Our senior classes always sold heavy duty trash/yard bags. Always sold out, always made plenty of money.

Car Washes.

what exactly are you funding? it really can make a huge difference in what you want...

and what state? any chances of car washes? at one we had donation, no set price one sunny day we cleared over $500...we were on a main street parking lot, strip mall with plenty of traffic...

i agree with the garbage bags..my grand have "hit" up on entertainment coupon books but at $20 pricey and there it sits...another was some sort of purse co, again made a donation and said no thanks..

.if your area allows, we've had great turn out with a bingo tent (at the city faire) and a "vegas nite" with card games, ect..( both sometimes frowned on because of gambling)

if you have a grocery store, we collected pop cans for deposit...(hard work though) the last that has drawn in $$ is to have band members asking for donations at city business' (in uniform) and in return a band concert ticket...

along with the "biggies" we used the school's popcorn machine and sold bags after school...

last? donations...i "hit" every business in town with a form letter (school letterhead) asking for donations, including 3 different banks!

Car washes are very big here~~I went to one last week end, it was at LA Fitness to make $$ to cover funeral cost~they did another one, at the same time not sure where in the town over and that night they had a pizza parlor donating 20% of their take that night. They made $3,800~~WOW! It was heart warming.

I know our HS kids do car washes almost every week one is going on, they do it at a local fast food place and it is always hopping.

My DH and I love to buy frozen cookie dough~~~when I can get that I buy it for all of my kids also;)

Not sure, but here in ND I think that the merchants help out with donations due to weather, and kids being so active. I think they are also locked in all night after a certain time. Yes the kids do earn part of the cost by doing a variety of things thru out the year. One way was to sell lunch, sandwitches, soup & desserts at the craft sale in Nov. Because the prom is held at the gym I think that cuts expenses. Not sure of any because GD graduated about 5 years ago. I know it was pretty casual and not expensive and lots of fun.

Hold a garage and bake sale in the gym. Here in my area, church youth groups hold these sales in their activity rooms and people flock to them - they make a lot of money and have few expenses. Pass out flyers asking for donations of items to sell.

Can you sell cool t-shirts? When I was in high school, there was a t-shirt for everything. If it represented the whole school and really neat looking, I would have bought it.

Guilt. Call the parents and solicit donations. Most will give something.

Merchants usually are willing to contribute.

We also charge a small admission to come to the party.

Concession stands (I never want to see another Walking Taco).

Trivia nights are big here. $15. to $20. per person, tables of 8. Price usually includes soda, snacks and sometimes draft beer. There are usually silent auctions for donated items too at the same time. The last one I went to had about 250 people... so a lot of money was generated in one night.

Edited to fix misspelled word.

This post was edited by lydia1959 on Fri, Feb 22, 13 at 12:01

I just had a random thought. The purpose of the after prom activities is to keep the kids out of trouble. If you have a non-profit 501 3(c) status (hope I got I the numbers right), you could possibly solicit parents for money and ask them to get matching funds from their employers. Many of the larger employers are set up to do this. We sometimes donate in this manner for organizations that we would like to help.

ok..after prom, all nighter? we had casino with parents dealing...they had (from the local preschool) those funny almost on the ground scooters with seat, races in the hall..local sandwich shop donated sub sandwiches...scrounged up boxes (fridge size, to smaller) painted black with windows for a city scape decor....fortune teller (don't know if real or parent) rented a throw yourself at a plastic velcro stick thingy...picture booth (school computer and printer) dancing (free) one gpa MADE a "bi-plane" as backdrop it was awesome!

they opened the school (indoor) pool (dd1 lifeguarded, she was ymca)

will ask dh (he was a dealer) what they paid out in...

it was all in the gym...kids did have to pay for tickets...

Over 30 years ago, one of my famer parishioners raised turnips. When they were harvesting, their marketer wanted only smallish ones, and they hadn't been able to get into the field at the right time, due to ongoing rain, so were sorting them, throwing the oversized ones into a pile on a wagon.

When I asked what they planned to do with them, they told me that they were going to pull the wagon back to the bush and dump them.(That's "bush" as in agglomeration of trees - not as a surname).

I was connected with a couple of Parents Without Partners groups at that time and they needed some funds for their projects, plus a number of the members were rather pushed for funds, and I asked the farmer whether I could have some of the oversized turnips that the PWP groups could use either as a fundraiser, or for the members to use at home.

They were happy to let me take as many as I could handle.

The PWP groups were pleased, as there wasn't any concern as to what to do with the residue: just cook 'em, and eat 'em! In which situation ... the only residue was the peelings ... which were useful, for folks who had composters.

ole joyfuelled ... who won't turn-ip his nose at turnip

Find a family owned restaurant...hopefully with kids in your school, (pizza/pasta, place etc) and convince them to participate in the following:

Have the restaraunt pick their slowest night of the week and you advertise the following post-prom fund raiser. Convince the radio and paper to do it free of course. Put up flyers. Encourage families of prom goers to eat there that night. Owner will donate 20% of all dine-in, carry out, and delivery from 3-10pm ---20% of all sales will be donated to the school. Win/win for business and school.

Around here, they ask a local restaurant to have a "Dining Out" night. They donate 10% (or something) of the profits to the school, and the school highly publicizes going to that restaurant on that certain night (and in general).

Here's a funny one too. For $25, you can buy a flock of flamingos for someone. They will go to their house at 5 or 6am and put 100 flamingos on their yard. Usually people do as a joke, happy birthday or congrats for something.

Sell donuts at sporting events or after church on Sundays.

Then the usual car washes, bake sales. I have found when you say "Donations" you get more then pricing.

In middle school we sell pizza, candy, chips, and cold drinks every Friday right outside the doors at dismissal time. I wonder if you could organize a community rummage sale in the gym and rent tables out.

We've bought frozen pizzas being sold as a fundraiser.. I don't know where you live, but in the midwest, I've seen hog roasts, fish frys, roasted chicken and pulled pork all sold for fundraisers. I do think that you could ask local merchants for donations of $ or product... We're a fairly rural area, but have always had a good response. You could also make up raffle baskets [check state laws about gambling]... and use local donations/products .. and sell the tickets..

PS One of the favorite things I've seen at a post-prom party was a photo booth with all sorts of dress up costumey stuff ...