips, hair slides, ribbons, necklaces, earrings and rings. Wrap in bright colours and put in brightly coloured containers — plastic rubbish bins covered in wrapping paper are good. It is a good idea to have one for boys and one for girls. You can make the dip harder by filling the container with sawdust so the children have to rummage around to find their prize — but make sure your prizes are well wrapped.
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